Exploring the Texas Veterans Hall of Fame
Every year, on the last Monday in May, Americans pause their busy everyday lives and schedules to celebrate a special day of immense recognition for veterans and their service, sacrifice, and accomplishments. Of the two official U.S. holidays recognizing the life-changing commitment of members of America’s military services, Memorial Day annually serves as a time to come together with families, loved ones, and communities to pay respect and honor the incredible stories of those who served in the United States Armed Forces and lost their lives defending their belief in all America stands for.
Regardless of origin, family background, or military background, veterans, their service, and their sacrifice have significantly impacted the lives of all Americans. Veterans are the sole reason for so many of our freedoms, safety, and history, and many of those veterans, past and present are right here in Texas.
The Texas Veterans Hall of Fame, located in nearby Denton, Texas, was founded in 2018 to help preserve the unbelievable history of the 1.8 million Texans who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces since the beginning of World War I. This impactful, memorable, and one-of-a-kind museum is located in Denton’s Golden Triangle Mall and has an extension in the form of a mobile vehicle museum (that can even be converted to a mobile evacuation bus for a natural disaster event within 30 minutes).
Having served 21 years in the United States Air Force, veteran Gary Steele serves as a founding member and the president of the Texas Veterans Hall of Fame. Mr. Steele’s military assignments included a tour in Vietnam, where he was a crew chief and worked on the EC-47 Gooney Bird. His other assignments included several tours and trips to all the bases in the Pacific Theater. He earned the second-highest rank possible, E-8 SMSgt, under the enlisted structure. His job titles ranged from Crew Chief to Training Superintendent and Combat Communications Advisor to Detachment Commander. During Mr. Steele’s 21 years in the Air Force, he received over 40 decorations and awards for his selfless service. He is now retired after 42 years of state and federal service.
After Mr. Steele’s experience in the military, he wanted to do something to honor other Texans with individual journeys and stories to tell. “We started thinking about honoring Texas veterans on an individual basis in 2017. We realized that no organization in Texas was doing that, so we started looking at other states to see how they were doing it and patterned our mission after theirs with our own twist,” he shares of the Texas Veterans Hall of Fame’s early days. “After looking at several cities in Texas, it was decided that Denton would be a great location, especially because of the support from the city and community.”
While Texas’s military history is represented and shared in museums scattered throughout the state, none of them are exclusively dedicated to honoring individual Texas military veterans for their outstanding service. Now, because of the Texas Veterans Hall of Fame, Texas has a venue created and curated specifically for this purpose.
The Texas Veterans Hall of Fame’s mission lies in recognizing those who have given so much. In the past five years, the museum and its memorable events have hosted more than 20,000 visitors from all over Texas and many other states. What started as a 45-square-foot display now boasts more than 4,200 square feet of memorabilia and history. There is also a special, well-documented, and presented history of the many Texas veterans who made their unique mark and impact through service. Museum visitors can expect to see a variety of displays covering all the wars. “The museum is one-of-a-kind,” Mr. Steele shares.
Mr. Steele shares that one of the most interesting aspects of the museum is its new way of honoring veterans with the “Remember Them Forever” project. Veterans are put in the museum’s database when they enter the museum, and QR codes are generated to link back to that specific veteran. “There is even recognition for veterans who are deceased,” Mr. Steele shares. “For those who are deceased, we place the QR code on a special marker and that marker goes on a grave. When visiting that grave, you can scan the QR code and read all about that veteran. We have 49 cemeteries across Texas and more than 9,700 profiles in our database.”
Another prestigious element of respect shown by the museum is the organization’s annual Induction Ceremony, which honors and recognizes not only Texas heroes but also those who have made a real difference in the lives of veterans and the public at local, state, and national levels. The ceremony honors veterans in the categories of valor, service, support, and patriotism.
The Texas Veterans Hall of Fame Learning Academy offers multiple courses to the public to keep veterans’ stories, sacrifices, and accomplishments alive. The Learning Academy developed these courses for younger generations, and they cover civics, patriotism, and military history.
Currently, the museum team, made up of veterans and civilian volunteers alike, is working on a media center for a podcast, a learning academy to better educate the public, and on its mobile museum that can be featured at public events, schools, and other venues, all in an effort to honor Texas veterans continually.
To help support the Texas Veterans Hall of Fame’s cause, head over to Denton to visit the unique museum designed to honor veterans by preserving their stories, sacrifices, and accomplishments. The museum will continue to promote its mission and vision and procure funds to protect its one-of-a-kind memorabilia, honor Texas Veterans, and ensure the public can access its living history. The Texas Veterans Museum relies primarily on grants and public and corporate donations to provide these funds.
The Texas Veterans Museum is open Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 1 p.m. - 6 p.m. The organization’s website, txveterans.org, also provides a wealth of information, from stories about Texas veterans and news to a calendar of events and a virtual museum. The website is membership-driven and offers two levels of membership: the Basic Membership, which allows access to all profiles and Texas Honors Site, and the Patriot Membership allows access to all premier pages including, but not limited to, virtual tours, newsletters, cemeteries, special articles and other areas of honoring our Texas Veterans. For more information about the Texas Veterans Hall of Fame, to make a donation, or to see a list of upcoming community events, go to txveterans.org.
