News

Delaware Military Museum to Host Military Heritage Day 7 November 2009

WILMINGTON Delaware:

Mark your calendars for a very special event to be held on Veteran’s Day weekend. On Saturday November 7th the Delaware
Military Heritage and Education Foundation will hold its first Military Heritage Day. This will be held on the museum grounds at
Fort DuPont State Park from 10 AM to 4PM and will include a cornucopia of exciting events. The Foundation will have displays
of antique military vehicles, re-enactors from most of the major periods of our military history, military music, parades and more.
If you are interested in collecting, buying, selling or swapping military memorabilia there will be plenty of dealers and vendors on
hand.

The Foundation plans an afternoon ceremony with a parade in review and a musket salute on the parade ground in front of the
museum. Governor Jack Markell has declared this week (8-14 November) to be Military Heritage Week in Delaware and we have
invited him to be on hand when we are presented the flag from the USS Cole, after it was struck by a terrorist attack, donated as
part of our permanent collection. “General Douglas MacArthur” will assist. A Coast Guard Cutter will also be in port.

Throughout the program the foundation will host seminar lectures by military historians inside the museum building. These will
include Nancy Lynch, author of “Vietnam Mailbag”, Wade Catts on the Battle of Coochs Bridge, Jan Churchill on Women in
Military Aviation, and Dave Rickman on Fort Miles.

This event is designed to honor all our military veterans and to celebrate their gallant accomplishments. It will include a display
by the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 83's Delaware Hometown Heroes Banner Program of the known servicemen killed
in action since the Southeast Asian War of Delaware Gold Star Families, that reside in Delaware. These banners depict the
photograph, name and service of each of these fallen heroes. We hope to incorporate these banners as part of our museum
displays in the future. We invite all uniformed military veterans to attend and we hope you will join us for this free event. See
attached schedule of events.

The Delaware Military Museum is at Fort DuPont State Park behind the flagpole at the head of the Parade Ground. Fort DuPont
is south of Delaware City on Route 9 at the northern end of the Reedy Point Bridge over the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal.

The Delaware Military Museum is a keystone project of the Delaware Military Heritage and Education Foundation, Inc. The
Delaware Military Heritage and Education Foundation collects and preserves material evidence associated with Delaware related
military units and individuals of all the uniformed services of the State and the United States, and interprets it so that coming
generations will understand the values of courage, loyalty and responsibility that inspire such service. More information on the
foundation can be found at www.MilitaryHeritage.org.
Contact: LTC (USAR Ret) Bill Conley, Event Coordinator, 302-559-5738, or e-mail at firststateantiquearms@comcast.net,
Interview contacts: LTG (DE Ret) William Duncan, Chairman, 302-656-0689 or e-mail at mgmdwhd@dca.net, or Brig Gen (DE
Ret) Kennard Wiggins, Executive Director, 410-398-0742, milheritage@aol.com

Schedule of Events, Delaware Military Heritage Day

Saturday November 7, 2009, Fort DuPont State Park, Delaware City DE

10:00                 Reenactment Unit Camps will be on display on the parade ground. Living history presentations of period
uniforms and equipment. Military Vintage Weapons Firing Demonstrations and Drill Team performances on the Parade Ground
throughout the day

10:00                 Vintage Military Vehicles will be on display on the parade ground.
World War II Veterans are encouraged to autograph Joe LaRosch's WWII period jeep.

10:00          Gold Star Association and Delaware Vietnam Veterans Memorial Banners will be on display at the Delaware Military
Museum.

10:00         Visit Building 91A/91B, the future home of the Delaware Military Museum Administrative Center and Archives. A
Military Swap Meet and market will be held inside.

11:00         Military History Speaker Series in the main museum building (PX/Gymnasium)
11:00         Jan Churchill " Delaware Women Pilots of World War II"
11:30          Nancy Lynch " Vietnam Mailbag” News Journal "

11:00          Parade grounds:
11:00                 Fort Delaware Re-enactors firing Demonstration
11:30                 Civil Air Patrol Drill Team Performance
12:00                 General Douglas MacArthur presentation
12:30                 261st Coast Artillery Firing Demonstration

1:00                 Parade (sequence subject to change)
                       Fifes and drums of the Delaware militia
                       VFW Post 475 color guard
                       William Penn High School JROTC Color Guard
                       Civil Air Patrol Color Guard and Drill Team
                       American Legion Posts of Delaware
                       Young U.S. Marine Corps ceremonial detail
                       Boy Scouts of America Color Guard
                       Gold Star Association Family Members
                       Sixth Maryland, Revolutionary War re-enactors
                       61st New York, a Fort Delaware Civil War Unit re-enactors
                       261st Coast Artillery Delaware National Guard
                       404 Army Air Corps re-enactors
                       78th Infantry Division re-enactors
                       World War II French resistance underground re-enactors
                       Delaware World War II “Fleck Headquarters” re-enactors
                       World War II Red Cross Nurses re-enactors
                       US Army re-enactors General Douglas MacArthur and his staff.

1:00          USS Cole flag Ceremony. The flag from the USS Cole will be presented to Delaware Governor Markell for the
Delaware Military Museum. Assisted by Delaware City Mayor John W. Martin, Lieutenant General (ret) William H. Duncan,
Chairman, Delaware Military Heritage and Education Foundation, and “General Douglas MacArther”.

2:00                  Military History Speaker Series Continues
2:00                 Wade Catts "The Delaware Militia in the American Revolution."
2:30                  David Rickman,   "A History of Ft Miles"