Mid America Veterans Museum asks Missouri lawmakers to help preserve veterans’ stories

Nina D'Angelo, executive director of the Mid America Veterans Museum, told the Missouri House Committee on Veterans and Armed Forces on the museum’s role in preserving veterans’ stories and asked lawmakers to help the organization expand its reach across the state.

D'Angelo said the museum—founded by World War II veteran Ralph Borelli Sr.—provides free admission, records oral histories for the Veteran History Project, runs the Operation Insight podcast and refers veterans to services when needed. "We believe that every veteran has a story worth preserving," she said, adding the work supports healing and community connection.

The presentation highlighted the museum's collections and programs. D'Angelo said the museum has been operating about eight years and has collected roughly 650 produced interview stories and maintains about 250–260 displays in its galleries. She said the museum absorbed the Missouri-level Veteran History Project material, with more than 2,000 recordings submitted to the Library of Congress, and that the museum's podcasts total more than 77 episodes with plans to continue growing the series.

D'Angelo described direct assistance the museum's volunteers provide. She recounted a case in which volunteers helped a veteran obtain a 100% disability rating and rebuilt parts of his home so insurance would reinstate coverage. "You guys literally saved my life," she said, recounting the veteran's response.

D'Angelo also invited the committee to promote the museum's upcoming "Light in the Shadows" four-day program in August, which she described as marking the fifth anniversary of a deadly incident that included Lance Corporal Jared Schmidt of St. Charles County. She said the museum will host a traveling Veterans and Athletes United memorial—a 6-foot-tall, 28-foot-wide wall made from more than 7,000 dog tags representing lives lost in the global war on terror—and asked lawmakers to help publicize and partner on outreach.

Renee Esery, identified in testimony as a founding member and the museum's bookkeeper, told the committee the museum provides a place where veterans feel "at home." "I feel, like you said, I feel at home there," Esery said, encouraging members to visit the O'Fallon museum and bring constituents. Several committee members praised the museum's work and discussed possible collaborations with other local heritage projects that use QR codes and digital collection methods to gather stories.

Chair Griffith closed the presentation by encouraging members to visit and by tying the museum's personal outreach to broader suicide-prevention efforts for veterans. No votes or formal committee actions were taken during the session.