Army and Navy, the nation's two oldest military academies, are the focus of a new exhibit titled "Elite Leadership" at the Faith, Family and Country Heritage Museum in Branson West.
West Point, the oldest continuously occupied regular army post in the nation, was established in 1803 while the Naval Academy, second oldest of the five service academies, formed in 1845.
A centerpiece of the exhibit is an Army Cadet uniform from the West Point Class of 1952, a graduating class that produced two future astronauts in America's early space program - Michael Collins and Edward White.
Collins finished 185th out of 527 Army cadets in the 1952 class. Opting to join the Air Force, he served as a fighter pilot for several years before transitioning into the Gemini Space Program as part of the third group of astronauts. During Apollo 11, America's first manned mission to the Moon, Collins was in charge of the Command Module Columbia. He died in 2021 at the age of 90.
White became the first man to walk in space in 1965, spending 23 minutes outside his space capsule during the second Gemini mission. His NASA career ended tragically in 1967 during a simulation aboard the Apollo spacecraft on the launchpad at Florida's Kennedy Space Center when a flash fire inside the capsule killed White and fellow astronauts Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee. It was the first fatal accident directly attributed to the American space program.
Museum director and historian Jim Zbick said the heritage museum recently obtained a 1952 copy of the Howitzer, the West Point yearbook which includes information on White and Collins as cadets. Another yearbook recently gifted to the museum is a 1946 Naval Academy volume that includes two other notable American leaders - James Earl Carter, who would become 39th President, and Walter Schirra, another future astronaut.
In 1946, Carter graduated early in the top 10 percent of his class through an accelerated war program. He was preparing to become the engineering officer for one of the first atomic powered submarines when his father died in July 1953.
Carter resigned from the Navy and returned to Plains, GA, to manage his family interests. In 1976 he became the only Annapolis graduate to attain the office of the presidency.
U.S. Grant and Dwight Eisenhower, two West Point graduates who went on to become U.S. President, are also featured in museum exhibits.
Another display focuses on a key World War II battle that added to the fame of the 101st Airborne Division's "Screaming Eagles." After the Germans attacked in the Ardennes Forest on Dec. 16, 1944, soldiers from the 101st rushed into Bastogne, Belgium, to defend the crucial crossroads town. When the German general demanded surrender from the encircled 101st, Gen. Anthony McAuliffe, a 1918 West Point graduate, asked for suggestions from his staff on how to reply.
Lt. Col. Harry Kinnard, a 1939 West Point graduate, suggested that McAuliffe respond with "Nuts!" a word he had first used when told about the German advance. Other staff members agreed with the one-word reply and the expression became instant legend in the annals of military history.
Art work on Bastogne and Kinnard's personal helmet liner accent the Elite Leadership exhibit at the Branson West Museum.
The Faith, Family and Country Heritage Museum, located at 15025 Business Highway 13, is open 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Sunday through Friday. Tours can be scheduled by calling 484-464-5059.
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