2nd, 411th Logistics Support Battalion connects past, present during Fort McCoy Commemorative Area staff ride

The history of an Army installation is more than dates, buildings and artifacts. For Soldiers, understanding that history can provide a greater appreciation for the people who served before them and the legacy they carry forward.

That connection between past and present was the focus July 24 when Soldiers with the 2nd Battalion, 411th Regiment (Logistics Support), commonly known as the 2-411th Logistics Support Battalion, conducted a staff ride at the Fort McCoy Commemorative Area.

The unit conducted two staff-ride sessions, from 12:30 to 2 p.m. and 2 to 4 p.m., as part of its annual training schedule. The visit was coordinated through the Fort McCoy Garrison Public Affairs Office and the 88th Readiness Division Historian Ward Zischke who led the Soldiers through the Commemorative Area’s historical buildings, displays, and exhibits.

For the Soldiers of the 2-411th, the visit provided an opportunity to step away from the unit’s maintenance operations and tactical collective training and spend time learning about the history of the installation where they were training, said Maj. Ian A. Coutts, 2-411th Battalion executive officer.

The staff ride also demonstrated how historical education can become part of military training. Zischke guided the Soldiers through Fort McCoy’s history, using the installation’s physical historical resources to explain the experiences of previous generations of service members. The tour covered the history represented throughout the Commemorative Area, from Fort McCoy's early years and its World War I-era history through the massive World War II expansion and into more recent periods of military service.

The purpose was not simply to look at old buildings and equipment, Coutts said. It was to help Soldiers understand the legacy of the Army profession and the generations of service members who came before them.

Preserving Fort McCoy’s story The Fort McCoy Commemorative Area is one of the installation's primary locations for preserving and interpreting its history.

Located in the historic 900 block of the Fort McCoy cantonment area, the site has developed into a historical campus that includes the Fort McCoy History Center, World War II-era buildings, Equipment Park and Veterans Memorial Plaza. Collectively, these features help tell the story of Fort McCoy from its establishment in 1909 through more than a century of military service.

The preservation effort began in the early 1990s as part of national observances marking the 50th anniversary of World War II. Five adjoining World War II-era buildings were eventually set aside for historical preservation, and the area formally was dedicated as a World War II Commemorative Area in June 1995.

As Fort McCoy’s mission and history continued to evolve, so did the Commemorative Area. Today, the site has expanded beyond its original World War II focus to tell the broader story of the installation and the Soldiers, civilians and families connected to it.

The World War II-era buildings are particularly important because they provide a physical connection to the installation's enormous wartime expansion. The buildings represent facilities that were common throughout the cantonment when it was constructed in 1942. Exhibits in the buildings help visitors understand what Soldier life was like during the 1940s, including displays featuring bunk beds, footlockers, potbelly stoves and other items associated with the period. Other buildings contain displays covering World War II and later periods of military history.

For Soldiers walking through those buildings, history becomes tangible. Rather than reading about the Army of the 1940s in a textbook, visitors can stand inside preserved structures and see how Soldiers lived, worked and trained during one of the most consequential periods in U.S. military history.

History Center tells larger story The Fort McCoy History Center expands that story beyond World War II, Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office officials said.

Its exhibits contain memorabilia and artifacts representing Fort McCoy’s role during World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Cuban Refugee Resettlement Center operations, Operation Desert Storm, and other periods of the installation's history.

That broad historical perspective is particularly significant for today's Army Reserve Soldiers. The 2-411th is part of the Army Reserve force that trains and serves while maintaining a connection to communities across the nation. Learning about previous generations of Soldiers who trained at Fort McCoy provides context for understanding the installation’s continuing role in supporting America’s military.

The displays also demonstrate that Fort McCoy’s history is not limited to combat operations. The installation has served as a training center, mobilization and demobilization location, refugee resettlement site, equipment and logistics hub, and a place where generations of military personnel have prepared for service around the world.

Equipment Park connects Soldiers to the Army’s evolution Another major component of the Commemorative Area is the Equipment Park, an outdoor collection of historic and modern military equipment.

The park is designed to display more than 70 pieces of equipment, ranging from helicopters and howitzers to tanks, trucks and trailers. The equipment represents the types of systems used at Fort McCoy across different periods of its history.

For Soldiers, the equipment provides another way to understand how Army capabilities have changed. A Soldier can see the progression from older systems to more modern equipment and consider how advances in technology have changed the way the Army trains, moves, communicates and conducts operations.

At the same time, the equipment serves as a reminder that today’s systems eventually become tomorrow's artifacts — making preservation important for future generations.

Veterans Memorial Plaza honors those who served The Commemorative Area's Veterans Memorial Plaza provides another important dimension to the site. The plaza is dedicated to the men and women who served the nation during the different eras represented in Fort McCoy's history. Statues depict Soldiers associated with conflicts and periods beginning with World War I and continuing through World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam War and Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan.

The plaza helps bring the purpose of the Commemorative Area into focus. The buildings and artifacts tell the story. The equipment shows how the Army changed. The memorial honors the people who served.

Together, those elements provide a setting where today's Soldiers can consider their place within a much longer history of military service.

‘Forging the future through the past’ For the 2-411th Soldiers, that message was central to the July 24 staff ride. The unit’s event materials described the effort as “Forging the Future Through the Past: Victory through Preservation of the Profession!”

That theme captures the reason historical education remains valuable to today’s military. The officers and noncommissioned officers of the 2-411th made time in the unit's annual training schedule for the historical experience, recognizing that technical and tactical training are only part of developing Soldiers.

Understanding the history of the uniform they wear can help build pride in the profession, reinforce the Army Values and provide perspective on the responsibilities associated with military service.

The staff ride also highlighted the partnership among the Fort McCoy Garrison Public Affairs Office, 88th Readiness Division historian and 2-411th Logistics Support Battalion in making historical resources available to Soldiers.

For Fort McCoy Public Affairs, those engagements are an important part of the Commemorative Area’s continuing purpose. The area is not simply a collection of preserved buildings and artifacts. It is an educational resource designed to ensure that the stories connected to Fort McCoy remain available to the people who train and serve here.

And for Soldiers such as those in the 2-411th, the experience offers an opportunity to see that they are not beginning their service story from scratch. They are becoming part of one that began more than a century ago. Fort McCoy's history is preserved so today's Soldiers can understand where they came from — and carry that legacy into the future.

Fort McCoy has supported America’s armed forces since 1909. Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.

The post’s varied terrain, state-of-the-art ranges, new as well as renovated facilities, and extensive support infrastructure combine to provide military personnel with an environment in which to develop and sustain the skills necessary for mission success.

The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.

Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on Flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/fortmccoywi, and on DVIDS by visiting https://www.dvidshub.net/unit/FMPAO.

Also try downloading the My Army Post app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base. Fort McCoy is also part of Army’s Installation Management Command where “We Are The Army’s Home.”

(Article prepared by the Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office and the 2-411th Logistics Support Battalion.)

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