Military service is more than going to war and fighting for one’s country, it is traveling the world and building lifelong friendships with their battle buddies. Once soldiers leave the military they disperse back across America to where they grew up and their memories of this camaraderie are found in letters, photographs, and challenge coins.
Looking through memorabilia from one’s military days can bring up a lot of emotions for a veteran. An object that looks ordinary to a civilian may remind a veteran of a friend that never made it home, a random assignment they couldn’t tell their family and friends about, or it can simply make them remember the time their whole platoon went out for a fun night in Kaiserslautern, Germany. Holding onto trinkets that preserve these memories helps veterans tell their military story in an extremely personal way.
Aside from personal memorabilia, often times when soldiers separate from the military they are sent home with copious amounts of military gear and have no idea what to do with it all. Instead of storing it all in a closet collecting dust, some veterans have found success in donating their uniforms and other gear to U.S. military museums. This is a great way to showcase one’s military gear and help teach younger generations about military history and the wars fought by the generations before them.
In order to donate military artifacts, veterans or their family members need to fill out a simple artifact donation form and submit photographs of the items they want to donate. Checking with museums to see what their exhibits showcase can help veterans find a suitable museum to send their gear to as well. Museum worker Cindy Grebinoski said “museums often take more artifacts than they can display at once so they can change up exhibits throughout the year to keep things fresh and exciting for guests.”
Whether military memorabilia stays in a veteran’s home, gets passed down to their family members, or ends up in an exhibit at a museum, holding onto these memories matters. Keeping a record of the brave men and women who served and telling all of their stories preserves their place in history. These memories offer future generations a unique look into military history through the lens of those who served before them.
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