L-R: Steven Utroska, Tommy Lofton, and Freddy Walter.
President Steven Utroska presided over today’s meeting. Ryan Kelly provided today’s invocation and Shane Germany led us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Mark Killingworth served as our greeter today.
Cole Gressett sat in for Mike McPhail and thanked those who volunteered to help with today’s meeting. He also introduced today’s visitors. Ryan Kelly has Brad Clark as his guest and Steven Utroska has Rob Riley as his guest.
Steven reminded members to sign up for the Meals on Wheel program. He also noted that a fundraising committee meeting is planned immediately after today’s meeting. We should have additional information about the event in the next week or so.
James Winstead reported that Jim Sims, a former club member, passed away recently. He was living in South Carolina.
Freddy Walter then introduced today’s guest speaker. Tommy Lofton is the Museum Director of the Mississippi Armed Forces Museum at Camp Shelby. He is a native of Vicksburg but has family roots in the Hattiesburg area. He notes that his family members were some of the first to settle in the area back in the 1700’s. He is a graduate of USM and worked as a historian at the National WWII Museum in New Orleans for eleven years before assuming his current position.
While working for the New Orleans museum he traveled to 47 states and 9 countries interviewing WWII survivors, their children, Japanese soldiers and holocaust survivors. He used information gathered from those interviews to help design some of the displays in the WWII Museum.
The Mississippi Armed Forces Museum is the number one military history museum in the nation. They recently added a Grand Hall at the museum which can be reserved for 250 to 300 individuals at no cost. If you have a group that is interested, please contact Tommy.
The Museum is located at Camp Shelby, which has been an active military training base for the past 102 years. It went into service during World War I. Military units from across the nation continue to use the base for their training. Tommy reports that 8,000 troops from the state of Alaska will be at Camp Shelby for the next three months. He says the economic impact of their visit will be in the millions of dollars for our area.
Although the museum was founded to be a Camp Shelby museum, its goal now is to collect, preserve, and share the stories of both Mississippi veterans and those who trained in Mississippi during times of war. Exhibits now include the Vietnam War and the Global War on Terror. They recently erected a Gold Star Monument, the first in the state, honoring the families of veterans lost in conflicts.
The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. Admission is free, although you do have to have a photo ID to get into Camp Shelby. Tommy says they are planning a large Memorial Day celebration next year and asked that we put the date on our calendar.
The museum is almost totally funded by the Mississippi National Guard. A foundation was recently formed to help with fundraising. There are sixteen employees, one-half of which are contracted part-time employees. Tommy says he can sometimes use troops who are on base to help with special projects.
To learn more about the Mississippi Armed Forces Museum call 601-558-2757 or visit their website at www.armedforcesmuseum.us.
Steven thanked those who attended today and then adjourned the meeting with our motto, Service Above Self.