POTENTIAL REMOVAL PROMPTS UPROAR

Fellow Veterans of the Naval Services:

This morning, Ms Abby Sue Fisher of the National Park Service came to Marines’ Memorial to inform me that the Ship’s bell of the USS San Francisco is to be removed from display in the lobby of the Marines’ Memorial Club and returned to the National Park Service within 30 days. She left with me an unsigned and undated copy of a the letter allegedly from the Deputy Director of the Navy Historical Center, a Captain McDaniel, wherein the Navy Historical Center is requesting the Bell be returned to the Naval Historical Center. I have attached the letter to this email.

Ms Fisher also gave me a copy of a 28 June 1950 San Francisco Examiner in which a story about the donation of the Bell of the USS San Francisco (CA -38) having been presented to then SF Mayor Robinson, so that the Bell could be part of a memorial to RAdm Daniel Callaghan and his men who lost their lives aboard the ship off Guadalcanal. The monument is currently the USS San Francisco Monument at Lands End on the SF Peninsula. Ms Fisher insisted that the National Park Service improperly loaned the Bell to the Marines’ Memorial Association.

Ms Fisher told me that it was certainly improper that the Bell had been loaned to “…a Convention Center and a Hotel”. When I told here we are not a Convention Center or an Hotel, but a private Veterans organization, with a IRC 501c(19) War Veterans status, and tasked to maintain a museum, she informed me that because she heard our front desk take reservations and accept payment, that we are a hotel.

I wanted to take her to our 10th Floor, where we have our Tribute Memorial Wall, with the names of the more than 4000 men and women who have lost their lives in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. I wanted to take her to our Hall of Heroes, where we have pictures of Medal of Honor awardees. I wanted to show her our Memorial Hall, where families and friends of Veterans have placed plaques to honor their loved ones. I wanted to share letters from Gold Star Parents who come here to have a “safe place”. But, I knew it wouldn’t matter. I was obvious that her previous conversations with a Mr. Mark Wertheimer, of the Naval Historical Center, had convinced here that the Marines’ Memorial Club is no place for the Ship’s Bell.

I have a history with Mr. Wertheimer. He has banned me from even visiting to view the artifacts of the former Treasure Island Museum, which have been stored at Treasure Island, since the Base closed in 1995. A pertinent email regarding this subject is at the end of this email for you to review and digest. (The underlined part of the is email not true.. I have been here since 10 September 2001, and no NHS or USMC Museum Division Rep has visited Marines’ Memorial and made recommendations to which we were expect to reply).

The plain truth is that the Ship’s Bell of the USS San Francisco (CA 38) was hidden away in the SF Maritime Museum FOR YEARS AND YEARS for no one to see. Moving the Ships Bell to the Marines’ Memorial Club in Sep 2004 has allowed thousands of Navy and Marine Veterans, plus their children and grandchildren, to view the Bell, and read the history of this magnificent ship in supporting Marines…not just at Guadalcanal, but in support of every major Marine amphibious assault in World War II. Having the Bell in the Nation’s very 1st Living Memorial, The Marines’ Memorial Club, established by the Commandant of the Marine Corps in November 1946 to
commemorate the service and sacrifices of our Veterans, seems to me to be very consistent with the purposes of a 501c(19) Veterans Organization.

Now, what we face with the removal of the Bell from our Club, is the reality that the Bell will join the over 20,000 artifacts that have remained in storage at Treasure Island, where no one can see them, and no one, not any of our young children, can learn to appreciate the sacrifices and services of our Veterans. The Navy’s plans to turn these artifacts over to the Treasure Island Development Authority might seem to make sense until one learns that there are no plans to
create a museum on Treasure Island in the future.

There is clearly a ‘Curator Mentality’ in this saga, where in it is better to have everything in your inventory stored away than to have it where people might see and and, God forbid, damage or destroy it.

I have a solution that I would like to see if you might support. I would like to see if we can convince the Navy NOT to transfer the artifacts, including the Ship’s Bell, to the Treasure Island Development Authority. We in San Francisco have a War Memorial Veterans Building, designed and built to honor Veterans. This building would be a perfect place, once renovated, to display the military history of the San Francisco Bay Area. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have the Marine and Navy artifacts in the Treasure Island storage, plus the US Army items from the Presidio Museum (now on the East Coast in Storage), and the Coast Guard history, as well, all displayed
in the War Memorial Veterans Building?

For this solution to happen, we need to have some support from the Navy, as well as the various City of San Francisco entities. Do you think it is worth pursuing? From the information in the following email, we don’t have much time.

MajGen Mike Myatt, USMC (Ret)

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Subject: Treasure Island

Mark Wertheimer wrote:

With regard to the Treasure Island Museum collection, I received a request by the Marine’s Memorial in San Francisco. Retired MG Myatt wanted to discuss visiting the collection in preparation of a display. However, there are several issues at hand:

We do not consider the Marine’s Memorial an eligible recipient / borrower of historical property. One piece of information contributing to our decision was from a USMC Museum Division 2005 site visit indicating the memorial was not properly caring for items on hand, legally or physically.

We gave several suggestions to correct their situation, but have nothing on hand to change our view.

- The Memorial asked to access the collection to see what was there they could display. It initially sounded like a “shopping” visit, and not something backed with a plan. I called the general back to discuss further, but have not received a return call.

- We have just begun the process of donating / transferring the collection to the Treasure Island Development Authority. This is keyed to the final turnover of the station real property (land) to TIDA.

We’ve seen many proposals concerning the collection. It has remained in secure storage at Treasure Island for a decade because of commitments agreed to at the time to honor local interest to establish a civilian run museum using the items as a basis for telling the military story of TI. There is no NHC staff on site - just a Navy caretaker - an awkward situation for us.

I have an inventory done prior to closure - close to 20K items. We consider our best option at this point to remove a very small number of Navy - specific items and donate the remaining material to TIDA. We’ve sent them notice to give us a plan no later than the end of 2008 about the collection, which will meet the Navy BRAC office’s current timelines.

I’m reluctant at this time to discuss bringing in another party about the collections. I worked with the collection during the closure process and don’t recall anything that might be directly related to the Marine Corps and its training activities. I will ask my staff to review the inventory and see if anything pops up. Anyone wishing to visit should come through us and have one of my staff on hand if we approve a visit, a cost that the requester should possibly bear.

If your contact wants a senior person to speak with, our acting director is Dr. Edward Marolda, 202-433-2210 / email edward.marolda@navy.mil - RADM Tobin retired on 18 January. If the person still wants a flag / general officer to speak to, I suggest they speak with the Director, Navy Staff, VADM John Stufflebeem - he’s the flag in our chain of command.

Lin Ezell
Director
National Museum of the Marine Corps

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