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Gen.: Army division museum needs $2 million

EDMOND, Okla. — Oklahoma’s top soldier says he plans to ask the Legislature for $2 million for a new wing at the 45th Infantry Division Museum.

The state’s adjutant general, Major Gen. Harry M. “Bud” Wyatt III, commands units of the Air and Army National Guard and oversees the museum. Wyatt said the museum needs space to grow.

“We are stuffed to the gills with exhibits, most of them World War II, but also some Gulf War stuff and some Air National Guard stuff,” Wyatt said.

Speaking before the Edmond Kiwanis Club on the University of Central Oklahoma campus, Wyatt called the museum the best state-run military museum.

“We have some things that the national museums are wanting very badly to get from us,” he said.

The museum, which stands on a 15-acre park in Oklahoma City, has 27,000 square feet of exhibit space.

The museum is funded by the Legislature through the Oklahoma Military Department and the 45th Infantry Division Association, the closest thing it has to a fundraising arm, Wyatt said.

Membership in the association is open to anyone who wants to pay dues, with the main pool consisting of former members of the 45th Infantry Division, Wyatt said. Other sources of revenue come from donations by patrons and from gift shop purchases.