The Douglas Dickey Medal of Honor exhibit at Garst Museum is celebrating a decade of sharing the heroic effort of a Darke County native.
Submitted photo
Douglas E. Dickey
Submitted photo
GREENVILLE — Join Garst Museum on Saturday, Nov. 9 for its next free Speaker Series program. The November Speaker Series has traditionally been a time to recognize veterans, and this year is no different. During this year’s program, Garst Museum will recognize the 10th anniversary of the Douglas Dickey Medal of Honor Exhibit at the museum. The event is free and will be held in the Lowell Thomas Meeting Room next to the exhibit featuring the Medal of Honor. Dickey is one of three Medal of Honor recipients from Darke County and the only one to receive the award posthumously.
Dennis Dickey, brother of Douglas Eugene Dickey, will be one of the guest speakers for the event. Dennis will be able to give personal insight as to who Douglas was as a person and the effect this tragedy had on their family. Selections from the video made a decade ago during the unveiling of the exhibit will also be shared, including some of the remarks from Lt. Col. Tom McKenney who was instrumental in helping Garst Museum get a medal for display purposes, and Major General James Livingston, who also earned the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War. Dave Manges will also be a featured speaker. Manges was one of the key people responsible for putting the exhibit together. He helped research the information and gather photos and artifacts for the exhibit. He will share how the exhibit came to be a permanent part of the Garst Museum from its conception to its completion.
Dickey, a 1965 graduate of Ansonia High School and resident of the Rossburg area, was killed in action on March 26, 1967. The facts revealed in the citation show that his platoon’s radio operator was wounded, and Dickey was sent to replace him. While a medic worked on the wounded man, an enemy grenade landed in the bunker. Without hesitation, Dickey threw himself onto the grenade, saving the lives of several others while losing his own life.
Douglas Dickey was born Dec. 24, 1946, in Greenville, and died 20 years later on Easter. He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve at Cincinnati on Dec. 13, 1965. He was discharged to re-enlist in the Regular Marine Corps on April 11, 1966.In June 1966, Dickey completed his recruit training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, Calif. and was transferred to Camp Pendleton where he underwent combat training with the Second Infantry Training Regiment. By October of that year, he joined Company B, 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, 3rd Marine Division, in the Republic of Vietnam. A month later, he was transferred to Company C, 1st Battalion, 4th Marines, 3rd Marine Division, and participated in combat against the Viet Cong, in Operations Deckhouse, Desoto and Beacon Hill. It was while fighting in Operation Beacon Hill that he lost his life while saving the lives of others. He is buried in Brock Cemetery.
To learn more about Dickey and the exhibit recognizing his sacrifice, visit Garst Museum on Saturday, Nov. 9, 2 p.m., for this free lecture. The Medal of Honor can be viewed at no cost when the museum is open, Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Although the lecture is free, regular admission fees apply to tour the museum. Veterans will be allowed to tour the museum for free during this event. Veterans Day weekend is the perfect time to tour the Keepers of Freedom exhibit and learn more about Darke County’s veterans that have helped preserve the freedoms we appreciate today. You can learn more about the first female Apache pilot or the Rossburg native who was an Air Force One Pilot. You can also learn about Lt. Commander Zachary Lansdowne and the ill-fated Shenandoah air ship or find out which Longtown native was a Tuskegee Airman. All of this and more is ready for you to see and learn when you visit the Keepers of Freedom exhibit.
Garst Museum is located at 205 N. Broadway, Greenville. For more information, visit www.garstmuseum.org.
