Team Offutt joins with other locals to help relocate flooding museum items

  • Published
  • By Ryan Hansen
  • 55th Wing Public Affairs
OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. --  As the Missouri River continues to rise, flooding has become a major issue for businesses and organizations located along its banks.

One such organization that has been affected by the rising water is Freedom Park, an outdoor museum here that features numerous military exhibits including the USS Hazard and USS Marlin.

A simple call for help on May 31 started a chain of events that culminated with members of Team Offutt joining forces with three Boy Scout groups, more than 20 Omaha park personnel, some retired submariners and the U.S. Coast Guard responding to Freedom Park June 1.

After quickly assessing the situation in the morning, four members of the 55th Logistics Readiness Squadron sprung into action that afternoon by providing equipment to move museum artifacts to higher ground until the flood waters recede.

"The city did not have a vehicle available to remove items from the flooded facility due to the depth of the water," said Maj. Melvin Maxwell, 55th LRS commander, "so we provided a 10K all-terrain forklift, some rollback-bed pick-ups to haul some of the smaller items and two tractor-trailers with flatbeds to transport the forklift and artifacts."

While Freedom Park has withstood some flooding in the past, this threat from the Missouri River was far worse than anything they had ever seen.

"In the summer of 1993 the park did flood when the river rose 1.3 feet above flood stage," said Dennis Bryers, a park and recreation planner with the city of Omaha. "But nothing was removed from the park back then."

As the waters started to creep up higher and higher, park officials knew something had to be done or there would be long term damage to the park and its artifacts.

"We not only kept things from being ruined, but also of course some of these artifacts would have floated away and could have caused damage somewhere downstream," said Bill Lee, Freedom Park manager.

The 55th LRS moved numerous items including some World War II-era vehicles and fire-control system components from the USS Omaha, a decommissioned submarine.

"The articles moved out of the maintenance shed were all from the USS Omaha and are complete panels with very expensive electronics in them," Mr. Lee said. "Not only would there have been no way to replace these, but ... water would have rendered them completely ruined.

"The articles that they moved from the park or that they put on the mound, make up the most complete collection of anti-aircraft guns of any park in the country," he added. "The little signal gun was made in 1885, then converted to a signal gun in 1911. You couldn't even find one like that anywhere else."

"We relocated those components as well as some smaller artifacts that were in most imminent danger of flooding to Offutt," Major Maxwell said. "All large ships, aircraft and other components unlikely to be damaged were secured in place by the city."

Because these items were museum artifacts, great care was taken by the members of the squadron to ensure no damage was done.

"The attitude of those from Offutt was just amazing in how they cared about the job and took pride in the handling of these exhibits," Mr. Lee said. "This was done with much expertise so that these rare and irreplaceable items will be able to be put back in the park in the same condition they left."

While the rising waters of the Missouri River continue to wreak havoc on many business, organizations and families along its banks, the 55th LRS was pleased that they were able to help out the local community in their time of need.

"There was a great deal of cooperation at all levels to include U.S. Strategic Command, the 55th Wing, the city of Omaha and Freedom Park officials that made our assistance possible," Major Maxwell said. "There was a sense of community and pride as all worked together to prepare the park for the impending flooding."

And those associated with the park were thankful that Team Offutt was able to offer their assistance.

"Everyone in the city parks and recreation department is extremely grateful for all of the help provided by the personnel at Offutt and the retired submariners during this difficult time," Mr. Bryers said. "We wouldn't have been able to protect as many items as we have without their support."

"Major Maxwell and his men did an outstanding job," Mr. Lee said. "Without them, we would not be in the good shape we are."