HUNTSVILLE — To visit the U.S. Veterans Memorial Museum in John Hunt Park is, like any quality museum, a step back in time.
But that’s also coupled by the sense of amazement that such a vast display of military memorabilia is right here in Huntsville.
“We get people from California, from Belgium, from all over the world,” said Museum founder and Director Randy Withrow. “But one of the biggest comments we get is, ‘I’ve lived in Huntsville for 18 years and never knew you guys were here.’”
That’s about to change. The not-for-profit museum will more than double in size with an expansion that held a ceremonial groundbreaking last week. The museum’s footprint will grow by about 35,000 square feet or about the length of a football field.
A Korea War-era tank on display inside the U.S. Veterans Memorial Museum
“We’re really excited about the new museum because we have put as much as we can in the current facility,” Withrow said. “If you’ve been out on the floor, it’s packed.”
Getting up close
Indeed, the items are snuggly displayed. But there are advantages to that. You can’t get any closer to the helicopters and jeeps on display unless you sit in them. And if you want to reach out and touch an artifact, it’s right there.
“You get to go up and touch and feel just about everything, which is neat,” he said. “A lot of museums, you’re separated by a glass wall or by some distance.
“But we’re really excited about the new facility because it will enable us to go from what we’ve got here – which I think is an awesome museum – to now a first-class museum.”
The World War II-era Pygmy jeep is one of the prized artifacts at the U.S. Veterans Memorial Museum in Huntsville.
The current museum itself is impressive, a living classroom with portions dedicated to educational aspects while the displays on the main floor bring the learning to life. The museum boasts artifacts from the Revolution War to current conflicts that includes the gem of a World War II-era Ford Pygmy jeep that is the oldest surviving example of vehicles that became the Jeep.
There are also displays of helicopters from the Korean Conflicts and the Vietnam War, tanks from World War II, artillery from the Civil War and uniforms from the Revolutionary War.
Reaching future generations
Sharing that knowledge is a priority for the museum – which operates on the strength of 47 volunteers, some as young as teenagers, one as old as 96. When the COVID-19 pandemic shut down school field trips, the museum developed a mobile museum to visit schools that’s still active today.
And more schools are starting to bring students back, too.
Education is a critical component of the U.S. Veterans Memorial Museum in Huntsville.
“The mission statement of the museum is we support our military, our veterans, our retirees and we’re about education,” said Scott Thompson, the museum’s vice president. “The traveling road shows to schools are very important.”
As for the future, the museum is working with museum consultant David Towry, who is also helping design a Civil War museum in Columbus, Ga.
“He’s really been helpful to us, and we’ve done all the preliminary layouts,” Withrow said. “We want to go chronologically and then expand that.”
Work is already underway at the museum, and the expansion is projected to open in 2027. At that point, the museum that opened in 2001 will seem brand new again. And that educational priority will only be elevated.
“Getting young folks in here is important to us, helping educate that generation,” Thompson said. “That’s a critical thing that that we’re about.”
Paul Gattis is a communication specialist for the City of Huntsville.
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