Seth
09-15-2005, 10:53
Long article. Posting the last paragraphs regarding the status of the D-Day Museum's status.
....
Jake Staples, the museum’s assistant director of facilities:
______________________________________________
At 8 p.m., Staples heard breaking glass as looters smashed
through the door to PJ’s, the museum’s coffee shop. Around 2 a.m.
Staples heard intruders break the plate glass double doors into the
museum gift shop, where they rummaged through the T-shirts, hats
and other souvenirs. At sun up they smashed through the doors into
the atrium. Nothing else stood between Staples and them.
By his estimate 30 to 40 looters at a time scurried beneath the
bomber and fighter planes. Some tried to access the cash inside an
ATM machine, chipping futilely at the strong box.
Staples retreated to the darkened exhibit, often taking refuge
in a tiny theater dedicated to the battle of Leyte Gulf, located in
what the museum calls the “serpentine wall.” Using his
flashlight, he positioned benches to create stumbling blocks here
and there in the deep darkness as a crude early warning system.
Occasionally he ventured out to assess the situation. To his
horror, he found that looters had begun venturing to the second
floor.
For the next 48 hours, Staples caught 20-minute catnaps as he
strained to hear disturbances in the darkness of his hideaway.
“I was so intent on hearing, that I didn’t really think about
things, he said. “This museum makes a lot of noises. I had my ears
up with such an intensity that there wasn’t time to be a
philosopher about the situation.”
It wasn’t Staples first brush with danger. As a pilot in the
Vietnam War he twice was forced to land in rice paddies where he
had to await rescue by helicopter. He said he feels those
experiences helped prepare him for his lonely vigil after Katrina.
Even when his wait for rescue was over, the ordeal continued.
“At 2:34 Saturday morning — I looked at my watch — I saw
flashlights in the exhibits. I thought, ‘Oh my God, these punks
have flashlights.’ Then I heard voices that sounded military. They
said, ‘Call down and tell someone there may be someone behind the
wall.’ I was in a well-hidden place; it took observant men to find
me.
“So I rattled the door and said ‘There is someone.’
In the aftermath of his ordeal Staples was relieved to discover
that the looters took little interest in the antique engines of war
that surrounded them. Overall the heart of the museum was intact.
Staples says that he would do it all again if the need arose.
“I’ll stay during any future problems because I want to. It’s in
my blood. I’m very proud of this place. This will be my last job.
The day I pass on, I plan to spend working here. It’s a place I
look forward to coming to every day.”
JM END MacCASH<QA>
....
Jake Staples, the museum’s assistant director of facilities:
______________________________________________
At 8 p.m., Staples heard breaking glass as looters smashed
through the door to PJ’s, the museum’s coffee shop. Around 2 a.m.
Staples heard intruders break the plate glass double doors into the
museum gift shop, where they rummaged through the T-shirts, hats
and other souvenirs. At sun up they smashed through the doors into
the atrium. Nothing else stood between Staples and them.
By his estimate 30 to 40 looters at a time scurried beneath the
bomber and fighter planes. Some tried to access the cash inside an
ATM machine, chipping futilely at the strong box.
Staples retreated to the darkened exhibit, often taking refuge
in a tiny theater dedicated to the battle of Leyte Gulf, located in
what the museum calls the “serpentine wall.” Using his
flashlight, he positioned benches to create stumbling blocks here
and there in the deep darkness as a crude early warning system.
Occasionally he ventured out to assess the situation. To his
horror, he found that looters had begun venturing to the second
floor.
For the next 48 hours, Staples caught 20-minute catnaps as he
strained to hear disturbances in the darkness of his hideaway.
“I was so intent on hearing, that I didn’t really think about
things, he said. “This museum makes a lot of noises. I had my ears
up with such an intensity that there wasn’t time to be a
philosopher about the situation.”
It wasn’t Staples first brush with danger. As a pilot in the
Vietnam War he twice was forced to land in rice paddies where he
had to await rescue by helicopter. He said he feels those
experiences helped prepare him for his lonely vigil after Katrina.
Even when his wait for rescue was over, the ordeal continued.
“At 2:34 Saturday morning — I looked at my watch — I saw
flashlights in the exhibits. I thought, ‘Oh my God, these punks
have flashlights.’ Then I heard voices that sounded military. They
said, ‘Call down and tell someone there may be someone behind the
wall.’ I was in a well-hidden place; it took observant men to find
me.
“So I rattled the door and said ‘There is someone.’
In the aftermath of his ordeal Staples was relieved to discover
that the looters took little interest in the antique engines of war
that surrounded them. Overall the heart of the museum was intact.
Staples says that he would do it all again if the need arose.
“I’ll stay during any future problems because I want to. It’s in
my blood. I’m very proud of this place. This will be my last job.
The day I pass on, I plan to spend working here. It’s a place I
look forward to coming to every day.”
JM END MacCASH<QA>