The U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center hosts Army Expo 2023 at Carlisle, Pa., Oct. 14-15, 2023. The USAHEC educates people about Army history and is located near the U.S. Army War College. (Aliyah Vivier/U.S. Army National Guard)
CARLISLE, Pa (Tribune News Service) — Her future was just farmland outside town when Julie Germany first arrived at Carlisle Barracks in the summer of 1997.
A self-described Army brat, she grew up living in 14 places before her father William Barko, a career soldier, settled in on post as the officer in charge of the Army Physical Fitness Institute.
The years that followed strengthened her ties with Carlisle and Cumberland County. Ties that include a bachelor’s degree from then-Messiah College and frequent visits with her parents who retired locally.
Today, Germany is president of the Army Heritage Center Foundation, a nonprofit organization that supports the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center on what used to be an open field in Middlesex Township.
Crossing a divide
“Our focus is on helping the center be the best it can be,” she said. “That involves doing a lot of public outreach and fundraising. Telling the soldiers’ story infuses everything we do.”
From social media to special events, speaking engagements to panel discussions, the foundation tries to draw visitors to a complex on the verge of transformation.
“The first potential for me is the potential that exists within the Carlisle community,” Germany said. “We are such a grateful part of the community. I would like to see us continue to build those relationships. We have mutual goals.
“One goal is to show people how great the area is,” she said. “People who stay overnight and visit our downtown. USAHEC can play a huge part in that. The second [goal] is to help bridge the divide that exists between the American public and Army service. We are so disconnected from the sacrifices that are made and the stories that are told. Our vision is to find the best way to tell those stories and to connect those stories with the people.”
1775 Fund
The next year will see the development of projects aimed at enhancing and expanding what the center has to offer. Her job is to coordinate the projects between her staff, the Army and the public.
“I come from a background heavy in two areas,” Germany said. “One is grassroots organizing. The other is digital communications and outreach. I have tried to focus on both as we build the way we reach people online and through traditional methods.
“Our focus has been on doing something special for the 250th birthday of the Army which will be next June,” she said. “Most people don’t realize that the birth of the Army is so intertwined with Carlisle.”
Carlisle Barracks predates both the formation of the Army and the nation itself. During the Revolutionary War, the post hosted Washingtonburg, a logistical base for the Continental Army.
The Old Graveyard on East South Street includes the burial sites of such early officers as William Thompson, the first colonel of the U.S. Army, and John Armstrong, one of the first generals and a friend of George Washington.
“The area is rich in Army history,” Germany said. “So, for the 250th, we want to focus on the stories of soldiers who came from Carlisle as a way to better connect that history to the public in our area.”
In late October, the foundation launched the 1775 Fund in which donors can pay $17.75 to help the center connect Army stories to the public. For more information, visit www.armyheritage.org/1775-fund/.
One project for the next four to five years will be a complete redesign of the Soldier Experience gallery, which is in the main public building of the Army Heritage and Education Center.
“When children and families visit, we encourage them to stop by the security desk and pick up one of many different electronic dog tags,” Germany said. “As they walk through the exhibits, they scan the dog tags and can hear the stories of individual soldiers. When they get to the end, they find out what happened to their soldier.
“The gallery is incredibly immersive and interactive,” she said. “It is very well done, but it is also very old. The 1775 Fund will help us restore and redesign it. We run education and outreach programs aimed at students. School trips, but also cyber and home school students.”
Trail upgrades
In November 2019, carpentry students from the Cumberland Perry Area Career & Technical Center built a quonset hut-style event pavilion on the Army Heritage Trail of the heritage center campus.
A ceremony is being planned for early 2025 to break ground on a $1.5 million project to improve that part of the trail with a stage, landscaping, comfortable seating, a fire pit and exterior lighting, Germany said.
The pavilion will be enclosed and interior lighting added to allow for year-round night and day use, she said. “We are going to pave the gravel pathway back there. So many people who attend our events may have mobility challenges — retirees, wounded veterans. The hike from the parking lot back to that pavilion is long and can be treacherous, so we are going to make it more accessible to them.”
The goal is to get the trail project completed by mid-June for a ribbon-cutting on the Army’s birthday, Germany said. “If we stick to the timeline we have, they should be able to get the work done. We would then have to proffer the project to the Army.”
The one-mile trail is an outdoor museum highlighting nearly every era of Army history with exhibits and large artifacts. The trail also serves as a stage for living history presentations by historians serving as interpreters.
“We are currently building a Global War on Terror exhibit on the trail that should open around the Army’s birthday,” Germany said. The foundation is also working with different chapters of the Association of the U.S. Army to hold events that connect their members and the public with soldiers’ stories, she said.
Prior to becoming president, she served on the foundation’s board of advisers for about eight years. Germany participates in the promotions committee of the Downtown Carlisle Association and the board of directors of the Cumberland County Historical Society. Her biography can be found at www.armyheritage.org/staff/.
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