Lenoir County Council on Aging (LCCOA) Visits
G. I. Joe’s Military Living History Museum
The LCCOA Senior Center was excited and eager as their bus pulled into the parking lot the G. I. Joe’s Military Living History Museum in Kinston. For many of the seniors, this wasn't just a field trip; it was a journey through time.
As they entered the museum, they were greeted by veterans from all military services. Mr. Ralph Smith, a retired Army veteran, and Richard Jones a retired Air Force veteran approached the seniors. Their shirts were pressed and their posture straight, a "living piece of history" standing amidst in front of them.
They began the tour not with dates or battles, but by gathering around the veterans listening to personal stories and the humor that kept them sane and the quiet moments of bravery that never made the history books.
The seniors moved slowly through the exhibits, many finding that the items acted as "vessels of stories," triggering their own long-buried memories.
A senior, who was looking for pictures of two family members, stood silently before a wall of pictures, a lump forming in her throat as she recognized one of the familiar faces she was longing to find hanging on the walls of the museum, her son. With a big smile and joy, she shared a picture of him in his military uniform from her phone with some of the other seniors.
As the visit ended, the seniors left with a "deepened sense of gratitude" and a renewed connection to their community. For those struggling with the isolation of aging, the visit was a form of "emotional therapy," proving that their shared history was a vital, living thing and the items in the museum were not just objects, their vessels of stories, whispers of bravery, and stark reminders of the cost of freedom. On the way back to the LCCOA Senior Center one of the seniors made the following statement “History isn't just what happened, it’s how it felt to the people who lived it”.
You might think the veterans at G.I. Joe’s like to be called “Hero’s”, but they don’t. They often say, “I’m not the hero it was the men and women I served with that are the hero’s”.
Eddie Portz
G.I. Joe’s Veteran Ambassador
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