Drawing on its rich military history, LSU will begin fundraising to turn its iconic Memorial Tower into a full-fledged military museum.
LSU President F. King Alexander announced the project Friday at LSU Salutes, an annual event established in 1998 by the LSU Board of Supervisors, honoring both alumni and current student veterans.
The LSU community also recognized these individuals during the halftime show of LSU’s game against the University of Arkansas this weekend.
The Memorial Tower was donated to LSU in 1926 by American Legion posts throughout the state as a memorial to Louisiana natives who fought in WWI.
The names of each Louisiana veteran who died in service to their country are inscribed on plaques inside the tower’s rotunda.
It is the home of the Cadets of the Ole War Skule, an organization that preserves and promotes the contributions of LSU’s military alumni and supports the LSU Corps of Cadets.
The Cadets of the Ole War Skule will run the museum after its establishment.
The LSU Military Excellence Fund Commission, co-chaired by former LSU Board of Supervisors member Laura Leach and U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Lee Levy, will spearhead the fundraising efforts.
“We have a responsibility to honor the military history and heritage of LSU,” said Executive Director of the Cadets of the Old War Skule Randy Gurie. “It is dignified, and it is great. We need to make sure that story is told, and it will be told through the LSU Military Museum.”
The money raised will also go toward moving the Veteran and Military Student Services offices from their temporary home on third floor of Hatcher Hall.
“We’ll have a little more room, and it won’t be a hodgepodge up in the transient spacing in the third floor of Hatcher Hall,” VMSS Coordinator Adam Jennings said. “It will be the same thing with a little more expanding services and better location.”
After the commission raises the needed funds, VMSS will move to Raphael Semmes Road between the Women’s Center and the African American Cultural Center near the Barnes and Noble.
The university established VMSS in February 2013 as a way to better serve the military student population.
The new center will not only be a space for students, but active military and their friends and family, according to an LSU Media Relations news release.
The expanded office will have places for individual and group studies sessions and computers and printers as well as a community for military students.
The extensive redesign and renovation of the Memorial Tower and the establishment of the Veterans Student Center will cost approximately $8 million, Gurie said.
“My hope is that when people walk in to see the museum that the first word out of their mouth is wow,” Gurie said. “It is going to be a facility that everybody connected with LSU will be pleased with.”