The Veteran's Memorial Museum was orginally formed as the Rhein-Neckar Military Historical Society in January, 1990
at the Auto und Technik Museum in Sinsheim. The RNMHS applied for, and received approval, to operate as an private
organization within the US Military framework out of Worms, Germany. In 1993 the RNMHS applied for, and was
granted, space on Funari Barracks, in Mannheim, to use as a meeting place and eventual museum. This was withdrawn when the
University of Maryland moved its campus from Augsburg to Mannheim in 1994.
In 1995 The VMM received approval to have a building space on Coleman Barracks in Mannheim. The VMM operated
there until 2001, when plans were made to demolish our building to make way for the expansion of the air field runway
on Coleman.
In 1997 the VMM received approval to use space at Artillery Kaserne, in Babenhausen, and moved our entire approval
process and operation to the then, 233rd BSB, and Babenhausen, in 2001.
In 2006 Babenhausen closed as a US kaserne and the VMM was granted space to continue at the Stars and Stripes compund
in Griesheim, Germany. Under a new name for the parent club, (Hessian-American Military Historical Society) The VMM has carried
on its mission until March of 2008 but now has the new mission of being an online museum.
In April, 2007 it was finally announced that USAG Darmstadt would be closed as a US kaserne by 30 September 2008. The
VMM had its last open house on 30 March and had been visited by several local people in an effort to find a new home for the
VMM. This appears to have come to a dead end as ost of the people that contacted me only wanted my material for nothing. There
does not appear to be a new home in sight for the VMM in the near future. Hopefully this will change when I go back to Maine
for good.
As the US military presence in Germany transforms to its new role the VMM will undergo a transformation of its own. It
is hoped that a new museum building will be found for new exhibits, whether in Darmstadt or the Rockland, Maine area. Failing
this the VMM will continue on with its virtual exhibits dedicated to the memory of the US presence in Darmstadt and veteran
of both nations.
