For those who served
RIMERSBURG — History is about looking back and remembering our past. That is why the Donald R. Lobaugh War Museum was opened recently in Rimersburg.
The museum on Main Street is about honoring local soldiers who were killed in action, according to Jim McCullough, president of the Rimersburg Veterans Memorial Park and owner and operator of the museum.
"This museum was opened for the men on the wall and all the others who served their country to be remembered by," he said.
The museum features wall-to-wall artifacts from the end of the War of 1812 up to the Korean War. Many items in the collection were donated in memory of soldiers from the community.
Thirty of the local soldiers killed in action are depicted in photographs on one wall. Three who were Medal of Honor recipients include Jeremiah Brown from the Civil War, the Rev. Conrad Henry from World War I, and the person for whom the museum is named, World War II soldier Donald Lobaugh.
Pfc. Ross A. McGinnis, of Knox, who died in combat in December in Iraq, has been recommended for the medal, the most prestigious award given to soldiers for valor.
The oldest artifact in the museum is a Fowler rifle with the attached bayonet, from the Battle of New Orleans, the final battle of the War of 1812.American forces fought under Col. Andrew Jackson, who later became a U.S. President.According to McCullough, the rifle traveled up and down the Mississippi River in 1816.World War I items include a doughboy uniform and helmet, a bugle, gas masks, a locker and dog tags.A few of the items from World War II include a German Nazi flag brought back from Europe, German knives and daggers and several rifles.The rifles come from Russia, Italy, Japan, Finland and Poland.The flag was brought back from Europe by Charles Beers, a local soldier who later lived in Tionesta. Since he was a member of the Navy and never served on land, how Beers came in contact with the flag is unknown."Beers' son said that he probably won the flag in some sort of poker game or bet," McCullough said.The museum also contains several World War II uniforms and a 48-star flag from 1958.
Relics from the Civil War include an 1861 Springfield rifle owned by MajorJeremiah Brown, who fought at the siege of Petersburg, McCullough said.According to the Medal of Honor Web site, Brown and 100 selected volunteers, assaulted and captured the enemy works at St. Petersburg.McCullough said there were 1.7 million of the Springfield rifles produced. A good soldier could fire the rifle 10 times in five minutes while hitting a 2-square-foot target six out of ten times at a distance of 100 yards, he said."But that was a good soldier," he noted, explaining rifles in those days were less accurate than today's.A self-proclaimed history nut, McCullough also is a veteran of the Navy. He served on the U.S.S. Intrepid out of Norfolk, Va.He opened the museum when the Southern Clarion County Development Corporation vacated the space to move to a smaller location.Admission to the museum is free.The facility is staffed with volunteers and funded by grants, donations, fundraising and rent from the two apartments upstairs.The museum will be open from 1 to 5 p.m. on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays through October. It will reopen in April.For more information, call 814-473-2279.
