thedrifter
04-18-09, 06:21 AM
Arsenal's Marine museum wins national award
By Mary Louise Speer
Housed at the U.S. Marine Corps Museum on Arsenal Island are artifacts of gritty, sweaty, bloody hours spent on the battlefield and keeping watch during peace time.
The museum earned a 2009 Col. John H. Magruder III award, which is presented by the national Marine Corps Heritage Foundation. Museum developer Rod Mooney of Bettendorf and a Marine veteran and a representative from the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Training Center on Arsenal Island will attend a May 2 awards dinner at the National Museum of the Marine Corps, in Triangle, Va.
“The museum is dedicated to the young Marines of today and tomorrow,” said Mooney.
The award, first given out in 1984, is named for Col. Magruder, who was the first director of the national Marine Corps Museum, said Susan Hodges, vice president administration & finance for the foundation.
It is given to people, organizations or institutions “who are doing things elsewhere around the country that cause the general public to be aware of Marine Corps history,” she said.
The award includes a $1,000 prize. The living history detachment of the Parris Island Historical and Museum Society, South Carolina will also receive a Magruder award.
“I understand we had some pretty stiff competition,” Mooney said.
Work on the Rock Island museum originally began in 1992 and Mooney took up the challenge again a few years ago. The collection features a diverse array of memories from a Japanese flag pockmarked with a bullet hole, uniforms and photos, medals, and military gear.
“There’s been so darned many guys who have contributed, their families ... it’s hard to recognize them all,” Mooney said. “A lot of these contributions were with tears.”
Singling out a few special individuals is nearly impossible and each new donation brings a fresh perspective of history lived by area Marines. Bob Graham of Davenport, for example, contributed dress uniforms and boots and Craig Borchers of Big Rock, Iowa, donated historic photographs
Ken Thorndyke of Walcott, Iowa, donated a yellow banner used to identify the U.S. battlefield lines in Korea and a South Korean flag. Elmer Mapes of Bettendorf furnished the museum with photos of the 2nd Raider Battalion in the South Pacific during World War II.
Bill Dhamers of Moline gave posters from both world wars, some exhibit cases, projectiles, shell cases and helmets. And there are many more memorabilia made by others.
Davenport Police officer Epigmenio “Peme” Canas, a third-shift patrolman, hopes to bring his children to the museum some day and show them the map of Somalia he donated and other displays of military history. “We were involved in several rescue operations during that time,” the former Marine says about his 1993 deployment.
“I think as veterans begin to age they begin to wonder if people know what they did or how they served,” Dan Reid, a Korean War veteran and rural LeClaire, Iowa, resident, said. Through the museum “people will have an opportunity to remember how we served. It would be a shame to rock on and never know that.”
Ellie
By Mary Louise Speer
Housed at the U.S. Marine Corps Museum on Arsenal Island are artifacts of gritty, sweaty, bloody hours spent on the battlefield and keeping watch during peace time.
The museum earned a 2009 Col. John H. Magruder III award, which is presented by the national Marine Corps Heritage Foundation. Museum developer Rod Mooney of Bettendorf and a Marine veteran and a representative from the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Training Center on Arsenal Island will attend a May 2 awards dinner at the National Museum of the Marine Corps, in Triangle, Va.
“The museum is dedicated to the young Marines of today and tomorrow,” said Mooney.
The award, first given out in 1984, is named for Col. Magruder, who was the first director of the national Marine Corps Museum, said Susan Hodges, vice president administration & finance for the foundation.
It is given to people, organizations or institutions “who are doing things elsewhere around the country that cause the general public to be aware of Marine Corps history,” she said.
The award includes a $1,000 prize. The living history detachment of the Parris Island Historical and Museum Society, South Carolina will also receive a Magruder award.
“I understand we had some pretty stiff competition,” Mooney said.
Work on the Rock Island museum originally began in 1992 and Mooney took up the challenge again a few years ago. The collection features a diverse array of memories from a Japanese flag pockmarked with a bullet hole, uniforms and photos, medals, and military gear.
“There’s been so darned many guys who have contributed, their families ... it’s hard to recognize them all,” Mooney said. “A lot of these contributions were with tears.”
Singling out a few special individuals is nearly impossible and each new donation brings a fresh perspective of history lived by area Marines. Bob Graham of Davenport, for example, contributed dress uniforms and boots and Craig Borchers of Big Rock, Iowa, donated historic photographs
Ken Thorndyke of Walcott, Iowa, donated a yellow banner used to identify the U.S. battlefield lines in Korea and a South Korean flag. Elmer Mapes of Bettendorf furnished the museum with photos of the 2nd Raider Battalion in the South Pacific during World War II.
Bill Dhamers of Moline gave posters from both world wars, some exhibit cases, projectiles, shell cases and helmets. And there are many more memorabilia made by others.
Davenport Police officer Epigmenio “Peme” Canas, a third-shift patrolman, hopes to bring his children to the museum some day and show them the map of Somalia he donated and other displays of military history. “We were involved in several rescue operations during that time,” the former Marine says about his 1993 deployment.
“I think as veterans begin to age they begin to wonder if people know what they did or how they served,” Dan Reid, a Korean War veteran and rural LeClaire, Iowa, resident, said. Through the museum “people will have an opportunity to remember how we served. It would be a shame to rock on and never know that.”
Ellie