8-25-01Voice in the Crowd, 968 words
Patriotism looking for a home
By Pete Chaney
IPS Features
Nothing is more respected by veterans or Americans with an ounce of patriotism than the Medal of Honor. It is awarded sparingly to those individuals who go above and beyond human expectations in the service of their country. The Chattanooga area is honored to have two recipients calling this home. Charles Coolidge fought valiantly in World War II. And Desmond Doss was there as a medic saving lives on the battlefield.
Chattanooga is also fortunate to have the National Medal of Honor Museum located in this city.
It’s origin came from the Alvin C. York Chapter of the 82nd Airborne where Leo Smith was an active member. It’s first home in a small site on Brainerd Road, then moving to a section of the Memorial Auditorium. When the unemployment office moved out of its building at the corner of Fourth Street and Georgia Avenue, the property was offered the museum as a temporary place. A token $200 a year was to be paid the City of Chattanooga. It was seldom paid, never pushed.
A lot of work went into turning an empty building into a credible museum. People such as Leo, Louie Gant and others made the difference. A near miracle was performed in the limits of the space. Leo’s ingenuity segmented it into sections portraying America’s military history. His personality and contacts provided artifacts. With a lack of space, more artifacts were having to be stored than exhibited.
A study was made on the viability of the museum and a star shaped building was suggested. Dalton Roberts, who was then county executive, offered the museum an attractive and spacious site off Interstate 75. It was rejected as “being too far out.”
Leo was curator-executive director. He and the board went on a dream hunt for a suitable location. Former location of the Black Angus in North Chattanooga was a dream that didn’t materialize. Space at a shopping mall in North Georgia was briefly considered and abandoned. The spacious Double Cola building was always the dream site.
Although he was never in the military, Charlie Housch was inspired by the museum and kept looking at the St. Elmo School abandoned in Harry Reynolds education program. The historic building had huge classrooms on nearly three acres on land. It was on the main route from Point Park and Chattanooga to the Chickamauga Battlefield.
Charlie, Ralph Wilson and I spoke with Rayburn Traughber and Countess Jenkins who handled city property about the possibility-of having the city donate the school property to the museum. Ralph and I met with the museum board. “If we could get the city to donate the school and we could raise the money to renovate it, did the board want it?”
The project had Leo’s enthusiastic support. He began designing a “walk through history,” plotting each classroom with a theme of its own. It took several meetings to face objections from some board members. St. Elmo was a bad, crime-ridden location. It was off the main track. The building was inaccessible with all the stairs. Eventually, the board signed an agreement to accept the property.
Gene Roberts was mayor and gave his assistance. He once remarked, “If the board would pick a viable plan and stick with it, they would be supported.”
The City Council voted to put $150,000 into putting on a new roof and cleaning out the interior of the school. Pigeons can make quite a mess, and they had done that.
Many people joined the project. Harold Tucker used his contacts to get donations of supplies. Judge Richard Holcomb put the site on the list for workers doing community service. Retired Adm. Vance Fry joined our committee with is expertise of organizing a museum at Athens. And he brought with him the prospect of naval reserve units taking ground improvement as a project.
One of our goals was to see the museum hire a professional manager and a curator, to make it a really first class operation.
After three years of work, the city’s work was completed and a deed was made out to the museum. At a special meeting of the board, they thanked our committee and dissolved it, saying they could handle fund raising from that point. A year later, the board returned the deed to the city, saying they couldn’t handle the project.
Rep. Zach Wamp obtained the museum 15.4 acres in the VAAP site off Bonny Oaks and it was accepted in a ceremony. They planned a fund raising drive, but now have given up on the location, saying it’s not close enough to down town.
The museum has been given until next December to vacate their quarters. Changes in the intersection there have been on the table and known about for five years. The museum now wants the city to donate the vacant Combustion Building on Riverfront Parkway.
Whenever I drive by St. Elmo School and think about Leo’s dream and what could have been, it hurts. Alexian Brothers have gotten the property for residential use.
The Medal of Honor Museum has been blessed with loyal, hard working volunteers, people who have made this a life’s work. Upkeep of the museum comes mainly from the pockets of the board members.
There is currently the possibility of $2-million federal funds being available if matching funds can be located.
To find support the museum must establish its credibility after turning down help offered at one time or another by County Executive Dalton Roberts, Mayor Gene Roberts, Mayor Jon Kinsey and Rep. Zach Wamp.
A comment by Gene comes to mind, “There will come a time when those who have brought the museum forward will have to reach for expert help, saying, ‘Here’s my baby. Take it and raise it.’”
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