WICKLIFFE, Ky. (AP) — A museum honoring Kentucky military veterans is set to open in Wickliffe after nearly eight years in the works. The Kentucky Veterans and Patriots Museum will debut March 31. Museum organizer Sandy Hart told The Paducah Sun that the ceremony will coincide with a charter ceremony establishing the western Kentucky chapter of the Marine Corps League (https://bit.ly/yHu9kA ). Hart felt a sense of urgency to finish the museum for World War II veterans. “I don’t want any more of them to die without me having this open,” she said. The museum will be housed in the former Wickliffe Church of Christ building. Hart arranged to buy the facility after the congregation disbanded. Hart said the $150,000 purchase price will be paid off over time with funds raised from admissions, sales of memorial bricks and other contributions. Donations for the museum have allowed $20,000 to be paid off so far. “We’re hoping to have it paid off in a year or so,” Hart said. Veterans will be allowed in for free. Hart expects the museum to be open weekends and by appointment. The museum includes a mural of the Mississippi River, a model of Ballard County’s Revolutionary War fort, Fort Jefferson, a room dedicated to Vietnam veterans, and exhibits on the Tuskegee Airmen and Metropolis, Ill., native John Steele are also planned. Steele was the paratrooper made famous in the film “The Longest Day” after his parachute caught on a French church steeple during the D-Day invasion. “People are under the mistaken impression that this museum is going to be just for the World War II veterans,” Hart said. “It is not. It is for all the veterans and patriots since the beginning of Kentucky.” ___ Information from: The Paducah Sun, https://www.paducahsun.com
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