Historic military collection on display at Simmons Middle School this week

A traveling exhibit of military collectibles, from the Spanish-American War in 1898 to the Vietnam War in the 1950s and 1970s, is at Simmons Middle School this week.

Two Marines from Georgia and an Air Force retiree from Eclectic are giving folks a look at their collection of thousands of military items, including 60 mannequins dressed in authentic full military uniforms from different periods.

The collection also includes a variety of weapons, military medical supplies, backpacks and other items that soldiers used in their daily lives, from portable mess kits to checker sets.

Most of the items are owned by Buddy Simpson, who served in a Marine amphibious assault battalion from 1955 to 1964, including stints in Korea, Cuba and Lebanon, and Sgt. Lamar Scott, who served as a Marine forward artillery observer from 1966 to 1970, including time in Vietnam.

But some of the items belong to retired Air Force Maj. Marty Potash, who flew C-141s from 1978 to 1998, including in Operation Desert Storm.

The men started their traveling exhibit about 10 years ago in an effort to help educate young people about military service, Simpson said.

“We do this out of the goodness of our hearts because they’re not teaching history in schools anymore,” he said. “Young people nowadays don’t realize what price freedom has cost … They don’t know what they’ve got.”

The men typically go to 12 to 15 schools a year, Scott said. Most of the schools are in Georgia, but this year they expanded to Alabama, he said.

They were invited to Simmons Middle School by sixth-grade science teacher Danny Pair.

They started showing the collection to students today and will continue through Thursday. The collection also will open to the public Wednesday night from 7 to 8:30 or 9 p.m.

There is no admission fee, but the men accept donations to help cover some of their costs. They buy a lot of collectibles with their own money, but people also donate items to them. They carry the items around in an 8-foot-by-20-foot trailer, and it fills the trailer up, Scott said.

“That’s the second truck I’ve bought, and the second trailer,” he said. “My wife says If I buy another trailer, it better have a bedroom in it.”

Kevin Erwin, an assistant principal at Simmons, said the display far exceeded the school’s expectations.

Adrees Mohamed, an eighth-grader, said it was fascinating. “The gun with the big, huge knife on it — that was cool,” he said.

He’s never seen so many old military items, Adrees said.

All of the items are originals; there are no reproductions, Scott said. Their collection once was estimated to be worth at least $300,000, but they’ve added to it since then, he said.

Potash said the collection actually is priceless. “There are items in here you will never see again in your life,” he said.