Visitors to the Gould Memorial Library on January 24 were fortunate to be able to view an exhibit of items from the Korean War. It was a one-day display consisting of authentic uniforms, weapons, and memorabilia utilized by American servicemen who served in Korea. Items on display were provided by Warren Chard, U.S. Navy retired, who has an extensive collection of American military memorabilia. A member of the VFW Post 8385 in Kingsland, Chard was assisted by other veterans. The principal organizer of the exhibit was Patrizia Stahle, who teaches history at CGCC, in cooperation with the director of libraries, Raymond Calvert.
Toward the end of fall semester 2000, a similar exhibit took place while students of American history were studying the Cold War and the war in Korea. The exhibit was meant to be another way of learning of the war rather than reading about it in a book. Students were excited, as many of them had relatives who had fought in Korea. The exhibit was so successful that it was repeated this semester for the general public as well. Several veterans who fought in Korea and who reside in Brunswick and on St. Simons Island visited the display.
All the equipment was in very good order even though much of it had been handed down from World War II. Clearly, the uniforms on display had been preserved very carefully.
Lots of interesting bits of information could be obtained through visiting the exhibit. For example, soldiers were paired with a �buddy�; they looked after each other and helped carry each other�s gear. Each buddy always had half of the other�s tent. If a soldier lost his �buddy,� he lost half of his house. Also, each soldier carried a backpack that included clothing, an ammo belt, half of the tools for a tent, an aluminum plate, spoon, fork, knife, frying pan, a trenching tool, an ax, and a soldier�s guide.
Among the weapons there were a bazooka, a machine gun, and rifles. One of the rifles could be converted into a grenade launcher by attaching a launcher mechanism to the end of the barrel. Instead of using live rounds, a soldier could shoot blanks from this rifle to activate the grenade launcher.
Perhaps the most interesting item in display was the flak vest, which was introduced by the Army for the first time in the Korean War. It was designed to deter shrapnel, but it really did not stop a bullet. Ever since, improvements have been made steadily until now, all American soldiers in combat wear a bulletproof vest.