Public can preview the plans this week
Organizers of the Charles H. Coolidge National Medal of Honor Heritage Center will unveil the museum’s new design Thursday next door to the Tennessee Aquarium, a much-anticipated event years in the making. But one of the most significant artifacts in its possession will not be unveiled quite yet.
Museum organizers received film from the Coolidge family in December showing the World War II hero from Signal Mountain receiving his Medal of Honor on a bombed-out German airfield near Dornstadt, Germany, on June 18, 1945, just months after the end of World War II in Europe. Coolidge was awarded the nation’s highest military honor for his valor in battle from Oct. 24-27, 1944, east of Belmont sur Buttant, France.
The footage shows Coolidge receiving the medal from Lt. Gen. Wade H. Haislip and then shows Technical Sgt. Coolidge standing with Haislip and other military leaders while receiving a full regimental salute complete with a marching band.
The Coolidge family was made aware of the existence of the film by a graduate student doing research at the National Archives. The footage was shared Tuesday with editors of the Times Free Press.
“This is a monumental find for the museum,” said Keith Hardison, the new executive director of the center. “And visitors being able to see Coolidge having the medal placed around his neck is a perfect example of how we want to immerse people in the Medal of Honor experience.”
The Medal of Honor Heritage Center will publicly unveil its new name, interior design and celebrate the beginning of construction at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at the museum site in the Aquarium Plaza. The public is invited to the opening ceremony, and it will remain open until 2 p.m. for community visitation.
Residents will be able see enlargements of the designs of the 14 permanent exhibits. Multiple video screens will run a three-minute video that takes visitors from the front door through the 19,000-square-foot museum as it will be on opening day in February 2020.
“We’ve traveled a long road to get here,” said Maj. Gen. Bill Raines, chairman of the center.
The center honors the 3,522 recipients of the nation’s highest award for individual valor in the military with a specific interest in the 32 Medals of Honor attributed to Tennesseans. The first medals were awarded for acts of valor leading up to and during the Civil War’s Chattanooga Campaign in 1863-1864.
The museum will feature exhibits from seven American conflicts from the Civil War through the war on terror. Interspersed between galleries will be “character kiosks” where the attributes of patriotism, citizenship, courage, integrity, sacrifice and commitment will be demonstrated through the lives of the Medal of Honor recipients.
At the center of the museum floorplan will be the Heart of Valor exhibit, which will feature Medal of Honor recipient Arthur MacArthur Jr., who received his Medal of Honor in Chattanooga during the Civil War and best represents the six character traits that embody the Medal of Honor, organizers say.
The project architect is Pat Neuhoff of Taylor Neuhoff Architects in Chattanooga, the design firm is Encore Interpretive Design of Nashville and the exhibits will be built by Method-1 of Birmingham, Alabama. Retired U.S. Navy Rear Adm.Noah Long will oversee the design and construction process.
Museum officials raised $4.3 million in 18 months required by the River City Co. to secure a long-term lease on the museum site. That followed a controversy in 2016 over the initial plan to place the museum in Coolidge Park, the city park originally dedicated to Coolidge and all area veterans in 1945. The modern version of the park opened in 1999.
Contact Davis Lundy at davislundy@aol.com.