I have only been Duplin County Veterans Museum Curator for a short time. This past July 4th weekend taught me just how important this job is to so many.
We had a steady flow of visitors at the museum, who came to visit their family’s sacrifices for our freedoms. The first thing they do is to check the “Roll of Honor” for all their ancestors back to the American Revolution. The smiles I see when the memories flow back of their fathers, uncles, grandfathers, and even past friends really warms my heart. I have heard so many family stories beginning with this first step of visiting the museum.
A grandmother whose husband served over 20 years in the Army, brought one of her grandsons in. He was getting ready to head to Army boot camp, and she wanted him to understand the importance of the family tradition he was about to begin. This lifelong resident of Duplin County has attended every Warsaw Veteran’s Day Parade since 1953.
Another Duplin County resident brought his friend in to show off his family’s veterans pictures. The friend was shocked to find his own family’s veterans were in the museum. This grown man was in tears when he saw his grandfather’s picture in uniform from World War II. I have to admit I got teary-eyed myself. They both left acting like two little kids who just spent the day with their grandfathers again.
I gave a tour to a couple originally raised in Duplin County. His father served in World War II as had so many Duplin County young men and women at that time. He and his wife were amazed at how many pictures his father was in, including our 1946 B.F. Grady High School “Overflow” display. His wife told me he didn’t want to leave, as he missed his father so much.
I had a visitor return a few hours after he left. He brought his father’s Silver Star and Purple Heart to be displayed at the museum. Their family has been a part of Duplin County since the 1700s. The medals were just lying in a drawer, and he wanted his father honored in the museum as the Hero he is.
My most moving experience of the weekend was an older woman with her husband. She had heard about the museum but had moved away years ago. She came back for the weekend to visit. In our World War I section, a picture caught her eye. It was her grandfather with his Army unit. She grabbed that picture, hugged it, and cried. She missed him so much! This gentle woman was so happy to see her grandfather being honored for his service to our Country.
I have so many emotional moments with family members and the veterans themselves as curator, I am rewarded every day I am here. In no other museum you visit can you see and experience the sacrifices and hardships your ancestors have made for you and your family’s freedom to live in the greatest country ever established on this earth.