It looks like a thick, square saltine, without the salt or the perforations, and it's engraved with "MARINES U.S."
Because it's the kind of thing you would expect to have only a brief existence, and because - in spite of that - it has endured more than 100 years, the Spanish-American War "hardtack" biscuit is among the more extraordinary items in a collection that recently came to the attention of leaders at Altoona's VFW Post 3.
It's a trove those leaders hope could help ensure the future of the post, because the collection - amassed by its first commander, Herbert O. Kelley of Altoona - could make more tangible the post's and Kelley's own role in the formation of the national Veterans of Foreign Wars.
A precursor of the local post - named the Philippine War Veterans - was one of five organizations formed independently between 1899 and 1902 in Ohio, Colorado and Pennsylvania that amalgamated by stages to create the national VFW in 1913.
Kelley's great-grandson, Chuck Cox, 46, of Altoona, discovered the collection in a soot-covered trunk in the attic of his late grandmother two years ago, when the family was sorting through things to sell the house.
He showed it to the local post leaders a few weeks ago.
"I knew about it all my life," Cox said. "I didn't know how extensive and how well-preserved it was."
It lay there virtually untouched since 1942, when his grandparents moved into the house, Cox said.
Cox believes the collection will help tell the story of the early VFW, because it contains many items used in "encampments" that brought the veterans of the early groups together.
"[The VFW] didn't exist before these fellas made it happen," he said.
The collection includes a drumhead autographed by Kelley's fellow soldiers and inscribed with an ironic encampment dinner "menu" listing typical camp fare, including hardtack, a pair of drumsticks, a pair of fifes, wide-brimmed campaign hats, medals, rings that resemble modern class rings, medals affixed to neck ribbons, a field jacket, a field mess kit and a ceremonial sword.
"The hardtack's what I can't believe," post Commander Toby Roberts said.
People might think the VFW is just a drinking hall, but in giving veterans of the Spanish-American War a voice, it helped overcome the government's scandalous neglect of their post-discharge problems, and helped prevent future neglect, he said.
Kelley contracted malaria in the Philippines and died in 1929 from complications, Cox said.
"[T]he VFW's voice [was] instrumental in establishing the Veterans Administration, creating a GI bill for the 20th century, the development of the national cemetery system and the fight for compensation for Vietnam vets exposed to Agent Orange and for veterans diagnosed with Gulf War Syndrome," states the national VFW on its Web site.
Cox and post leaders are hoping for validation from the VFW's national historian, who may visit to view the collection, said Cox and the post's chaplain, Pastor Paul Johnson.
Johnson is hoping a museum like the Smithsonian Institution may be interested enough to evaluate, catalog and preserve some or all of it.
"I think that was my great-grandfather's intention," Cox said.
He expects to get advice in making it all happen from a cousin who is a museum curator in California.
Boxes of glass photographic plates with pictures mainly from the encampments are the most valuable, Cox said.
He's not interested in making money from the items, he said. He'd like to copy the plates onto a DVD so he can let VFW posts everywhere use it to raise money and especially would like Post 3 to benefit from the items.
Kelley was the first commander of the Altoona-based precursor group and the first commander when that group amalgamated in 1905 here with the group from Ohio.
The Ohio group was the first of the precursor organizations.
In recent years, the Altoona post has struggled as members have died and as its big, old building has become more and more difficult to maintain.
The building is for sale because the post can't afford the overhead, post Quartermaster John Gority said.
Having been given authority by the membership, post leaders are negotiating with a party who has made an offer to buy. Gority expects the sale price will be enough for a down payment on a smaller, existing building that will be easier to maintain.
The post hasn't picked out such a building yet. He'd actually prefer someone to donate a building, Gority said. If the leaders work out a sale agreement, they'd need membership ratification.
The post closed its bar three years ago because it cost too much to heat and cool, Gority said.
There are less than 300 members left in the post, which once had 2,940 members.
Cox's great-grandfather put the collection away for "someday," Cox said.
"That day has arrived," he said.
"It's awesome," Johnson said.
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 949-7038.
