Saying goodbye to a part of Kentucky's History

    On Sunday, Nov. 15, 2009, Doris Averett lost her son to a motorcycle accident that occurred on 31W (Dixie Highway) in front of the United States Gold Bullion depository at Fort Knox Kentucky. Doris’s son Thomas was a decorated Vietnam War veteran and former Marine. What would you do if you woke up one day and someone or something that you have known and loved for 5, 10 or maybe even 30 years or more of your life was suddenly taken away from you?  I don’t think that I have ever had to ask myself that question before. Sure, we all have lost loved ones in our lifetimes, we all know that is one of those inevitable things about life we cannot change. I lost my grandparents to natural causes, and I have also lost fellow comrades to roadside bombs and insurgent snipers in Iraq. So think about losing something that is non living but is considered invaluable or priceless ? How large a space could that leave in your life? How would Doris Averett who has already endured unimaginable grief, react to this also?

    Doris Averett was 17 years old when she first came to Fort Knox in 1974, she came from Fort Drum New York with her husband who was a soldier in the Army. A year later in 1975 she started working at the Patton Museum gift shop. “I originally started working in the gift shop,” said Doris,” but I was moved to the front office as a secretary whenever the secretary position in the office went vacant, old dependable Doris they called me,” she said with a slight smirk. Doris has been working for the Patton Museum now for over 35 years and is the employee with the most tenure there. I was lucky that someone with her longevity with the museum was there for me to talk to and record her experience.

    Personally, until several years ago I have always been one of those people who have taken history for granted. Don’t get me wrong, over the years history has interested me at times I suppose, but now as an adult I would truly love to be able to talk to my grandparents about their childhood experiences growing up and much more. As a youngster, I may have visited a museum or two during grade school field trips, I can’t remember much about those places because my main interest was science fiction; I was by far a Star Wars junkie for most of my childhood. Yet now as an adult I appreciate things a whole lot more. Now history intrigues me, I love to read about ancient battles going back as far as the Roman Legions and even further back to ancient Greece.

    The Patton Museum on Fort Knox offers a lot of that rich military history I crave.  It was in 1999 when I first visited the Patton Museum; today that seems like an eternity ago. Back then I had volunteered to go to Fort Knox to perform one of the most difficult duties of my career, drill instructor. The arduous nine weeks of training in Missouri that prepared me for this assignment had left its lasting impression upon me and I was ready to in turn make my impression upon others with this newly acquired enlightenment. I remember the museum being a distinguished and somewhat exalted place, in some respects I think it was due to the immense gravity of the history it represented.   I was glad to see that the Patton Museum was still here at Fort Knox and had not been moved to Fort Benning Georgia as rumored, there had speculation that the museum could leave as soon as 2010. When the Associated Press finally released the news, "Patton museum to remain on grounds of Fort Knox." Altoona Mirror [Altoona, PA] 26 Feb.2006: D6. Print, a lot of people were happy. Doris Averett and I were just a couple of those people.

Armor Memorial Park, 17th Cavalry memorial. 24 Jun. 2011

    Just outside the museum sits the Armor Memorial Park which at first glance looks like a cemetery with its precisely arranged marble monuments, some of which seem to loom over ten feet tall in stature. The park is impressive, yet it seemed vaguely familiar, its monuments are superlative and absolute, their flawless shapes and achromatic shades of gray and white remind me of the monuments at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery. I visited Arlington Cemetery and the Tomb of the unknowns in 1990,  nearly a decade prior to my first visit to the Patton Museum in 1999. I can still remember everything from the changing of the guard with its impeccable uniforms and precise rifle drill motions to the sheer perfect look and immaculate feel of the marble used in the building of the monuments there. It is not surprising that the tomb and many other monuments there at Arlington were constructed with only the finest marble from the Yule Marble Quarry in Marble Colorado.

    Still stuck in that 1990 time zone I also reminisced about the time just a week prior to that visit in Arlington when I had been assigned to travel to a small town in Kansas whose name I can no longer remember, to take part in a ceremony to help place a massive yellow ribbon around an oak tree in the middle of the towns square. The yellow ribbon was a patriotic symbol used to remind everyone who saw it not to forget about those who had gone off to war and had not yet returned. At that time Desert Storm was well underway and I remember the town folk gravitating around me as if I were this powerful magnet. I shook many hands and humbly accepted a multitude of thanks and gratitude for my service that day, I also listened to various stories from the elder gentlemen vets, most of whom with fire and splendor in their eyes recounted the exploits of their military service some many years and wars ago. As I listened to their exploits, I remember feeling so proud in my Dress Blue uniform, with its crisp seams and shiny buttons, the sparse medals and ribbons I did have, must have paled in comparison to the massive amount of combat medals that these gentlemen have earned in wars prior to my birth.

    As my mind moved forward again to 1999, I recount one warm day I spent outside of the museum in the Memorial Park. I along with several of my peers were assigned to act as host to past veterans of our present unit, our unit was now a Basic Combat Training Unit, designed to take raw civilians aged 17 to 38 directly off of the street and transform them over the course of nine weeks to combat ready soldiers. Our unit now devoid of any Tanks and Armor that once gave our mighty regiment the title of mechanize infantry was the intense source of interest for wayward veterans who once wore the patch and drove the tanks that gave the unit its storied past. The veterans were from various times in the past, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.  Just as I listened to the veterans as a young soldier in Kansas, the veterans at this reunion were more than happy to delight me with the same type of wondrous and exciting tales of valor and hardship that I thoroughly enjoyed.

1949-Opening of Gen. Patton Museum. 30 May. 1949

    During my first visit to the Patton museum in 1999,  I remember seeing more tanks there than I could  have ever imagined, I mean it was an awesome site to see so many armored vehicles that had been preserved and placed on display. The time, energy, man-hours and money it took to keep those vehicles looking the way they did was mind boggling. Although the building is formally named the General George S Patton Museum, it has simply become fondly known as the Patton Museum. The Patton Museum was originally opened in 1949, its purpose was not only to honor the famous general to which it was aptly named, but also to preserve many of the historical artifacts and archival items related to Mechanized Cavalry and Armor.

    But today, over 95% of the tanks, artillery guns and vehicles are now gone. They have either been warehoused for storage and eventual shipping to Fort Benning Georgia or they have already been shipped. “I don’t like the new transformation, I don’t really understand it,” said Doris. “When you walk back there and don’t see the tanks and stuff it is very sad.” Doris said she remembers coming into work one day and seeing lines of truck taking away all of the tanks. “Armor and Cavalry has been at Fort Knox for years and all of a sudden in 2010, it’s just like everything was out of here, it brought tears to my eyes, because I was here and saw the museum grow. Now with all of the tanks and stuff gone, you kind of feel like you lost something.” Doris is not the only one who has expressed their sorrow in seeing most of the Armor and Cavalry exhibits go, I too feel the loss that comes with an expectation that can no longer be met. I have read blogs on the Internet from returning visitors who have also stated that the tanks which seemed to make the museum so much of what it was, are now gone forever.

    Doris remembers that the exhibits are not the only things about the old Patton Museum that she misses. “Over the years I’ve met a lot of interesting people coming in here, we used to have volunteers in the gift shop.” Doris is referring to the plethora of volunteers that seemed to trail off about 10 years ago around the same time as Sep. 11, 2011. “They were mostly Colonels and Captains wives, “stated Doris, “I met a lot of other interesting people through them.” Doris remembers when the Generals wives would invite her and the other volunteer wives to monthly luncheons and get together at their homes. “I really miss those times,’ says Doris, “it seems as though the majority of the wives left during one big turn over, and other than that I don’t know why the volunteers stopped coming.”

    From my point of view I could see where 911 could have been the catalyst for change in the volunteer program at the museum; I personally saw the military change greatly while I was still actively serving back then. I think that it would be impossible for anyone who can remember before 911 to say that the world around them did not change after that day. I asked Doris if she knew anything about the museum at Fort Benning where all of the tank exhibits were to go. “I don’t think that they even have the new museum built yet, so they will probably go into storage some place,” she stated. Doris’s opinion of the new Patton Museum transformation could be summed up with this statement she made, “The new museum will probably be nice when they finish it, but it won’t be the same to me, it’s sad, but that’s just how it is.”

    Remembering how talking about the luncheons and the volunteer wives seemed to strike a good cord with Doris, I asked her if there were there any other instances that she would like to share that made an impression on her. “In the early 80’s they moved the Patton tank and I got to ride in it,” she said. “We started down on main post from a building near the Burger King and drove it on the road to towards the museum here, but before we actually got here to the museum, it broke down on Chaffee drive. One of the soldiers caught a ride from someone and left to go get fuel for the tank, the driver and I just sat up top of the tank and waved to everyone that went by; it was really a thrilling time for me.” I will look for the picture that I have of us on that tank, it was so much fun and impressive to me that I got to ride the Patton Tank.” She stated.

Doris Averett. 24 Jun. 2011

     I asked Doris which of the museum exhibits over the years have made the biggest impression in her opinion. ‘I would have to say that the Elvis Presley exhibit was probably the biggest one during its time. After being here two years, the owners insisted that they be returned, because originally we were only scheduled to have it for one year.” The Elvis Presley exhibit was featured in an Associated Press article, Army Puts Elvis back in Uniform.: Daily News-Record [Harrison, PA] 25 Mar. 2004: 7. Print. I. The AP had reported that in 2004 an exhibit honoring Elvis Presley’s enlisted service time in the United States Army during the late 1950’s was on display for one year at the Patton Museum. The article reported how the King of Rock and Roll was being honored with an exhibit featuring photo’s, video interviews, various documents and the actual uniforms worn by Elvis during his two year enlistment.

    Nearing the end of my visit, I took some pictures of Doris and thanked her for sharing her memories and taking the time out of her busy schedule for me. She thanked me for stopping by and reminded me that she would look for the picture of her on the Patton Tank.


Conclusion.

All of the Armor and Cavalry exhibits need to stay at Fort Knox and should not go to Fort Benning Georgia. Starting in 2010 over 95% of the Armor and Cavalry exhibits were removed from the Fort Knox Patton museum and were either placed in storage awaiting shipment to Fort Benning Georgia, or have already shipped.  The Army’s explanation is because the Armor and Cavalry Center which was formerly at Fort Knox has now moved to Fort Benning Georgia, which is already the home of the United States Infantry. The Tanks at the Patton Museum have never been connected to the Armor Center in the first place, so there is no reason that they should go with the Armor Center to Georgia.  The Cavalry and Armor Exhibits have been at the Patton Museum at Fort Knox since its opening in 1949, countless volunteer hours and personal donations from Kentuckians have been spent to preserve the exhibits. Moving any of the exhibits to Fort Benning which is already the home of infantry and which previously had no real connection to Armor or Cavalry is not fair to Kentuckians, veterans and enthusiasts who have enjoyed the countless exhibits for over 60 years now. I strongly recommend that the exhibits be moved back to Fort Knox, the original home of Cavalry and Armor as soon as possible. 

Works Cited:
Averett, Doris. Personal interview. 24 Jun. 2011
Associated Press. Altoona Mirror [Altoona, PA] 26 Feb.2006: D6. Print
Associated Press. Army Puts Elvis back in Uniform.: Daily News-Record [Harrison, PA] 25 Mar. 2004: 7. Print. I.