Sightseeing in state
Veterans tell their stories at Vilonia museum.
(Editor’s note: Museum Director Linda Hicks says a decision was to be made Monday night whether to close for two weeks to prevent the spread of covid-19. Call before going.)
VILONIA — At first glance, one exhibit at the Museum of Veterans and Military History may seem a bit macabre. In fact, it reflects the Vilonia museum’s aptly aimed focus on war’s hard realities — including the price paid over the years by so many serving Arkansans and other Americans.
The item is a U.S. Navy portable embalming kit used during the Normandy D-Day landings and elsewhere during World War II. It is one of the rarest items in the jam-packed main room of the facility, which has its own history of loss and perseverance.
First opened in 2012 in a former orphanage, the museum was ripped apart by the tornado that killed nine people in this Faulkner County town of 3,800 on April 27, 2014. Volunteers raised the money to rebuild the facility in a new location. The windowless concrete structure, designed to withstand even the strongest storms, was dedicated on the tornado’s first anniversary.
“This is a labor of love,” says Linda Hicks, the museum’s director and one of the leaders in the rebuilding efforts. “It is a tool
to reach out to veterans and connect them with others. It is operated by volunteers, most of them veterans.”
Hicks tells about one younger veteran, who had served in Afghanistan: “Prior to volunteering here, he said he felt ‘unwanted’ and invisible to many. ‘I tried to volunteer at other places and was turned down,’ he said, citing a large scar on his forehead and the cane he needed to use. ‘I felt like they were afraid of me.’”
According to Hicks, this veteran “told me he has a purpose and a new lease on life. He said, ‘I go to the museum and there are other veterans there. I like talking to the kids and telling them about the exhibits.’”
Those displays, including some items salvaged from the tornado’s wreckage, cover most conflicts in U.S. history. Most items have been donated, although museum funds have bought a few rare objects. More than 100 military helmets are on display, along with nearly 100 bayonets. Dating to 1910 is a Russian Maxim machine gun from the end of the Czarist era.
A Rose Bud High School student, now a U.S. Army cadet at West Point, designed a display of a doughboy mannequin in World War I uniform complete with puttees, boots and cavalry saddlebags.
A nightstick used by military police on security detail at Arlington National Cemetery was donated by a veteran who’d done gate duty at the site. He remembered being there in the early hours of one morning when Jacqueline Kennedy arrived to visit her husband’s grave.
Outdoor exhibits include a paved walkway honoring Arkansans killed in action in various wars. It stretches below a hilltop chapel where families can hold memorial services for deceased veterans, complete with an honor guard. Some veterans have been married in the chapel.
Back inside, a computer is available to download conversations with local veterans. Titled “Their Service, Their Words,” the displays include interviews done by Vilonia School District students.
“Many of the veterans share serious experiences, but there is also humor,” Hicks says. “Marine Steve Hillman, from Mayflower, tells viewers that the reason he made it home safe from Vietnam is that the enemy thought all Americans are tall. With him being so short, he joked, ‘the bullets just flew right over my head.’”