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Maine Military Museum board member Chris Montagna highlights artifacts, stories and school outreach
Summary
Chris Montagna, a board member of the Maine Military Museum, told a South Portland audience about the museum’s mission to preserve veterans’ stories, described rare artifacts from the Revolutionary War through Vietnam, and encouraged school visits and donations.
Chris Montagna, a board member of the Maine Military Museum, urged residents to visit the small South Portland museum and described how volunteers and donors keep the collection accessible to the public.
"Our duty or our bond is to tell the story about service above self," Montagna said, outlining the museum’s policy of free admission and its reliance on donations and book sales for support. He said the museum’s exhibits span the American Revolution through recent conflicts and aim to preserve names and personal stories that might otherwise be lost.
Montagna highlighted several items and the histories attached to them: an original New England colony flag dated to about 1740 and a rare cannonball from the 1775 bombardment of Falmouth; a Civil War flag linked to the 15th Maine that a Colorado family mailed back at their expense; and fragments from the USS Constitution. He described the museum’s large Vietnam collection and named volunteers who help run exhibits and reconciliation efforts for remains identified through DNA technology.
He also described exhibits from the Pacific theater and prisoner-of-war collections, including letters and carved tokens from survivors. Montagna recounted an emotional moment when Medal of Honor recipient Leo Thorses sat in the museum’s replica of a Hanoi Hilton cell and was visibly affected: "That brought me back 50 years," Montagna said, reporting Thorses’ reaction.
Montagna emphasized how artifacts typically arrive: donated by veterans or their families, found in attics or rescued from disposal. He noted the museum’s informal rules — free admission and mannequins not kept under glass so visitors can connect with the people represented — and offered practical visitor information for those planning trips to the VFW Hall site in South Portland.
During a brief question-and-answer session, an audience member asked about a local woman who claimed to have assisted D-Day planning as a stenographer; Montagna said he did not know that particular anecdote but pointed to the museum’s Nuremberg-era holdings. Another attendee asked whether the museum held WWII Japanese saki cups; Montagna confirmed the collection includes related items and mentioned a small cyanide vial among other artifacts.
Montagna closed by encouraging school visits and community support so the museum can continue to "speak those names" and preserve veterans’ stories for future generations. The session ended with an invitation to arrange field trips and to stop by the museum when in South Portland.
