Sunday, October 23, 2011

Currahee Military Museum in Toccoa, GA

Had a great time this weekend in Toccoa, GA.  After finishing up at the Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief Conference, I spent sometime looking around Toccoa and decided to visit the Currahee Military Museum right downtown by the train station.  What a treasure.  I got there right when they opened at 10:00 and was greeted by a great volunteer staff who really made me feel welcome.  They are so proud of what they've accomplished there at the museum as well they should be.

Me and a couple of other fellas got a personal guided tour of the place!  All 6000 square feet of it.  The museum highlights the history of Toccoa and it's many notable hometown celebrities.  They have a great collection of artifacts and memorabelia.  But the main focus of the museum is on the rich history of the paratroop regiment that trained at Camp Toccoa in WWII.  You may recall this from the films, "The Dirty Dozen", "Saving Private Ryan", and the series "Band of Brothers".  Wow, do they have alot of stuff in that museum!  They have done an awesome job of documenting the importance of Camp Toccoa and the Paratroop companies that trained there and later fought across Europe. 

I spent a couple of hours there and really enjoyed talking with the staff.  I highly recommend it.  You can see more about the museum at thier website http://www.toccoahistory.com/.










One of the paratrooper displays

This is the stable that Easy Company slept in in England.  Read about it on the website.

Movies that highlight the importance of Camp Toccoa

Neat old switchboard

T-shirt that the paratroops wore

Radios always catch my attention!

One of dozens of uniforms on display in the museum


More uniforms

Another view of the stable brought over from England

Another radio

Outside the museum looking toward the county courthouse