Board members of the Central Pennsylvania American History Museum (from left) Tom Marlett, Art Sauerland and Dave Scott gather in the future museum, which will be located on the 6000 block of Sixth Avenue. Mirror photo by William Kibler

A group of local veteran advocates is planning to create a museum of modern American military history in Allegheny Township.

The Central Pennsylvania American History Museum will be located in a recently acquired building on the 6000 block of Sixth Avenue that previously housed the Milanak Family Vision Center.

The museum’s goal will be “to educate our local youth about our great country’s history and ignite a sense of pride and patriotism within each child, helping to inspire our future leaders,” states a subhead on the group’s website. “(T)oo often, today’s children do not feel that sense of gratitude and pride for the United States, as did past generations,” the organization states in a fundraising letter.

The museum will have separate exhibit areas dedicated to World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, Desert Storm and the Gulf War, according to the fundraising letter.

There will also be room for rotating exhibits from local veterans.

The museum will be a place where veterans can “tell their stor(ies)” and for students to “immerse themselves in history and learn about the events that made America great,” according to the letter.

The museum is the idea of Dave Scott, president of the organization’s board.

Scott is a longtime employee of the accounting firm Young Oakes & Brown.

He served for two years in the mid-1970s in the Army, then for five years in the National Guard in the 1980s.

Scott has extensive involvement in veterans groups, including the Iwo Jima Association, whose focus is a World War II battle in the Pacific; and the Chosin Few, whose focus is a Korean War battle in severe cold weather.

He has met many veterans of those and other wars, he said.

He has an extension collection of memorabilia which can help form the core of the museum’s collection, including prints and photos.

Exhibits at the museum will include military art, uniforms, helmets, models of equipment and props used in movie depictions.

Scott began to feel the need for an educational tool on military history while teaching accounting at Penn State Altoona between 1988 and 2020, based on the response he’d often get when he asked about his students’ familiarity with events like the battle of Iwo Jima.

“Most didn’t know,” he said.

Scott’s fellow board member Tom Marlett of Altoona, an Army intelligence veteran who served for 21 years, has “a soft spot for all veterans.”

“When Dave asked, I showed up,” Marlett said.

They connected when both attended the celebration of the 75th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, France.

It will take $500,000 to create the museum, Scott estimated.

Local developer Jeff Long is helping.

Long has known Scott for years.

“He’s one of my accountants,” Long said.

Though not a veteran, Long is a World War II buff, and was pleased a year ago to be taken on a trip to Iwo Jima for the 80th anniversary of the battle there.

“A once-in-a-lifetime thing,” Long said.

On the flight over, there were four servicemen who had fought in the 1945 battle, and the experience on the island included a hike up Mount Suribachi, where four Marines planted a flag that has been memorialized in one of the most famous American World War II photos, Long said.

“I felt honored to be there,” Long said.

“He did that for me,” Long said of the Iwo Jima trip. “I’ll help (him) out” with the museum.

Initially, Scott had identified ground near the Altoona Blair County Airport where he could build, but after asking Long to have a look, the developer persuaded him that it would be far more cost-effective to renovate an existing building.

Building new would have cost “a couple million,” Long said.

Long found the Sixth Avenue building and helped Scott lay out the interior.

Long is donating some of the time and material for the project.

“I think it will be a nice project,” Long said. “Altoona really doesn’t have anything like it.”

The organization has borrowed the money needed so far — a loan that Scott has guaranteed.

The plan is to open by Veterans Day this year.

The 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization will hold a fundraiser May 30 at the Blair County Convention Center.

“Voices of Valor: Stories from the Front Lines” will feature several speakers, including former Steeler Rocky Bleier, an Army veteran who was wounded in Vietnam.

Other speakers: Capt. Bill Robinson, retired Air Force veteran and prisoner of war during the Vietnam War for longer than any other enlisted service member; Capt. Melvin Pender, Army veteran who earned a bronze star in Vietnam after winning a gold medal in the 4×400 meter relay in the 1968 Olympics; Lt. Col. John Powell, Marine veteran who flew helicopters in combat in Vietnam; Col. Richard Yoder, Marine veteran and historian; and Shayne Jarosz, Marine veteran and Vietnam War historian.

The program runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with lunch. There is a dinner from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

The cost is $50 per person.

There will be a basket raffle for which the organization is looking for donations of gift cards, lottery tickets, antiques and memorabilia.

Tickets for the event are available at www.cpahm.org.

Interested parties can call 814-330-1598 for information. Contributions are tax-deductible.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.