World War I exhibit features Ironton man

Published 11:51 am Thursday, May 11, 2017

RIO GRANDE — University of Rio Grande history professor Sam Wilson has put together a World War I exhibit at the Bob Evans Farm’s Homestead Museum in Rio Grande.

The exhibit features a number of items that belonged to Bill Lambert, the World War I Flying Ace from Ironton. Visitors who enter the exhibit will be exposed to an interview Lambert gave in 1980 to General Dynamics.

Wilson said the exhibit honors America’s entry into the war in 1917, and contains a variety of artifacts from the period.

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Some of the items on display at the exhibit include sheet music from the time, toys and dolls, children’s books, a uniformed manikin, flags from the main participants, a gas mask, a bayonet, binoculars, letters from actual soldiers, German money, postcards and stereo-view cards from the war.

“It’s an intensely constructed exhibit,” Wilson said. “It is well worth coming to visit and it’s free.”

Wilson said that once the exhibit is over, the Lambert collection would be given to the Lawrence County Historical Society, as well as Briggs Library.

The Bob Evans Farm Homestead Museum is located on State Route 558, just of U.S. Route 35 in Rio Grande.

The exhibit began May 1 and will continue through Oct. 31.