The George S. Patton Museum of Cavalry and Armor may not remain much longer at its current home of Fort Knox, Kentucky. A hedgerow skirmish is being waged between the Army's Center for Military History in Washington, and the Patton Museum Foundation (and friends of the museum) in Kentucky.

According to the Washington group, the future purpose of Fort Knox will be human resources and "readiness training" -- also guarding America's gold -- while Fort Benning in Georgia will be the site of the Army Armor Center and School. The Patton Museum's artifacts -- over 230 tanks and other armored vehicles, nearly 11,000 other military items, and many of Patton's personal effects, including his 1939 Cadillac death car -- belong to the Center, which also maintains the facilities. Thus the Patton Museum should go where the Center says it should go.

But George Patton Waters, a grandson of Patton and a member of the Foundation board, said the Patton Museum belongs in Kentucky at the historic home of the Armor School, and it should never be moved. Kentuckians and the Foundation have donated millions of dollars to the museum over the years -- in fact, a $40 million expansion program is currently under way -- and recent US Hwy 31 access improvements will help transform the museum from a sleepy base obscurity into a more successful tourist attraction.

Fort Benning is already the home of the National Infantry Museum, which shelters the Calculator the Dog monument and the Hitler Trash Can Head.

The Patton Museum acquired a Saddam Hussein statue head in 2004. Perhaps someone's idea of a Vanquished Dictator Head exhibit got the better of them?

February 10, 2012

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