Holding tank for history

For some reason, an American soldier who is now certainly long gone decided a louse affixed to an index card would make a great war souvenir.

"Cootie" it reads, along with a reference to the Argonne Forest in France, where the tiny critter was captured during World War I.

Exactly how the bug made it to Maryland isn't known, but there it is, sitting on a shelf in a nondescript warehouse at Fort George G. Meade. It shares cabinet space with Blackie, a courier pigeon and Purple Heart recipient made immortal through the wonders of taxidermy.

The two quirky items are cooling their heels in the new $780,000 storage facility for the fort's museum, where the nearly 4,000 items in the installation's collection are stowed when they're not on display. The collection is a tangible history of Fort Meade, the 5,000-acre military installation that turns 92 this year.

"The goal is to get items that are relevant to here, not just 'Army stuff,' " said David Cole, the museum's former director.

Arranged in climate-controlled cabinets twice as large as refrigerators are a cache of canteens, covers, bayonets (both foreign and domestic), uniforms, mortars, gas masks, riding boots, swords and the odd shell casing converted into a decorative vase.

It has everything a soldier would ever want or need for battle - except for firearms. Those are still sitting in a temporary storage facility and will arrive soon.

Then there's Blackie, the courier pigeon, well-stuffed and with a messenger canister still attached to her left leg. During World War II, somebody either shot her or she was hit by an explosive. Somehow, she still made it back to the coop, message intact. She was awarded the Purple Heart for being wounded in combat.

"She's a hero," said Babara Taylor, the museum exhibit specialist. "And she's not the only one. There were many other hero pigeons."

Besides combat gear, there's also an extensive archive with records, magazines, newspapers and photos.

There's a panoramic picture from the early 1920s that includes George Patton, then a junior officer. To his left is Capt. Dwight D. Eisenhower. On either side of two of the most famous soldiers in U.S. history is a small fleet of tanks and hundreds of soldiers that made up the Tank Corps, then stationed at Fort Meade.

The archives also have information about the nearby railway system that was once a vital supply line for the fort and a major asset for Odenton.

"This stuff is at least as neat as the three-dimensional stuff," said Rich Frank, the museum technician.

Frank's favorite piece in the collection, a Mark VIII tank, the vehicle pictured in the panorama with Ike and Patton, doesn't fit in the warehouse and is permanently housed at the museum.

"It's virtually unique," he said. "There's only four left in the world and we by far have the most complete one."

The machine, one of the first tanks used by the Army, was slow and easy to destroy. But its cheese-wedge shape was a good fit for World War I because it could drive over trenches without getting stuck.

The bulk of the collection is from World War I, with a few items from later wars. But there are older pieces too, like an ornate British mortar from the Revolutionary War.

Most of the collection is American, but there is a scattering of pieces from Germany, France, Great Britain and Japan, from eras when some of these allies were enemies.

The warehouse is open to researchers but not the general public. For more information about the museum, visit www.ftmeade.army.mil/Museum/index.html or call 301-677-6966.