Norman Schwarzkopf, then a lieutenant general, transfers his command jeep to Alan Archambault, director of the Lewis Army Museum, in 1987. (Photo courtesy of Alan Archambault)

The U.S. Army is looking to shutter more than two dozen military museums, including Washington’s “gem” at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Pierce County.

Lewis Army Museum is one of 29 facilities that the U.S. Army Center of Military History announced earlier this month will be closed or consolidated to direct more resources toward “readiness and lethality.”

“I’m really upset. I don’t think anybody is very keen on it,” said Tom Morgan, 88, a retired lieutenant colonel and vice president of the Friends of the Lewis Army Museum. “It is going to take a lot of political pressure to change this.”

Landing on the closure list was a surprise, said Megan Nishikawa, a volunteer who had a paid fellowship with Friends of the Lewis Army Museum.

“We didn’t think our museum would be on the chopping block,” she said. “Our museum is very special. It tells the story of Washington Army units and Washington soldiers. The things we have are treasures.”

As museum supporters spread word of the possible closure, the chair of a state legislative panel raised the issue Monday with the head of Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

“We have a gem in the Lewis Museum. It’s been around for 50 years, serving the public nobly and I’m concerned about the closure,” said state Rep. Mari Leavitt, D-University Place, in a meeting of the Joint Committee on Veterans’ and Military Affairs.

Col. Kent Park, the outgoing Joint Base Lewis-McChord garrison commander, said he learned of the closure plan from news stories. “Unfortunately, we were not necessarily consulted,” he told members of the bipartisan and bicameral committee.

From what he’s since learned, it appears the Lewis Army Museum won’t be affected before 2027.

“One key thing that we are trying to communicate back is that the Lewis Museum is not just a museum, it’s actually a training facility. We have soldiers training in that building. So one way or the other, we do see that building staying open,” he said.

Because of that, conversations are starting on the possibility of partnering with another local museum or volunteers to keep it going, he said.

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“Of course, that would require the exhibits and everything else to stay. We do not know if they intend to move any of those exhibits and other things that are there out of the museum,” he said. “We are pushing really hard to obviously leave that here. That’s the direction that we’re trying to push right now.”

A historic place

The building housing the Lewis Army Museum was originally built during World War I by the Salvation Army as a guest house, known as the Red Shield Inn, to accommodate soldiers and their families.

It was “sold” to the Army in 1921 for $1 and continued to be used as such until 1973, when it became the museum. In 1979, the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Outside the building, visitors can wander through the vehicle park where one will find a Stryker combat vehicle, Army tanks, missiles and more. Inside are displays of uniforms, weapons, military art and memorabilia associated with the U.S. Army.

In addition, the museum’s archives have documents, diaries, maps and other items related to the installation and the soldiers who trained there. A number of the items actually belonged to local veterans, and were donated in honor of their service, said Alan Archambault, who served as museum director from 1987 to 2007.

“Army Museums are the institutional memory of the Army as well as the installations and units they represent,” he said. “If the museum is closed, so much of value will be lost to posterity.”

Archambault acknowledged in an email that the primary mission of the Army is not to run museums.

“However, museums provide a very important service to the Army, providing training to today’s soldiers, honoring our veterans, and providing information to the American public about ‘their Army’,” he wrote. “I view the closure as an insult and breach of public trust to all those people who have donated memorabilia, money and volunteer hours to the museum.”

The plan

The Army Museum Enterprise will shrink from 41 museums at 29 locations to 12 field museums and four training support facilities at 12 locations, according to the Army’s June 4 announcement.

It is not due to the Department of Government Efficiency. Stars and Stripes reported that the move has been in the works for a while and the announcement said a “substantial maintenance backlog and insufficient staffing prevent our museums from reaching their fullest potential as educational and historical resources.”

“The consolidation plan ensures the widest possible access to the highest quality museums within available Army resources,” it reads.

If a museum closes, its collections, artifacts and equipment could be transferred to another museum or into storage at the museum support center at Anniston Army Depot in Alabama, which can house vehicles and aircraft, or at Fort Belvoir, in Virginia, which stores smaller items.

A closure list obtained by Task and Purpose, which reports on military-related issues, shows that in addition to the Lewis Army Museum, other museums targeted for closure include those at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico; Fort Stewart, Georgia; Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; Fort Carson, Colorado; Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; Fort Knox, Kentucky; Camp Humphreys in South Korea and the 2nd Cavalry Regiment Museum in Vilseck, Germany.

Archambault said the senior chain of command had suggested at least twice before closing Army museums or contracting them out. He noted the Army would face costs for inventorying, shipping and storing collections from the facilities if they are shuttered.

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This post was originally authored and published by Jerry Cornfield from Washington State Standard via RSS Feed. Join today to get your news feed on Nationwide Report®.