In the early 1990s, a collection of military artifacts was gathered in a classroom at Memorial High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma, by Col. Robert W. Powell. Col. Powell retired from the United States Air Force after a storied career, including his service as a glider pilot during WWII. Col. Powell and others founded the Memorial Veterans Association in 1996 as a group of committed patriots eager to maintain a deep respect for military history. While the collection was moved from Memorial High School to various locations in Tulsa, Col. Powell’s passion for the mission never wavered. In 2012, the City of Broken Arrow offered the Center’s current location on Main Street in the Rose District as a permanent home for the collection. The City of Broken Arrow worked diligently to prepare the building and volunteers were committed to display the collection with appropriate respect and honor. On Veterans Day, November 11, 2014, the Center celebrated its first anniversary in the current location. Today, while the name has been updated over time and the collection has grown tremendously, the mission has never changed:
The mission of the Oklahoma Military History Center is inexorably tied to American History and our founding documents. No document is more reflective of our mission than the Bill of Rights. Patrick Henry expressed the need for liberty eloquently as he demanded that if the Constitution was to be ratified, then it must be accompanied by a Bill of Rights. Without this, Americans would be bound to their own government by the chains of slavery, just as they had been to Great Britain. Because of his efforts, and that of fellow Virginian George Mason, the first order of business of the new United States Congress was to send to the States a Bill of Rights for ratification. This occurred on December 15, 1791 when Virginia became the tenth state to ratify the first ten amendments to the Constitution codifying individual liberty and God-given natural rights for American citizens. Patrick Henry’s famous speech follows:
“They tell us, sir, that we are weak; unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot? Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. The millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable–and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come. It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace– but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death! “