Veterans History Museum volunteers give cookie tins to honor 76 local veterans
BREVARD - Transylvania County native Joe Cooper, age 100, was one of 76 residents receiving tins of New Year’s cookies during a visit from Veterans History Museum volunteers. Cooper served in the U.S. Navy in WWII-Pacific Theatre, then in the U.S. Army in the Korean War.
Cooper was serving on the USS Ommaney Bay during the Battle of Surigao Strait, The Philippines, when it was attacked by a Japanese kamikaze. Cooper remembered, “One 1400-pound bomb went in the engine room and knocked the power out. The other one hit the hangar deck. It was on fire in the stern of the ship.
"We started throwing ammunition off. There were explosions happening everywhere. We had a lot of ammunition and thousands of gallons of gas on that ship. I said to myself, ‘I better get off before it blows.’ I jumped off the port bow. After four or five hours in the water, we were rescued and taken to the USS Minneapolis.”
Cooper came home to Brevard after World War II ended, then joined the US Army and served in combat in the Korean War, manning the outposts at Heartbreak Ridge and Punchbowl. Back home again in Brevard, Cooper worked at Olin Corporation (later Ecusta) as a mechanic.
Museum volunteers Harold Wellington (himself a WWII veteran, age 98) and museum volunteer Mike McCarthy delivered greetings for all the residents and staff of the N.C. State Veterans Home – in the form of 3,600 cookies.
Visitors to the museum when it reopens on March 1 might get to meet Harold Wellington, who will give a tour of the Merchant Marine gallery. An interesting focal point of that gallery is a model of a Liberty Ship like the one Wellington served on during World War II, dodging torpedoes in the North Atlantic, escorting ships to Iran, with freight bound for Russia.
Wellington also served in the U.S. Army and the U.S. Navy. For the museum, Wellington serves as a tour guide, a representative on visits to area businesses and an ambassador to honor other veterans. He accompanies the museum's founder, Emmett Casciato, on trips for presentations about the museum, and shares history with his stories.
Museum volunteers honor Wellington for his service in World War II and during the Korean War.
Casciato likes to tell the story of meeting Harold Wellington in 2017, when the beginnings of the museum was a temporary exhibit in the Transylvania Heritage Museum, before many people had heard about the exhibit.
"I remember Harold came in one day and we talked and he told me some stories about serving in the engine room on the Liberty Ship," Casciato said. "Then he came in the next day and we sat on the porch of the Heritage Museum, waiting for visitors to come in. In those early days, sometimes we'd get one or two visitors, sometimes we'd get none. Sometimes we'd talk, sometimes we'd just sit there together.
"Harold helped me a lot with exhibits after we moved to our current building. He's good with tools and making things from wood and helping me hold up something heavy when it's just the two of us in the museum. He's always been there for me over the last six years. I jokingly introduce him sometimes as 'our living exhibit' because of his service over many years and three service branches. He allows me to tease him and also to call him 'Dad.' He just smiles."
The Veterans History Museum of the Carolinas will re-open on March 1 after its annual inventory and refurbishing. Admission is free, and it’s located at 21 East Main Street in Brevard. For more information visit www.theveteransmuseum.org.
Janis Allen is the director of communications for the Veterans History Museum of the Carolinas, located in Brevard.
This article originally appeared on Hendersonville Times-News: Veterans History Museum volunteers give cookie tins to honor 76 local veterans
