FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Jim Ryder
June 4, 2010 Airborne & Special Operations
Museum Foundation
(910) 643-2774
Arrival of Original “Iron Mike” to the Airborne & Special Operations Museum Pushed Back One Week
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – The arrival of the original “Iron Mike to the Airborne & Special Operations Museum has been changed to Monday, June 14. The mammoth rock base has already been delivered.
The official dedication of “Iron Mike” will be during National Airborne Day on August 14.
Paul Galloway, Executive Director of the Airborne & Special Operations Museum Foundation, stated that the boulders arrived from Toccoa, Georgia. The approximate size of each rock is 7 feet by 7 feet by 3 feet deep with some a bit smaller. The maximum weight of one rock is approximately 25,000 pounds.
Why bring boulders to Fayetteville from Toccoa, Georgia? According to Galloway, “In 1942 the federal government acquired a parcel of land on Currahee Mountain, five miles outside of Toccoa, and began training a new type of soldier, the Paratrooper. Over 17,000 soldiers reported, trained, and successfully became paratroopers at Camp Toccoa during WWII. Numerous highly-decorated units trained at Toccoa, one of which was featured in Steven Spielberg’s Band of Brothers. This mountain, this town, and the paratrooper have forged a tie in history like no other.”
THE MUSEUM
Located in downtown Fayetteville, the Airborne & Special Operations Museum is part of the U.S. Army Museum System and tells the story of Army airborne and special operations units from 1940 to the present. Museum hours: 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, noon – 5 p.m. Sunday. Closed Monday; open Federal holiday Mondays. For more information call 910.643.2774 or visit the website at http://www.asomf.org.