BRITISH INVADE FORT RODMAN

What’s this?  During the weekend of August 18-19, Fort Taber Historical Association, in conjunction with the City of New Bedford, will host a Grand Encampment of Revolutionary War soldiers at Fort Taber Park.  Four hundred re-enactors from the northeastern United States will set up two authentic military camps representing the Americans with their French allies and the British with their Hessian allies.  A number of naval forces will also be represented.
            The entertainment will include a Fife and Drum Corps, a Bagpipe Band, and Colonial musicians who will perform period music for singing and dancing.  Everyone is invited to participate.
            Fort Rodman, the Military Museum and the camps, will be open for touring.  On Saturday and Sunday afternoons there will be a large scale Revolutionary War battle demonstration on the Great South Lawn.  Inside the Fort will be colonial era displays.  Sutlers (dealers of period goods) will conduct their business in front of Battery Wolcott.

MUSEUM BECOMES NEW DESTINATION FOR TOURISTS

2006 has been an eventful year for the Military Museum.  We have had nearly ten thousand visitors since the opening of the Museum in the Fall of 2004.  People from all over the United States and foreign countries tell us how impressed they are to see all the pictures of men and women from the area that served in our military displayed amid the many artifacts that have been loaned or donated to us from wars dating back to the Civil War.  It has been said that there is a personal feeling to our museum that really touches you as you “travel” along our “time-line” from the Revolutionary War right up to the present day.  There is also a section dedicated to all who are currently serving, whether it is in Iraq, Afghanistan, at home or in another country.  
To date we have 425 donors.  When you think that many of those donors haven’t brought us one, but many items, you begin to get a picture of how much material we have on display.  It is amazing the things that have been hidden away in attics, closets and under beds for years and are now in the museum where others can see items such as uniforms, firearms, flags, letters, medals, and old albums filled with newspaper clippings lovingly cut out and glued on pages along with pictures and mementos.  We have one album that dates to the Civil War.  Believe me, it is awesome to hear the stories that go with each item a veteran or family member decides to dust off and bring to us for display.  It is really something to actually see and touch history rather than just read about it. 
Every donation is important to us, but in 2006 we received a couple that stand out.  Paul Glossop donated over 60 models of planes and 30 ship models that he had built over the years.  They are shown in beautiful lighted display cases hand-crafted by his son. They are in our library and have become a favorite of all the visitors, whatever age.  Paul also gave us his collection of plates depicting many military planes and military scenes.  The Library has become the place to show off many of our photos and paintings of Air Force planes since we acquired Paul’s models.  One of our volunteers brought us a photo of a Stealth Bomber that is signed by Col. Paul “Nuke” Tibbets, Commander of the 393rd Bomb Squadron and grandson of Paul Tibbets, pilot of the Enola Gaye, the plane that dropped the Atom-Bombs on Japan. 

   Paul Glossop and his models

UPCOMING FTHA/MUSEUM EVENTS

May 11            Atwater-Donnelly Concert
May 26-28       Memorial Day Observance
August 18-19   Grand Revolutionary WarEncampment

November 11   4th Annual Veterans’ Appreciation Day

   3rd Annual Atwater Donnelly Concert
This year, the Atwater-Donnelly Trio, American folk musicians and Kevin Doyle, step-dancer, will perform at the Pulaski School on Braley Road, New Bedford, May 11th at 7:00 .P.M. Tickets are available for purchase at the Museum or call John McCoy at 5089-990-0457.

SMILE, WE HAVE A CAMERA!

Last year we purchased a digital camera.  Now, when family members come in to view their loved one’s display, we are able to take their pictures. Just one more way to show our appreciation to donors.  The camera will also be used to photograph each item in the museum to further enhance our cataloging system.

The family of the late Ellsworth Cunningham proudly displays his medals

HIGHLIGHTING PAST EVENTS

• In November of 2005 we had a Special Exhibit on the 60th anniversary of the end of WW II

• February 2006 Black History Month produced an abundance of local history that overflowed the Library Room.  John Kennedy spoke on the Tuskagee airmen, an all-black Army Air Corps Unit,  at an event we  co-hosted with the N. B. Historical Society.

• Capt Brad Luther, renowned local diver and former operator of the Cuttyhunk ferry Alert, donated all of his diving artifacts.  A marvelous addition for which we are very grateful.

• Also donated, were the papers of Maj. Gen. John P. Lucas, including his diary from the Anzio Campaign in WW II, and a personal letter signed by Gen. Geo. P. Patton.

• The Merchant Mariners corner is growing, but we need more local material and names of area men who have served over the years.  There is a plaque on the wall where you are able to have an inscribed nameplate attached honoring any Merchant Mariner for a mere $10.00.  Stop by for a visit and fill out the paperwork!

• Recently Joseph Botelho donated a spectacular collection of Civil War cannons that he handcrafted of metal and wood, which is on display in the Library. 

• Following the dedication of the Vietnam Monument on the west side of Fort Rodman, many Nam vets gathered around our Vietnam displays where they signed our “Welcome Home, Brother” book and placed pins on the map to show where and in which branch of the military they served.

Dedication of Vietnam Monument
September 17, 2006

Dedication of the

Exercise Tiger Tank MEMORIAL

April 28, 2007

The Library currently displays all of the material brought from the Andrew-Dahill Post giving the history of Exercise Tiger.  On April 28, 1945 the Germans came upon 8 LST’s loaded with personnel.  We lost 749 men that day as they were preparing for D-Day, which took place June 6, 1945 at Normandy.  The City of New Bedford moved the Sherman tank that serves as a monument to that fateful day and positioned it across from the Museum.  Plans are for the tank to sit on an oval pad with a star representing each loss of life and a lifesaver representing each LST.  The dedication ceremony will be held on April 28, 2007.