Museum of the Mighty Eighth in Pooler breaks ground on 20,000- square-foot expansion
At what's known now as the American Legion Post 135 on Bull Street in downtown Savannah, was once where the Eighth Air Force was activated 70 years ago.
In an effort to collect and preserve the stories of the 350,000 men who served in the first iteration of the air force, Major General Lewis E. Lyle founded the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force in Pooler in the early '90s and now, that museum is expanding.
Just before lunch on Thursday, members of the community, museum employees and members of the board of trustees all gathered at the museum to celebrate the groundbreaking for the 20,000-square-foot expansion to the museum. It's the second of three phases of their Maximum Effort capital campaign to transform the museum by creating a robust, mission-related program to engage visitors in the history of those that served in the air force.
The new square footage will bring more gallery space, new permanent exhibitions, two classrooms for history, and STEM education programs; additional curatorial space for the permanent collection; a visible collections gallery, and a program and event center.
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"We're going to have a lot of new, modern technology that uses AV and we think will be more interesting to the young people," said Don Brooks, Jr., chairman of the board of trustees. "It's critical that our young people learn more about the great sacrifice and dedication that our veterans gave, 26,000 men gave their lives in service of our country."
Brooks mentioned that there will be an exhibit that will feature the 100th bomb group, the focus of the Apple + TV miniseries Masters of the Air, starring Austin Butler, Callum Turner and Barry Keoghan. Nate Mann, who portrays Robert "Rosie" Rosenthal will be in Pooler at the museum on Friday for a Q&A about the series.
The campaign has secured 225 gifts totaling more than $9.1 million of their $12 million goal to fund the project. A good portion of it came from Chatham County, according to Maximum Effort Chairman and Museum Trustee Sandy Alderson.
"Chatham County has been very generous to the museum in recognizing its importance to the community here," Alderson said. "Otherwise, foundations have donated quite a bit of money to the campaign as well as individuals."
For the last $3 million, Alderson said they expect to continue to get national support for the museum, which is the only museum honoring the Eighth Air Force in the country.
Destini Ambus is the general assignment reporter for Chatham County municipalities for the Savannah Morning News. You can reach her at dambus@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Museum of the Mighty Eighth in Pooler to expand 20,000 square feet
