Wisconsin Military Museum set to open in Illinois
It doesn't matter if he's at a garage sale in Antioch or an estate sale in Lake Forest. Mark Sonday never walks away empty-handed.
In fact, friends often point out rummage sales to Sonday and bet him lunch that he won't be able to find a useful artifact for his military collection.
Sonday hasn't lost a bet yet.
"It's almost like a premonition," he said. "Just when I think I won't be able to find anything, I'll look down and see a cigarette lighter from World War II."
Sonday's penchant for military artifacts can be seen daily at his museum, which he has operated for more than 20 years, first in Wisconsin as the Kenosha Military Museum and for the last 10 months in Illinois.
The newly named Russell Military Museum, located on 10 acres on Russell Road just outside of Wadsworth, has 150 artifacts on display from WWII to the current Iraq war.
On July 12 and 13, the museum will host its first special event - a fundraiser to help support the acquisition and upkeep of military artifacts.
"When the government is throwing something away, that's the day you have to buy it," Sonday said.
Sonday is hoping to raise enough money for is a vintage Vietnam Marine Corps. Jolly Green Rescue Helicopter - one of only two in the country.
"I think God does it," Sonday said when asked how he finds such rare artifacts. "I mean, I was saying to myself, I've got every other helicopter but this one and then I go on the government Web site and see they are selling something that is 50,000 pounds. I made a few calls and there it was - the Jolly Green."
Sonday said the cost of the helicopter is not an issue, but disassembling it, transporting it from Ohio to Illinois, then reassembling and painting it will cost him roughly $20,000.
The fundraiser will last from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days and include helicopter rides, an obstacle course, raffles and a car crush, where Sonday will crush cars with his WWII M-4 Sherman Tank.
The event costs the normal price of admission - $7.50 for adults, $5 for children. Helicopter rides will be an extra charge.
Although Sonday, 56, formed the nonprofit the museum in 1986, he has been collecting artifacts since he was a kid growing up in Chicago.
"My father and uncles were World War II vets and I just became enthralled with the stories and the stuff," he said. "And in the 1950s and '60s the artifacts were pretty cheap because no one knew what to do with the stuff."
One of Sonday's first purchases was a WWII Harley Davidson. He purchased the motorcycle in 1965 and it is still part of his collection, lining the WWII wall of his museum.
While the cannons, helicopters, Jeeps and tanks are definitely the main focal point of the Russell Military Museum, Sonday has dozens of smaller artifacts in his collection. Some of his favorites are V-Mail envelopes from WWII, the entire set of Marvel comic's "The Nam" books that were distributed to soldiers and canned meals from each of the wars.
When Sonday is asked which thing in his collection is his favorite, he is unable to answer.
"All of it," he said. "I would not be able to part with any of this. People offer and sure, I could use the money, but I think it's against my religion to sell something."
Since moving to the Russell Road location, Sonday said his average daily attendance has doubled from about 50 people to 100.
On Tuesday, John Stodola and his son Sterling, 12, drove more than four hours from their home in Stratford, Wis., to see Sonday's collection.
"Sterling is a big WWII historian and has been wanting to come down," Stodola said. "I also collect some small arms from WWI and WWII, but nothing like the big tanks he's got here. It's pretty neat."
Sonday said an advantage his private museum has over government-run military museums is he has all branches of service represented. Sonday even has a NASA display, which includes patches from each of the shuttle missions and a space suit.
"Having pretty much everything anyone could see at one museum gives us a nice advantage," he said. "Some people complain that I never sell anything. But the more I seem to find, the more people come to see it."