x
Breaking News
More () »

Traveling WWI Exhibit in Scranton on Veterans Day

SCRANTON, Pa. —  There’s no shortage of history inside the roundhouse at Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton. On this Veterans Day, youR...

SCRANTON, Pa. --  There's no shortage of history inside the roundhouse at Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton.

On this Veterans Day, you'd find a bit more like a traveling exhibit on World War I called Lest We Forget.

"I think it's important for the history of our country. You know, there's a lot of wars where the firsthand accounts aren't here anymore, so I think it's important for exhibits to come around to areas to educate the youth on what the history of our country was," said Army veteran Chris Hutton.

11-year-old Aiden Fuller came to see the exhibit with his grandmother. The sixth-grader from Frackville became an expert on the world wars after learning about his great-great-grandfather's service.

"Because it's Veterans Day, I decided to get the old papers about my great-great-grandfather and laminated them so that they wouldn't get torn at all or anything. Because I want to preserve that stuff because it's important," said Fuller.

Aiden thought this was a day off from school well spent.

"I'm also thinking about no homework, so I'm pretty happy about that too," Aiden said.

The exhibit travels all over the country with the goal of educating young people about what's known as The Great War.

All of this is one man's private collection, which was curated about five years ago. But the exhibit's owner tells us back then, he wasn't even a history buff.

Keith Colley was a counselor in his home state of Oklahoma, caring for Alzheimer's and dementia patients.

"One of my patients actually asked me if I knew the 100th anniversary of World War I was coming up, I didn't know it. His dad was actually in WWI, and he was now reverting back to that stage in his life and wanted to talk about it. I felt like if I was going to be successful in communicating with him, I better learn a little bit about the War. So I did, and it kind of hooked," said Colley.

This is now his main vocation, being a steward of World War I history.

"I consider myself the caretaker, not necessarily the curator but the caretaker of not only the articles that belong to these people but their stories also," Colley said.

The Lest We Forget World War I exhibit has moved on from our area. It's on the road, headed to its next stop in the Johnstown area.

Before You Leave, Check This Out