Struggle For The Museum
The following excerpts are taken from the correspondence of our founder, Dal Estes, along with news articles as he struggled to establish the museum. His effort actually began in 1994 after his return from Normandy, France, where he returned a Nazi flag he captured to a museum on Omaha Beach. Notice the high and low points along the way.
Letter, 1999
"Writer continues to work on the prospects of opening a Pontiac National War Museum...Perhaps it is time that we think 'BIG'. (MAKE NO LITTLE PLANS!) I am proceeding on my own to secure help to establish a Pontiac National War Museum...Let us have a gathering place in the Midwest where our veterans may hold their reunions and our children as they grow may study...We would like to have our museum 'alive' and 'home-like' to the veterans, students, and other visitors."
Letter, 1999
"Would the city of Pontiac consider this a worthy project to attract visitors and would some type of building be designated for this project? We have an obligation to do everything possible for these men and women. We should not fail them now. What a great achievement for Livingston County and Pontiac to say: 'Thank you. We do care.'"
Article in Pantagraph, 1999
"I want to make this a live museum like they have over there (Europe)...Many veterans think their war experiences were routine, but really they are intriguing to the public and their stories should be told."
Letter, 2000
"We have state approval...We have been encouraged by the Central Illinois Tourism Bureau and have kept our Representative and Senator advised."
Memo, 2001
"We can visualize in the future where our museum would encourage tour groups from Europe and other countries to visit us. (By 2014 - 72 Countries). We are needing a lot of mannequins or some type of home-made props to display our uniforms...I do not know how we may hurry up our process of starting the museum."
Memo, 2001
"Why Pontiac? With a population of 12,000 and sitting in the grassroots of America, we are in a position to represent our nation's many communities who share with us the common heritage of our heartland."
Memo, 2002
"Time continues to go by and although our dreams stay with us concerning a War Museum in Pontiac, nothing of real interest can be reported." (Discouraged!)
Letter, 2003
"Do we understand that the upstairs (of Old City Hall) will be available for the start of the War Museum? (Hope!) At the present, we have considerable memorabilia to start with."
Article in Pantagraph, 2004
"The museum is set to open on Veteran's Day in downtown Pontiac. (Finally!) Dal Estes said: 'School kids need to see what happened...Films and history classes don't show what happened."
Pontiac Daily Leader, 2004
"As of last week, there were already some uniforms and mannequins. The uniforms were waiting for some mannequins to wear them. (Jack Murphy made 200 mannequins!) But within a few months the museum will be open to the public, including school groups...We have looked for a long while for some place to put it, and now we've come together...We can get it done...Dal Estes said an opening date for the museum will be announced after some remaining details are worked out."
Letter, 2004
"We have opened the museum with a small amount of publicity but in a short time we are searching for more room...Once our advertising is started with veterans groups, schools, etc., we will be cramped to extinction."
Meeting Memo, 2004
"A suggestion was made to change the name of our museum from the Pontiac War Museum to the Livingston County War Museum and Education Center. Dal concurs with this as towns throughout Livingston County will be represented." (We now display uniforms from many local towns).
Memo, 2004
"We are now allied with some of the countries with whom we fought and could use this museum to show concern for our adversary after the wars were over. We are a peace-loving nation and are very temperate in our forgiveness...We wish to pay particular tribute to our combat veterans and to our dead, missing-in-action and wounded veterans who still live in our many veterans hospitals. These are our REAL American heroes. (As Dal, not actors, singers, or athletes!) They sacrificed their bodies for us who are living today and they should never be forgotten. We, in our museum, will perpetuate this fact."
Pantagraph Article, 2005
"An architectural firm has looked into the feasibility of adding an elevator to service the two buildings, but the difference in elevations of the two buildings and the cost make an elevator nearly impossible." (Impossible? Thanks to the City of Pontiac for our elevator in 2008).
Christmas Eve, 2005
Our founder, Dal Estes, passes away at the age of 88. Later that day, the red band "Dal Estes Education Center" is added to our logo. Bill Flick, reporter at the Pantagraph wrote in January 2006: "Reaching life's D-Day: finally a fond farewell to Dal Estes of Pontiac, who the other day took his infectious personality to a much larger audience. Dal was 88. Ever the patriot, ever the cheerleader, whether on the Normandy beachhead for his country (Dal was one of the first Americans to courageously step off a boat back on D-Day 1944) or in later life promoting Pontiac, Dal was one of those guys you just liked being around, for inspiration if nothing else. Godspeed, good sir."
Newsletter, 2006
"Our museum has been honored by winning the 2006 Governor's Home Town Award for outstanding community volunteer projects in Illinois...The museum now has DVDs and interviews of our veterans made by Pontiac Township High School students."