Posted by Clark Kolterman on Feb 03, 2019
Gerald “Jerry” Meyer, Executive Director of the new Nebraska National Guard Museum in Seward,
updated the members of the Seward Rotary Club at their recent weekly meeting held on Wednesday,
January 30, 2019 at noon. A luncheon, fellowship, short business meeting and reports was hosted by
Seward Rotary President Elect Kurth Brashear. Clark Kolterman and Kevin Zadina were Rotary Club
Program Co-chairs and they thanked the club for venturing out in the cold to hear this special update on
the Nebraska National Guard Museum. Kolterman introduced Jerry Meyer and spoke on the grand
positive impact their entire family has created since they moved to Seward just four years ago.
Gerald “Jerry” Meyer, Executive Director of the new Nebraska National Guard Museum in Seward,
updated the members of the Seward Rotary Club at their recent weekly meeting held on Wednesday,
January 30, 2019 at noon. A luncheon, fellowship, short business meeting and reports was hosted by
Seward Rotary President Elect Kurth Brashear. Clark Kolterman and Kevin Zadina were Rotary Club
Program Co-chairs and they thanked the club for venturing out in the cold to hear this special update on
the Nebraska National Guard Museum. Kolterman introduced Jerry Meyer and spoke on the grand
positive impact their entire family has created since they moved to Seward just four years ago.
 
Meyer welcomed the “full house” of Seward Rotarians and share the story of Ralph Greeley, showed the
membership Greeley’s Purple Heart and spoke on the heroism of Greeley as he defended Sugar Loaf Hill
and was killed during the fight. Meyer shared that it is the duty of the NNGM to tell Greeley’s story and
learn from it.
 
He also spoke on the local, Seward hero Francis Zelany, who was killed in December of 1944 during
World War II and shared the story of Zelany as well.

He displayed the famous “Hedge Row” Painting of the Nebraska National Guard’s battle in St. Lo, France and talked about the 51 Nebraska National Guard soldiers that lost their lives at the Battle of St. Lo. This
year commemorates the 75 th anniversary of the Liberation of St. Lo, France and the museum will unveil a
special “Hedge Row” Exhibit in honor and to memorialize that sacrifice of 51 Nebraskan’s. The museum
is in the process of raising $300,000 to fund the “Four D” Exhibit-featuring sights, sounds and flashes
–recreating the Battle of St. Lo for the visitors as they walk through the exhibit.

He thanked Chuck and Jan Matzke, who are the Co-Chair of the Fund Raising campaign to raise the
needed funds for the St. Lo Hedge Row exhibit.
 
Meyer invited the Rotarians to help with the approaching, annual “Run to St. Lo” on June 8 to raise
funds and awareness on the Battle of St. Lo and to honor the 51 soldiers that gave their lives during the
battle to liberate St. Lo, France!

He discussed the recent NNGM attendance figures from last year of 18,500 and is planning on 25,000 in
2019 and 30,000 in 2020, which are the attendance goals he had established at the opening of the
museum.

Meyer also announced that the historic William Jennings Bryan statue, now on exhibit at the US Capitol
in Statuary Hall in Washington, D.C., will be relocated to the Nebraska National Guard Museum in the
spring of 2019. The statue is nine feet tall and weighs 6,000+ pounds, along with the original marble
base. The statue is being brought to Nebraska, because it is being replaced with at Standing Bear Statue
and a stature of Willa Cather. It is appropriate that the statue is being placed in the museum, as Wm
Jennings Bryan was an officer in the Nebraska National Guard. Meyer thanked both Clark Kolterman-
Seward Arts Council Chair and Senator Mark Kolterman, who testified to the committee that the Wm.
Jennings Bryan statue should be in the museum.

Meyer also spoke on the next exhibit, featuring a Black Hawk helicopter to be located in the center of
the museum and have a virtual reality aspect, allowing the visitors to take a flight to Lincoln and back
while sitting in the helicopter. More details will follow on the proposed exhibit to open 2020.
Meyer addressed the Rotary membership on the museum’s outreach efforts, bringing students from
every corner of the state to visit the museum and share the soldier and veteran’s stories. He thanks the
community of Seward for the wonderful reception and support. Seward was selected over sites in
Lincoln, Fremont, Nebraska City and North Platte. He acknowledged the outstanding support of area
businesses and individuals, who have made the museum a first class attraction for Nebraska!

He asked for continued support, as the committee is on the downhill phase of funding raising for the
“Hedge Row” exhibit and asked for help to complete this funding campaign.

Questions and answers followed the presentation and tours of the existing exhibits, along with a “sneak
preview” of the Hedgerow Exhibit, and the various, new aspects of the Nebraska National Guard
Museum.