Veterans Day story reminds us to consider long-term health of special museum

We were reminded in a Monday article about a local gem: the Museum of the Forgotten Warriors.

You won’t find snazzy interpretive displays at the Linda museum or a selective showing of artifacts from the museum’s extensive collections.

You’ll see it all. You’ll find just about every single thing that the museum has received over decades from women and men who served in the military -- mostly from the Vietnam era, but also from all eras. Thousands have donated something -- memorabilia, uniforms, medals, information, pictures, memories.

Here’s what that sort of museum does really well: It reminds you these soldiers were real human beings, enlisted or drafted, leaving their homes, many of them facing grave situations and carrying on, all of them giving parts of their lives to serve their country.

We’re not at all belittling other museums, designed well and curated and teaching and interpreting history. We’re just saying there’s a place for a museum like the Museum of the Forgotten Warriors. We think its value to society is immense. And we’re a little worried about it’s long-term future and what happens at the museum, since its founder and greatest supporter, Dann Spear, died early in 2018. His wife, Roberta Spear, is carrying on. And there is a crew of museum faithful who help out, volunteer, work on things, keep up on things, help manage the place. So things are OK for now.

But longterm? It’s going to need a lot of support to stay viable.

If you haven’t visited it before or haven’t visited it in a while, you should make a trip. You should consider making an annual trek to the place that serves as a sort of shrine to all who served. It’s worth it. And when you go, you should slip a check or some cash into the donation box.

Visit at 5865 A Road, Marysville. For information on helping out, visit the web site at museumoftheforgottenwarriors.org or call 682-0674 or 742-3090.

Our View editorials represent the opinion of the Appeal-democrat and its editorial board and are edited by the publisher and/or editor. Members of the editorial board include: Publisher Glenn Stifflemire and Editor Steve Miller.