Ralph Barrale, Sr

Ralph Barrale, Sr. envisioned a Veterans Museum that would honor all who served our country, with a special tribute to the Veterans of St. Charles County. His unwavering dedication to our servicemen and women was evident in his commitment to preserving their legacy, ensuring that their sacrifices remain at the forefront for present and future generations.

The museum opened in the spring of 2019. There you will find “Ralph’s Story” among others like his, who served our country because Ralph felt:

“No one is ever gone, as long as someone still has memories of them.“

THE MAN AND THE DREAM

Ralph Barrale was born in 1924 and raised in St. Louis MO. He is a member of what is now known as “The Greatest Generation”. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Ralph and his group of seven friends all enlisted and went to war. Ralph is the only one who came home. He served in the US Army as a Combat MP, landed on Utah Beach, and fought with General Patton in the Battle of the Bulge. He was among the first troops to enter Dachau, the oldest concentration camp in Germany, and later served at the Nuremburg Trials. He was awarded 4 Bronze Stars for his service.

He returned home and married Rose, his sweetheart, and they raised a family in Florissant MO. In 1974 he built a home in Lake St. Louis MO, retiring in 1980. But Ralph had a lot left in the tank, and worked continually with the American Legion, VFW, and various veteran groups. He was the commander of the Lake St Louis VFW post for 9 years. Ralph always had a desire to honor veterans.

His first project was petitioning all the cities along highway 70 to rename the South Service Road to Veterans Memorial Parkway. This was completed in 2002. Next, he was part of committee that lobbied to name the new Highway 364 bridge Veterans Memorial Bridge, which opened in 2003. Ralph’s next dream (he was 84 now) was to build a veteran’s memorial in Lake St. Louis. This was completed in 2008.

One day, having coffee, he said to a group of friends, “if I was 25 years younger, I’d build a veterans museum honoring local veterans.” Some members of the group spoke up and said, “Well, Ralph, we are 25 years younger, let’s do this.”

The vision of the museum started to take shape in about 2015. A committee was formed. Many of the original founding members are still active with the museum today. We needed a building and lots of money, but Ralph had faith. He approached many civic leaders looking for help, and a little luck. Luck (or providence) took the form of Bill Hennessey, Mayor of O’Fallon MO. Bill liked Ralph’s dream. He told Ralph, “I think I may have a building for you!” When the Bond issue was passed to build the Krekel center, pieces began to fall into place. When the center was completed in 2018, the old 4200 sq ft Civic Annex, located at 410 East Elm, became available.

A lease was signed at City Hall in April 2018. We received the keys in October 2018 and began planning to transform the building into a museum. Sadly, we lost Ralph on October 9^th, 2018. Before his death, he had toured the building with his trusted committee members and had envisioned its future, a future that included school buses filled with students on field trips, and families bringing in their loved one’s cardboard boxes of artifacts, and, most importantly, telling their stories! Ralph had built a team and had confidence that the dream would come to fruition. His wife Rose, who died the following year, would visit frequently during the construction phase to supervise and see that we got it done.

The grand opening was 6 weeks away when our first curator abruptly left. We persevered. We had a small group of “old geezers” working relentlessly, hanging drywall, painting, building exhibit cases, with their own tools and DIY experience; and the work was completed on time. During that time, we rode a roller coaster of emotion. There were many challenges. At the top of the list was money. It was going to cost about $75,000 to get the building and grounds ready. None of this could have happened with support of the city and a very generous community, donated time, materials and labor, such as: Home Depot, Boy Scouts and Heritage Girls, Gary Kasten, Electrical Contractor, Mike Tippin, Acoustical Ceiling

Specialist, and a host of others, whose names are listed on our Outer Lobby Wall of Honor. Countless other private individuals and small groups made donations of funds.

The St. Charles County Veterans Museum opened on April 12th, 2019, with about 30 exhibits, a handful of stories and $600.00 in the bank. But getting the museum open turned out to be the easy part. At that time, we really did not have an identity, just dreams of what could be. We needed to define our mission and our priorities, organize the business, and most importantly, get the word out.

Progress and development of our location continued:

Countless community organizations have helped to beautify the grounds with displays, a flag retirement fire pit, Welcome signs, sponsored flower beds, healing gardens, picnic tables, shrubs, flowering bushes, and landscaping.

In February 2022 the St. Charles County Veterans Museum announced plans to begin a capital campaign for the purpose of building a new 10,000 square foot facility. The museum has been offered a two-plus acre tract with frontage on Bryan Road near Highway 70 by the City of O’Fallon.

In March 2022 a new garage to house our vintage Army Jeep was built, again with donated funds, materials and labor.

In August 2022 the museum dedicated The FALLEN 13 MEMORIAL, which honors the thirteen killed by a suicide bomber last year at Kabul Airport on 26-AUG 2021. The memorial was commissioned by Linda and Kevin Hundhausen, who were moved to build a lasting tribute for the 11 Marines, 1 Army Soldier, and 1 Navy Corpsman who lost their lives during the humanitarian mission. The memorial gifted to the museum with all expenses paid, and installed by Parkland Monument Company of Farmington MO.

In 2023 the Board of Directors approved re-branding of the museum from the St. Charles County Veterans to the Mid America Veterans Museum, to signify the broadening of its mission to include all areas of the Midwest. Today we have over 200 exhibits from the Civil War to current day, and honor over 600 veterans’ stories on our website and in the museum. We preserve a veteran’s story in several ways: Exhibits of personal artifacts, story binders, personal interviews, extensive historical research, podcasts, the Veterans History Project.

We have also learned that a story is never complete. Very often, relatives find our stories on our website and make corrections or additions, or donate long-lost artifacts and photographs. We have also acquired additional stories of other veterans in the family, and even been instrumental in the re-connection of families after many years, all across the country. And we have learned every veteran has a story worth telling.

With each passing year, our mission is evolving … how is the museum growing/changing?

How do we measure success: Is it the number of visitors, or the number of exhibits, or a new, bigger building, more revenue? Or could it be providing a bit of healing for our veterans?

Is it preparing and sharing exhibit of a family’s loved one?

Could it be providing a space where veterans feel comfortable and like to congregate?

Is it preserving the legacies of those who serve?

Could it be uniting with other veteran causes and offering our support?

Is it creating awareness of our veterans’ struggles?

As we strive to broaden our reach across the Midwest, as we try to envision a larger location with room to expand, as we try to spread the word of our mission to serve veterans and their families, as we help families to honor their loved one by exhibiting photos, memorabilia, medals, uniforms, as we tell stories of each individual who served, as we instruct school children on the sacrifices made for our freedom, we must realize the great importance of our commitment, our time, and our talents to keep Ralph’s dream alive.