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Operation Iraqi Freedom Gallery, Cobra Park open at 1st AD Museum |
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By Ignacio “Iggy” Rubalcava 222nd Base Support Battalion Public Affairs Office
“It’s really the culmination of an effort that began while we were down range last year and decided that we needed to make some changes in the administration of the museum and try at the same time to put the pieces in place to capture the history we were making,” said Dempsey. The long and distinguished history of the 1st AD is well documented within the walls of the 1st AD museum but last year a new chapter was written and it needed to be captured for all to remember the deeds of the Soldiers who participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom. “This particular chapter is our chapter. This is your part of the 1st Armored Division’s history,” Dempsey told the Soldiers who had gathered for the dedication. The new gallery is now open but there is still work to be done. Several historical artifacts are not on display because they have not arrived. “There’s a rather daunting bureaucracy to get historical artifacts out of theater and into the museum where they belong but we haven’t given up that fight,” said Dempsey. In dedicating the new gallery, Dempsey had much praise for the museum’s driving force. ‘Steve Ruhnke, the museum curator, has done a marvelous job of reinvigorating the museum and opening up this new chapter. And of course we also know that at some point in the future, he will have to pick up this museum and move it someplace. That’s a pretty daunting task in itself,” said Dempsey. Sgt. Ernesto Victor, C Battery, 4th Battalion, 27th Field Artillery Regiment, then stepped forward to assist Dempsey with the unveiling and dedication of the vehicle park. Victor was a member of Cobra Battery, for whom the park was dedicated. “We chose to name it for Cobra Battery. Many of you will absolutely vividly remember that on April 29 of last year, eight Soldiers from Cobra Battery, 4-27 Field Artillery were killed in action when a suicide bomber came upon them when they were doing their duty, guarding the flank of a group of vehicles (Task Force Iron Claw) that were clearing the road ahead. Cobra Battery was providing security for that operation and those eight Soldiers died doing exactly what they were supposed to do, which was protecting Task Force Iron Claw from those kind of attacks and they gave their life for that. We will now name the vehicle park Cobra Park in honor of those Soldiers,” said Dempsey. Victor was wounded during that action and received the Purple Heart. Before officially opening the Operation Iraqi Freedom Gallery, Dempsey told the Soldiers, “I encourage you to take a look at this chapter which you actually wrote and then go about the business of continuing to write the next chapter as that challenge comes to us.”
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Sgt. Ernesto Victor, left, C Battery, 4-27 Field Artillery assists Maj. Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, commander, 1st Armored Division, unveil the plaque for Cobra Park.
Guests salute during the playing of the German and American National Anthems.
Maj. Gen. Martin E. Dempsey and guests stand at attention during the playing of the Army Song.
The ribbon is cut, officially opening the Operation Iraqi Freedom Gallery.
Guests begin making their way into the Museum.
Museum guests sign in.
District Mayor Volkmar Pees and Erich Roob, assistant police chief, view a display in the new gallery.
Steve Ruhnke, museum curator, and Lt. Col. Juergen Muhr, military training area commander, converse in the new gallery. |
Inclement
weather did not dampen the dedication proceedings of the 1st Armored
Division’s new Operation Iraqi Freedom Gallery and rededication of
the historical vehicle park at the 1st Armored Division Museum April
20. About 100 German and American guests huddled under a canopy and
out of the rain in front of the museum’s entrance and listened as
Maj. Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, commander, 1st Armored Division,
explained that the opening of the new gallery was an initiative that
began while the 1st AD was in Iraq.
