Racoons , possums and other wild animals – even a skunk — had made the building their home .
“ The building had hit a point where it was going to go through six-month cycles of deterioration ,” Black says . “ It was like being in a cave . It was pitch dark . There was feces all over the place . It was a huge clean up . A lot of time and hot days wearing respirators and cleaning all of this up .”
As a retiree living thousands of miles from his hometown , Black would fly back from the east coast to work on the building , spending 100 nights a year away from home . Now , thankfully , he only lives a few hours away in Winterset .
“ I finally took our Fifth Wheel and brought it down here so I would have a place to stay , because I was going to go broke if I didn ’ t . I couldn ’ t afford to stay in hotel rooms 100 nights a year ,” Black says .
Since work began more than 10 years ago , thousands of local partners and volunteers have dedicated their time and funds to help Friends of NAS Ottumwa reach its mission , including Larry and Elsie Mae Cofer , the latter who chronicles the history of NAS Ottumwa in “ Carrier on the Prairie ”; Jim Parrish ; Tom Leinhauser ; Tom Keck , vice president of the Board of Trustees of Indian Hills Community College ; and Iowa Heartland History Connection ( formerly Wapello County Historical Society & Museum ), among many others .
Now , there ’ s plaster and paint on the walls ; smooth , hardwood floors ; electricity and temperature control ; and a kitchen . More renovations are needed on the second floor , where Nixon ’ s office once was . Black estimates about $ 250,000 has gone into restoration so far , with at least another $ 250,000 needed to complete the museum .
Restoring NAS Ottumwa has definitely been a labor of love , and one can see that with the tremendous progress that ’ s been made so far . But , the nonprofit is still — and always — looking for volunteers .
“ We ’ re always looking for help , and if anyone says we don ’ t need help , it ’ s nonsense ,” Black says . “ It ’ s cleaning the building . We ’ ve got a website and need help with that . We ’ re on social media and also need help with those things . We need people to be out here in leadership positions . It isn ’ t all just running a hammer . We ’ re coming to the end of that . But we need volunteers , money and leadership on the ground . There are too few of us wearing too many hats .”
Learning from the past
Like Pearl Harbor , many Americans are familiar with the saying “ History repeats itself ,” a phrase which stems from the famous quote by George Santayana :
“ Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it .”
Black , like many others , knows and recognizes the value of history — how even our local , small-town histories shape the future — and our world .
“ When they say ‘ history repeats itself ,’ it ’ s never exactly the same , but when you ’ re my age , you ’ ve seen these things before ,” Black says .
“ For me , this represents a group of bases that were built in World War II because we failed to react to what was going on in the rest of the world . And it ’ s repeating itself right now .”
20 We Are Ottumwa