1

Museum Musing A publication of the US Army JFK Special Warfare Museum Association

February 2019 - Volume 23, Issue 1

Please visit our new museum location directly across from the JFK Chapel

Building #2815 Corner of Ardennes and Zabitosky

store@jfkwebstore.com

find us on the web www.jfkwebstore.com

P.O. Box 70060, Fort Bragg, NC 28310-5000 Store: 910-436-2366

Individual Highlights:

Director’s News 1 & 2

PSYOP Article 2 Treasurer News 3 Gift Store /Secretary News 3 Curator’s News 3 Memberships & Contributions 4

Director’s News It never is quiet at the Museum, but beginning in Au-gust, we were especially busy. A museum, although not usually considered so, is part of the service industry, committed to serving the community. In the last news-letter, I described the month-long exhibit celebrating the 100th anniversary of PSYOP. This was followed up by an exhibit on Operation Enduring Freedom for the USAJFKSWCS Fall Formal. We lost a long museum supporter and former presi-dent of the JFK Special Warfare Museum Association in the late 1990s, MG Sid Shachnow (USA Retired). We were honored that the family asked us to mount an ex-hibit of some of his memorabilia at the memorial service held in Southern Pines. Sid was an extraordinary mix of military leadership, good humor, and faith in the hu-man spirit, especially when considering the benefit of hope. In November, in conjunction with the 100th anniver-sary of Armistice Day, we put out 1,890 red pinwheels in

front of the JFK Chap-el and JFK Museum. Although somewhat eccentric, it played to the quirky side of your museum. The pin-wheels with black cen-ters were our version of the poppies of Flan-ders Field, and the number represented

the 1890 SOF members who have made the ultimate sacrifice since 1952. Their whirring sound captured those walking to and from the Dining Facility and prompted questions. You can see photos of it in the USA JFK Special Warfare Center and School Facebook page. (continued on page 2)

2

By Doug Elwell

During August 2018, the Psychological Operations Regiment recognized the 100th anniversary of the formal use of Psychologi-cal Operations by the U.S. Army. The celebration kicked off on 01 August 2018 with a

presentation at the JFK Auditorium. The event began with remarks from COL Robert A. B. Curris, Commandant of the PSY-OP Regiment and CSM (R) Neil Heupel, President of the PSYOP Regimental Association and the Hon-orary Sergeant Major of the PSYOP Regiment. Dr.

Jared Tracy, PSYOP His-torian, USASOC History Office was the guest speaker. The celebration would not have been com-plete without the tradi-tional cake cutting and refreshment to close the event. The JFK Special Warfare Museum spon-sored a display of related artifacts at the JFK Spe-cial Warfare Center and

School in the lobby of the JFK Auditorium. The ex-hibit included PSYOP items used in conflicts from World War I to cur-rent times.

PSYOP Celebrates 100 Years

We are bidding farewell to Jessica Lambertz Witek. The US Army Center of Military History contract for which she works ends 31 December. For the last year, she has been synch-ing donor and jacket files with the Army Historical Collection Automated System (AHCAS). Her meticulous attention has resulted in reducing our backlog simultaneous to cleaning up our database. This will stand us in good stead in the upcoming year, greatly enhancing our ability to maintain and manage the collec-tion. She was also instru-mental in our acquisition of the Land Warfare Lab collection from the US Army Ordnance Museum and the preservation of items in both the perma-nent and off-site exhibits. Finally, I would like to thank our volunteers who have helped us this year. Before moving to Arizona, Tommie Gilbreath was our rock. Ms. Gudrun Blackmon has been scan-ning our donor docu-ments for input into ACHAS as well as helping with our pinwheel pop-pies and our Christmas tree decorated with our memorial ball ornaments. Special Forces Chapter 6 came in October to assist us to complete the quar-terly biennial inventory of our collection. We hope they will continue to visit each quarter because it is incredible how much you can get done in a morning

by folks who are interest-ed in their history. MAJ Roland Ramirez (USA Re-tired). volunteered his expertise in photo-graphing Len Whistler’s extensive patch and flash collection as well as docu-menting 7th SFG (A) dedi-cation ceremony of its headquarters to COL Roger H. C. Donlon (USA Retired). As we continue to work on restoring the museum gal-leries this new year, we are committed to MG Linder’s vision of inte-grating the evolving trends of technology, thereby enhancing the way visitors experience exhibits. It is a work in progress since we are at-tempting to devise meth-ods where both manual interactives with new technologies co-exist yet inspire, as well as create active learning, providing a unique way to appreci-ate our remarkable regi-mental histories. Here is to 2019!!

Until the next Musings,

Roxanne

Director’s News (continued)

MC Honored

The Infidels Motor-cycle Club has dis-tinguished them-selves year after year in support of our association and the JFK Special Warfare Museum. In October they at-tended an event at the museum and were recognized for their significant effort each year organizing and conducting the 9/11 motorcycle run.

3

Dear members/customers, The storm (Florence) flooded the under ground main phone line cable, so we had no phone service until 23 October. we now have two dedicated lines that is working great, one for voice mail and one for credit card, we have hired Spectrum to be our server. We thank you all for your support. The online store jfkwebstore.com has helped keep Becky and I busy. We can put any existing logo's on clothing items, so please contact us for any special orders. We are open from 11-4 Monday-Friday (CLOSED MOST FEDERAL HOLIDAYS THAT FALL ON MONDAYS) 910-436-2366; jfkwebstore.com; e-mail: store@jfkwebstore.com

Betty & Becky

The Gift Store Corner Curator’s Exhibit

Treasurer News

As 2018 has passed into history, I would like to thank all those that donated to the Museum Association. We wel-come any input as to the future for the use of donations other than maintaining the basic function of the Associa-tion since most of the donations were directed towards a new building which now is not to be. The Army will allo-cate space for museum use (minimal) until they decide to build a separate building. God bless and keep you all safe this new year 2019. Gift Shop as of December 31, 2018: $777.25 General Fund as of December 31, 2018: $14,684.34 Wells Fargo Account as of December 31, 2018: $46,342.04

Benny

The artifacts in the photo below were used by Cap-

tain Kyle M. Walton during Operation Commando Wrath otherwise known as the Battle of Shok Val-

ley. The battle took place in Afghanistan on April 6, 2008. The mission was to take out high-level tar-

gets of the insurgent force Hezb-e Islami political party founded by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, past Prime

Minister of Afghanistan who had been stockpiling

weapons in a fortress style village in Shok Valley since the Russian invasion of Afghanistan in the

1980s.

US Army ODA 3336 and ODA 3312 along with Af-

ghan Commandos fought for 6.5 hours and called in approximately 70 airstrikes, killing between 150-

200 insurgents in the battle. Eventually, the in-jured teams required extraction from their mission.

All members of the ODAs were wounded, and two Afghan Commandos were killed, including one in-

terpreter.

Carrie

Captain Kyle M. Walton exhibit

Secretary News

Where has the past year gone! The Museum and Gift Shop relocated, and SWCS students are attending class in new buildings. There are some of us that can re-member when Bank Hall was opened, we called it the NAF (New Academic Facility), just look at how all three branches have grown since then! With this coming year, your Association is exploring ideas for increasing membership, partnering for fund-

raisers, and possibly bringing back a popular item for the gift shop. More on this in the coming months as the

board discusses costs for reproduction. As always, your ideas are welcome along with volunteers to be the lead/

assist on projects.

Russ

4

Infidels MC 9/11 Ride Lynette Lightfoot John Bristow Roy Hill Mr & Mrs Rivera Fidelity Charitable Trust

Willis M. Holden

Contributions Memberships James Cragg Richard V. Carlson CW4 Peter J. McDermott Estevan Rodriguez Life Membership Richard Watley Life Membership Steven M. Swierkowski Life Membership David S. Langfellow Life Membership Ernest J. Lenz Life Membership

John R. Morton donated IMO SGT La David Johnson, SFC Christopher Celiz, & SGM Christopher Nelms

Kenneth Andrew Segelhorst donated IMO SSG Liam J. Nevins

J. L. "Hawk" Holloway, Jr. donated IMO MSG Tom McLemore

Nancy C. Pond & Family donated IMO SGM Jerry R. Pond Sr.

Marguerite Sayre donated IMO Edward C. Sayre

Stanley H. Shank donated IMO Jimmy Adams

Anne H. Aycock donated IMO LTC Charles A. Aycock

Donald Gummongs donated IMO SGM Donald West KIA VN 1973

Francis G. Boisseau donated IMO Rolf E. Rickmers

Ernest J. Lenz donated IMO COL Vladimir Sobichevsky & SGT Bob Wirt

Ernest J. Lenz donated IMO LTC John Chin & MSG Thomas “Doc” Green

Robert & Karen Seijas donated IMO Edward C. Sayre

Robert N. Silva donated IMO Henry Y. Chong

William Gephart donated IMO SGM Billy Nelson

Harold A. Pilotto donated IMO MSG James “Smokey” Taylor

In Memory of

Memberships & Contributions

The US Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Museum Association board will suspend the yearly Jimmy Dean scholar-

ship until further notice.

Are you looking for a fun and fulfilling way to serve your community? We would like you to volunteer as an official member

of our board of directors. We have positions open that have left a gap in our service to the museum and our community. We

have granted over $287,000.00 in scholarships so far and to continue this we need your support. We also have the Member-

ship Chair position open and Assistant Treasurer position available.

Please support the gift shop. When you support the gift shop, you are supporting the history of our regiments and our muse-

um.

The Museum Musings is the official publication of the US Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Museum Association.

The opinions expressed by the writers and editor are entirely their own and are not to be considered as an official expression

of the JFK Special Warfare Museum or the Department of the Army and is published four times a year. Send submissions to

the Editor before the 20th of January, April, July, and October.

The Editor