Out and About
Updated On: 1/14/2011 1:09:04 PM
BG DON F. PRATT MEMORIAL MUSEUM
5702 Tennessee Ave.
(270) 798-3215/4986
Gift Shop: (270) 431-2003
Monday through Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; closed Christmas and New Year's Day.
The Don F. Pratt Museum was established in 1956 as a division museum for the 101st Airborne Division. The museum's central theme is the history of the 101st Airborne Division, the "Screaming Eagles," and it covers the period from the early 1940s to present.
Memorabilia from Brig. Gen. Don F. Pratt, along with some of the personal possessions of Generals William C. Lee, Maxwell D. Taylor, Anthony C. McAuliffe and William C. Westmoreland, are among the featured exhibits.
Other exhibits include a completely restored CG-4A cargo glider—which carried glider-borne Soldiers into combat during WWII, uniforms and equipment of the American Soldier and his enemies including the European and Pacific theaters of WWII, the Korean War, Vietnam War, Operation Desert Storm and the Global War on Terrorism. There are also captured personal
items of Adolf Hitler, German Goering and other high ranking Nazi officials. Although the main museum theme focuses on the history of the 101st Airborne Division, there are also displays that address early developments in airborne warfare, and Camp Campbell as an Armor Training Center in WWII. Included in the displays are the following units: the 11th Airborne Division, the 12th Armored Division, the 14th Armored Division, the 20th Armored Division, the 173rd Airborne Brigade, the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team, the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), and the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne).
An outdoor park across the street from the museum displays various military aircraft and equipment used by the division. The centerpiece of the park is the "Brass Hat"—a fully restored C-47 aircraft resembling the plane used to carry the division commander, Maj. Gen. Maxwell D. Taylor, into Normandy during WWII. The museum also includes a reference library and archives, both guided and unguided tours (reservations required), daily historical films, gift shop, gallery talks, lectures and educational programs.
Call for more information or to schedule tours or briefings.
The museum also has displays in the nearby McAuliffe Hall, the 101st Airborne Division Command and Control Facility, which are open to the public, and includes the 101st Airborne Division Association Monument outside, and in the foyer, displays dedicated to General Antony McAuliffe, whom the building is named after, a Rotunda honoring the division's Medal of Honor recipients, a collection of bronze sculptures of Airborne soldiers from WWII until the present day, and an exhibit dedicated to "Old Abe", the Civil War eagle mascot whose image is the origin of the famous Screaming Eagle insignia of the 101st Airborne Division.
read more...
