Long Description:If you want to see the way things were (I think). The equipment,
rust, dirt, grime and all... this place is for you. It is a great,
true-to-life breath of the equipment used throughout military
(mostly Army).
The Kenosha Military Museum (May 2008: now called the Russell
Military Museum) isn't about war, or patriotism, or even about the
military, really. It's about hardware -- the bigger, the
better.
It's also about Mark Sonday, the rarely-seen owner and supplier
of exhibits for what must be the largest private collection of war
surplus in the country.
Mark opened this place in 1986, following a path that we've seen
before: a collection gets too big, the obsessed collector turns the
collection into a museum so that he can buy more stuff for the
collection. In Mark's case this move was obviously warranted. One
cannot keep a Sherman tank in the basement, or a Skycrane
helicopter in the back yard -- at least not for very long
The museum's exhibits are spread across 15 acres. Mark is away
most of the time, buying tanks and bombs, so his wife Joyce runs
the place. She sells training grenades in the gift shop, among
other chores. Since most of the museum is outdoors, and since Joyce
and Mark live south of the border in Illinois, Joyce sees no reason
to drive up here and open the museum when it rains. This is
thoughtful, in a way, but it also requires that visitors call ahead
if the weather seems spotty.
The grass near the gift shop is kept mowed, and the hardware is
displayed on concrete pads with little signs on weathered wood
pedestals. At least you know the name of what it is that you're
looking at: a Higgins Boat landing craft, an M-48 Bridge Layer, a
Sexton self-propelled gun. But walk a little further, into the back
acreage, and the Kenosha Military Museum reveals itself what it is
at heart -- a dream-come-true junkyard that any 12-year-old would
understand and appreciate. Rusting tanks, jeeps, trucks, missiles,
humvees, halftracks, and helicopters are everywhere, scattered
among the scrub pine, weeds, and wildflowers.
Veterans who visit this place to relive their youth may be in
for a bit of a shock. Mark doesn't have much of a maintenance
budget, and most of his collection shows its age -- plus it had the
crap beaten out of it when it was young. Hatches are missing, glass
is cracked, paint is flaking, rust is everywhere. If you tried to
take any of this stuff into battle now, you'd be dead in five
seconds. That is, if you could get it to run at all.
But that isn't the point. Mark, like any good collector with
spare parts or resale on his mind, goes for quantity over quality
when he can get it, hoping to trade up in the future. Most of his
duplicates are for sale, with all of the profit, we imagine, plowed
back into the collection.
And lest we give the wrong impression, some of the surplus that
Mark has on display here is still in good running order. Mark, for
example, has a particular fondness for the M-4 Sherman tank -- he
has eight of them. On those days when he is here, he sometimes
fires up one of the Shermans and crushes cars with it.
Admission:
$7.50 For Adults
$5.00 for Children
Kids 2 and under are Free