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News Releases |
World War II Company Street Hits the Highway
Columbus, Georgia – March 2, 2005: If walls
could talk, these buildings might tell you a story of being reborn.
On a chilly, clear weekend in February, seven World
War II-era buildings made a journey to the site of the new National
Infantry Museum and Heritage Park, where they’ll be refurbished
and set up as a typical company street would have been in the 1940s.
In the mid-90s, then-Commanding General MG Jerry
White saved seven of the old buildings from the wrecking ball, looking
far past the horizon to the day they’d find a home at the
new museum.
The buildings include a barracks, a day room, a
supply room, a mess hall, a chapel and the headquarters and sleeping
quarters used by Gen. George Patton before his deployment to North
Africa in 1942.
The trip took 12 hours over two days, with the
chapel traveling the farthest, about eight miles. Roads were closed,
power lines cut and patched, trees trimmed and light standards uprooted.
Dozens of people took their duty stations at various points along
the route, including the house movers, power company crews, MPs
and photographers. Early birds still in pajamas gathered on porches
to witness the parade.
All things considered, the move came off without
a hitch. One of the tightest spots was right in front of the commanding
general’s house. With a stone planter on one side of the street
and a steep incline on the other, the extra wide load cleared with
just inches to spare.
Then came the steep hill approaching Upatoi Creek.
The movers had to brace an extra piece of heavy machinery up against
the front side of the chapel to keep the chapel from racing down
the hill faster than the truck that was carrying it. Crossing the
Upatoi Creek bridge also required expert maneuvering, with the wheels
of the trailer extending curb-to-curb, and the sides of the largest
buildings nearly scraping the railings on either side.
“All in a day’s work,” was the movers’ modest
summation. Ducky Johnson House Movers of Grand Ridge, Florida, began
planning the move months in advance, and spent several weeks preparing
the buildings for their journey. The family-owned business is one
of a very few in the country qualified to handle such a big job.
By 2 p.m. Sunday, all seven buildings were on site in as good condition
as when they started their journey. By Monday afternoon, they were
arranged along the new company street, awaiting the completion of
their foundations. Later in the week, the three remaining house
movers on-site carefully returned the chapel’s steeple to
its rooftop perch. It’s the Foundation’s hope that that
steeple has found its final home.
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