Ten years ago, a local veteran’s wife set out to recover a lost piece of history.
Over the past year, local Boy Scouts have been taking steps to preserve that history for the world to see.
In 2008, June Bryan set out to find the photographs of Brown County World War II veterans that used to hang in the Gregg and Tucker lumber and hardware store in Nashville. When she came up empty-handed, she asked Brown County Veterans Service Officer Ron Higgins for help.
Over the next several months, the two collected more than 100 photos of Brown County veterans in uniform and began a new wall at Veterans Hall.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Higgins mentioned the wall to the Indiana Genealogy Society, and they asked what he was doing to preserve those photos for the future.
“I don’t know, locking the door when I go home at night?” Higgins said.
About a year ago, a local Eagle Scout candidate stepped in to help on that front.
Caleb Yager has made digitizing all Brown County veterans’ photos his Eagle project — all 500 or so of them.
The collection Higgins and Bryan had started doubled in November 2009 after the Brown County Democrat ran a story about the veterans wall project. “The next day the historical society called me, said she had those (missing photo) boards in their vault. … We took them all apart, took individual digital photos of every picture, and that added another 105 to our board,” Higgins said.
“I wish you could have seen the pride on her face. … The project broke out like revival, and soon, we were asking for all eras of veterans’ pictures.”
Yager is adding to that effort. In addition to digitizing the prints in the collection, he’s made a webpage, browncountyveterans.smugmug.com, where anyone can view them, sorted by wartime of service.
He’s also created a process to archive any more photos that arrive, with searchable, historical data. “We could possibly enter some information about the veteran if they want people to know, and that could be a part of the project for the future — some sort of story that goes with the photo,” Higgins said.
Yager felt that this was the perfect Eagle project for him because it’s part of his heritage, too. His father, Chuck, uncle, Higgins, and many other members of his family have served.
“My contact with the Indiana State Genealogical Society said it is the greatest Eagle Scout project she had ever heard of. I think so as well,” Higgins said.
Photos are still being accepted for the collection, Higgins said — any veterans from Brown County, in uniform. It doesn’t matter if you’re from a longtime family or just moved here, “if you’re from Brown County, have Brown County ties, I want your picture,” he said.
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Do you have a photo of a local veteran you’d like to add to this project? Call Ron Higgins at Veterans Hall, 812-988-5600 or email [email protected].
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