A local article from the South Carolina paper The State, reprinted at Stars and Stripes, highlighted the Fort Jackson, SC, US Army Chaplain’s Museum.

The U.S. Army Chaplains Museum at Fort Jackson has artifacts dating back to the earliest days of the chaplain corps, which was founded by an act of the Continental Congress in 1775. George Washington appointed the first chaplains.

The article notes the museum is specifically seeking memorabilia from the modern era:

The museum is reaching out to veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq for stories, memorabilia and artifacts illustrating the service of chaplains in those conflicts. It is especially looking for items made by soldiers for chaplains and then used by chaplains for ministering to soldiers…

It prizes “handmade” items, including a 500-pound altar made of mahogany and shell casings from World War II.

Similarly, the museum houses a chapel steeple from Afghanistan:

Most recently, curators were given a handmade steeple that topped an Army chapel in Afghanistan. Civilian contractors and Navy engineers made the steeple out of flattened 40 mm shells and the bell from 50-caliber machine gun shells.

The article omits that the steeple is topped by a cross made from shell-casings.  While it does not appear to be the steeple from Orgun-E, it may have been intentionally removed out of overzealous caution.  Or it might have been salvaged before a base was closed or buildings razed.

Either way, it is an interesting part of US military Chaplain history.

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