Major makeover of WWI exhibit at Camp Shelby

CAMP SHELBY, Miss. – Visitors to the Mississippi Armed Forces Museum at Camp Shelby will get to experience some major updates to the museum’s World War I exhibit as well as some other improvements.

WDAM reports that the museum has added information about airmen who served in World War I as well as Black Mississippians who also served in that conflict. The exhibit also has new photographs, artifacts and panels to give visitors a greater understanding of the war. A walk-through trench that is part of the exhibit also has new stories about Mississippi troops.

“As you come through the World War I exhibit, you’ll see some new stories and old stories delivered in a new way,” the museum’s director, Tommy Lofton, told the station.

Other updates to the museum are new displays about the Spanish-American War as well as a newly-designed area that details life at Camp Shelby in its beginning.

Camp Shelby got its start during World War I. It opened on July 18, 1917 as a training camp for National Guard soldiers, according to the museum’s website. The museum dates back to 1984 when two retired military veterans began displaying their collection of war artifacts in a warehouse at the camp. The museum has since grown to a 36,000-square foot (3,344.5-square meter) facility that includes a gallery honouring the state’s 28 Medal of Honor recipients.