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Museum director Buddy Sturgis and a team of volunteers proudly maintain 19,000 square feet of exhibit space, including the new wing filled with vintage military vehicles.
Photo by Jonathan Sharpe
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Maj. Matthew Delk of the S.C. National Guard stands next to the bullet-riddled uniform he wore in Mosul, Iraq, when his Humvee convoy was ambushed by insurgents.
Photo by Keith Phillips
Maj. Matthew Delk of the S.C. National Guard’s 122nd Engineering Battalion is a little reluctant to talk about his display at the South Carolina Military Museum, but if it helps people understand the sacrifices his fellow citizen soldiers make to defend the state and the nation, then so be it.
Inside a glass case in the museum’s newly opened wing, a mannequin displays the bullet-riddled uniform then-Lt. Delk wore on April 20, 2004, when his Humvee convoy came under attack near Mosul, Iraq. A massive IED explosion rocked Delk’s vehicle and threw him into the street but trapped two soldiers from a Maine National Guard unit inside the burning wreckage. The blast was followed by the chatter of AK-47 rifles as insurgents fired on the injured Americans.
“When I woke up, I was moving and had my weapon up,” he recalls. “I was able to get over to the vehicle and get the other two soldiers out. At some point, I took three rounds that went through the rear of this uniform ... but barely touched me.”
Delk also suffered painful burns on his hands and face. When an Army nurse tried to cut away his desert camouflage jacket and pants to begin treating him, he stopped her cold.
“I don’t know what was going through my head at the time, but I would not let them cut my uniform,” Delk says. “I remember screaming, ‘I’m signed for all this stuff!’ To ease my upset condition, she put those shears away.”
Delk’s uniform, saved from disposal and later donated to the museum, is one of hundreds of artifacts that showcase the service of citizen soldiers who have drilled, fought, bled and died to defend their fellow South Carolinians.
The museum covers Palmetto State military history from the earliest militia units formed to protect colonial Charles Town in 1670, to the partisan fighters of the Revolutionary War, to the highly trained National Guard units that have served in every war America has fought, including ongoing operations around the globe.
Housed in a former repair depot behind the S.C. National Guard headquarters in Columbia, the museum showcases a remarkable collection of military hardware and weapons curated by director Buddy Sturgis and his volunteer staff. Personal artifacts tell the human side of military service—including a bugle blown on Sept. 13, 1846, when the flag of the Palmetto Regiment was raised over Mexico City during the Mexican-American War, and a chaplain’s cloak worn during World War I.
The museum’s newest wing opened in June, featuring an open-floor exhibit filled with vintage military vehicles and an Apache helicopter cockpit trainer. Sturgis says more exhibits are in the works to fulfill the museum’s mission.
“We want to honor the South Carolina citizen soldier and this state’s martial tradition,” he says.
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Get There
The South Carolina Military Museum is located at 1225 Bluff Road (behind the S.C. National Guard Headquarters) in Columbia.
Hours: Monday–Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Closed on Sundays, state holidays and on USC home football game days.
Admission: Free
Contact: (803) 299-4440; scmilitarymuseum.com