Northwest Aerospace News December 2018 | January 2019 Issue No. 6 | Page 54

HONOR POINT: A LASTING HERITAGE
T
he Fairchild Heritage Museum, located at Fairchild Air Force
Base, chronicled the history not only of Fairchild, which had its
beginning as Spokane Depot in 1941, but also that of all Spokane’s
branches of service. It proudly told of a community’s involvement
that fostered the depot, the heroic deeds of hundreds, indeed, thou-
sands of our military, and its unique 77-year existence. The museum
sought to “Tell the stories” of our veterans and the unusually close
relationship between our citizenry and the military. Unfortunately,
this museum that tells those stories, preserves thousands of artifacts,
and brings our local history to life, is threatened with extinction.
Following 9-11, security at Fairchild AFB made visitor entry to
the museum virtually impossible. This is significant as most of the
7,000 artifacts in the inventory were given to the museum with the
understanding that they would remain in the community so that
sons and daughters, and grandkids of veterans, could come and see
what “Daddy did in the war.” The fear was that these artifacts would
disappear into the vast reservoir that is the Air Force Museum inven-
tory. The Fairchild Heritage Museum Society, a volunteer organiza-
tion, fought to keep our artifacts here.
54
NORTHWEST AEROSPACE NEWS
The mission of Honor Point is
“PRESERVE A LIVING HISTORY TO EDUCATE FOR A BETTER
FUTURE THROUGH DISCOVERY OF THE PAST.”