The story of the military museum in Rimersburg began 75 years ago in the jungles of New Guinea, where on July 22, Pfc. Donald Lobaugh earned the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Lobaugh joined the Army in May 1942. By July 22, 1944, he was serving as a private in the 32nd Infantry Division. On that day, near Afua, New Guinea, he single-handedly attacked an enemy machine gun emplacement, which was pinning down one platoon of his company.
The 19-year-old Lobaugh was killed in the attack and, on April 17, 1945, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. Above his grave in the Rimersburg Cemetery flies the powder blue Medal of Honor flag.
The museum is not about uniforms, but the people who wore those uniforms. Four uniforms greet visitors, each telling a story. A veteran of World War II who survived imprisonment by the Japanese donated the Navy uniform.
“What we try to do is not just honor them as a warrior, but as a person,” said Jim McCullough, who serves as the volunteer guide.
That goal is evidenced by a case containing items relating to the life of Lt. Albert Bell Henry.
“He was just a guy like you or me,” McCullough said. “We have his first grade report card and his varsity football letters.”
Resting near the photograph of Henry is a telegram informing his family that the “Thunderbolt” pilot had been killed in action over Germany.
In one corner of the museum is a tribute to men who served in the Civil War, including Capt. Jeremiah Brown, who won the Medal of Honor for storming a Confederate battery at Petersburg, Virginia.
The museum opened on Memorial Day 2007, McCullough said, and a survivor of Pearl Harbor was on hand to open the door.
McCullough said when the Southern Clarion County Development Corp. occupied the building, the organization had a small “restroom-sized room” in memory of those who served their country.
“When they moved out, they donated the building to us at no cost,” McCullough said. “We put the word out and people started bringing in their stuff. The people responded, and now we have a lot of stuff.”
McCullough describes Rimersburg as a “very patriotic town.”
“There are 326 veterans banners hanging from the electric poles here. We’ve run out of poles,” he said. “We could do more if we had more funding. We would like to expand because we are at our limit now.”