URBANA, Ill. (AP) - Ahead of the recent annual Navy ball at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center on the University of Illinois campus, Bill McLane spent a few hours setting up a display of various military artifacts from his collection.
Around the perimeter of the ballroom, the St. Joseph resident carefully handled various pieces on tables. Japanese medals from World War II, handheld air-raid sirens, a Morse code training device, Navy officer swords and even a souvenir ashtray from 1919 are among the many items in the display, enough to line all four walls.
“This is just a small fraction of my collection,” McLane said. “I’ve got stuff from 1812 on up.”
McLane, a Navy veteran who served in the Vietnam War, has been collecting artifacts related to the U.S. military for more than 50 years. It started when his music teacher at Unity High School, Polly Anderson, brought something to him from her brother-in-law who had served in the Philippines and continued when he happened upon some other artifacts at a pawn shop while on active duty in San Diego.
“It just went haywire from there,” he said. “I’ve started downsizing a little bit.”
McLane estimates he has more than 10,000 pieces related to the military and uses it as an opportunity to talk about the country’s military history with whoever cares to listen. Particularly, with Veterans Day last week and the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor approaching next month, McLane enjoys schooling young folks on the history.
“I’m concerned that we don’t teach history anymore. If you’d ask a school-aged kid today what Vietnam is, they probably wouldn’t know,” McLane said. “Ask them what’s significant about Dec. 7, they’ve got no clue. Some of them do know, and I’ve run across them, but most have no idea.”
There aren’t many out there more qualified to share information about the history of the U.S. military than McLane. The 71-year-old, who spent some time serving on the USS Constitution (Old Ironsides), comes from a family with deep military connections. His dad served in the Coast Guard, an uncle served as a surgeon in China, and aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and even his wife Susan and daughter Stacy have military experience.
“We’ve got a pretty cool family history,” McLane said. “I’m working on writing a family history right now.”
Among the highlights on the setup for the Navy ball were artifacts from the USS Arizona, which was bombed on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, and the USS Constitution.
“It was like a kid in a candy store when I served on the USS Constitution,” McLane said. “I knew about the Constitution, and I was kind of a Navy nut when I was a kid. Most of it’s been replaced; she’s in dry dock right now in Boston. It’s a national historical site, open 365 days a year, manned by active-duty Navy personnel.”
McLane has actual pieces of the Arizona, whose wreckage still lies at the bottom of Pearl Harbor.
“Only about 450 pieces were harvested from her,” McLane said.
Through the collector market and sites like eBay, McLane is able to add to his collection. McLane’s collection is probably worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions - though he’s not in it to collect a fortune. At one time, his collection included more than 70 firearms used in war from various historical periods, including six M1 Garands, which he paid $400 apiece for. During his downsize, he sold one at a gun show and received $2,500 for it.
“Some of this stuff, you just can’t put a value on, though,” McLane said. “Pieces from the Arizona, what’s the value in that?”
What it all comes back to is spreading knowledge about the long, stored history of the U.S. armed forces.
“People say, ’You should be a teacher,’” McLane said. “I am a teacher; I just don’t get paid for it.”
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Source: The (Champaign) News-Gazette, https://bit.ly/2fy6Kok
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Information from: The News-Gazette, https://www.news-gazette.com
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