Veterans History Museum of the Carolinas

I’ve always been engrossed with military history, but I started collecting in 2000. I was teaching school in Florida and my daughter was in the Junior ROTC. I never served a day in my life. It was one of my major regrets. My dad served in WWII and my daughter served in Afghanistan after graduating from West Point. My son-in-law was a Blackhawk helicopter pilot. I said to myself, ‘If I didn’t serve, at least I can serve now in some way.

It was about three years after I started collecting. My house had already become almost like a museum. One of my buddies, his father had served in the China-Burma-India campaign during WWII, a B-25 top turret gunner who flew 73 missions. And when he passed away his son gave me his trunk. It had his father’s uniforms, his medals, his leather flight jacket. I did this display to honor his dad. My buddy brought the entire family to see it – fourteen or fifteen of them came in and they looked at that and – and this was really the clincher – they started weeping and crying. They were so impressed by the way I presented everything with so much honor and detail. My buddy had tears rolling down his cheeks and I said, ‘Oh my god, if I can do that… well, that drove me right there.

My wife Toni and I moved to Brevard in December of 2015, and I brought all my stuff from Florida. We built a house in Connestee, and I asked the manager there if I could do a Memorial Day display in the clubhouse. It was through that event that I met Ken Corn who introduced me to Tom Bugala and together we started to formulate a plan to start a museum. As it turns out, 2016 was the 100^th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme in WWI. I ended up doing a display at the American Legion. Frank Duckworth then helped me get a three week exhibition at the historic Aethelwold Hotel. You know what the amazing thing was about that? In 1920, the WWI veterans met in the lobby of the Aethlewold Hotel and formed their American Legion Post 88. After that, I got an email from the Transylvania Heritage Museum, they said, ‘We’d love to have you for our spring exhibit,’ and I’m like, ‘Wow! Three months!

In 2016, Larry Chapman told me he thought he could help get us this building (the annex to the Transylvania County Courthouse). At the Memorial Day parade in 2016, Larry shook my hand and the key to this building was in it. Six years later we’re still here. I was glad that Toni got to see the museum become a reality before she passed away. I remarried in 2021 to Jayne McCrary and she has also been so supportive of the museum.

We probably have over 10,000 artifacts at this point. We have every speech Winston Churchill made from 1914 to the end of WWII. We have uniforms from all the wars – World War I, World War II, Korean War, the Cold War, the War on Terror. And we’re one of the few veterans museums that highlight the contributions of women in the military. So far, we’ve had between 25,000-30,000 visitors from 47 states and 28 countries.

Of course, we would have never gotten to this point without the help of all the dedicated volunteers who’ve contributed their time and expertise. They are truly the backbone of this museum, and I can’t imagine where we’d be without them. They are just as passionate about our mission as I am.

Visitors should definitely check out the piece of fabric we have from Hitler’s sofa that was in the Eagle’s Nest. Also, a fully restored 1943 Willy’s Jeep, a 1942 military Harley-Davidson motorcycle used by MPs in Europe, a Medal of Honor and a 1908 Maxim German machine gun.

Our mission is to honor, educate, and preserve our rich military heritage. That’s what I want people to know. Do we glamorize it? No. But I do want people to know what our service people went through. Whenever I give a talk to veterans, I end it with, “This is your museum. We will never forget you.”