toccoa military museum

Toccoa Military Museum - In our Memorial Day post, we mentioned our little trip to Westminster, South Carolina; But about 20 miles west of there is Toccoa, Georgia, known as the Army Air Sanctuary.

. During World War II, the Toccoa camp was where an entirely new type of soldier, the paratrooper, was trained. The 501st, 506th, 511th, 517th Parachute Infantry Regiments, the 457th Parachute Artillery Battalion, and others, known as the "Tokkon Men," trained in Europe and the Pacific.

Toccoa Military Museum

As in World War I, many training camps and cantonments were dismantled and sold after the war. One of Toccoa's unique features is the extensive construction and restoration work underway to preserve its rich history for future generations.

Currahee Military Museum, Toccoa

The Camp Toccoa at Currahee Project is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to rebuilding Toccoa. The organization has already bought back some of the base's land, restored the base's gate, guardhouse, pavilion, and one barracks building (along with three other bases) and has been able to restore the only remaining original building, the 506th Headquarters. Also on site are the Paratroopers Memorial and the Col. Robert Sink Memorial Trail, where you can experience running as well.

The Currah War Museum is located at the train station in the center of Toccoa, where all the paratroopers first arrived and began their five-mile journey to the camp. We were very lucky to be the only guests during our stay and were able to spend several hours enjoying a private tour with docent and local legend Mr. Ray and enjoying all the information he had to offer.

The museum is another 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that relies on donations, sales, and admission fees to operate the museum and acquire artifacts, and it's an excellent museum. One of the most impressive is the stables at Aldbourne, England, where members of the 501st and 506th lived before the Normandy invasion. They were able to bring it back from England and reassemble it in Toccaa, making it an original piece of history and an exhibit for every paratrooper regiment.

There are so many amazing things to discover and museums and campsites are definitely worth a visit. If you can't make it to Northeast Georgia in the near future, please consider donating to help with the important work of preserving this history.

Currahee Military Museum Toccoa Ga

Toc military, toc meaning, military patches meaning, military coins meaning, military challenge coin meaning, military intelligence insignia meaning, military challenge coins meaning, toc military acronym, meaning military, meaning of military ribbons, toc meaning business, toc military term