"I hate war as only a soldier can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity." -- Dwight Eisenhower.

This is not a place glorifying war. Far from it. The All Wars Museum at the Illinois Veterans Home in Quincy rightly highlights the heroes and figures of our country during conflict.

But it also points out the cost.

If you haven't been to the museum, you owe it to yourself. Bob Craig and his volunteers have done a great job in the past few years of updating and polishing one gleaming display after another.

You are walking through history here, but it's not an easy stroll.

There are many signs and quotations hung on the wall. There are flags, posters, medals and weapons in display cases, artifacts that include Jeeps and wagons and cannons.

It takes a good 90 minutes if you want to eyeball everything carefully. It starts with a greeting from a friendly volunteer, and the first sign points out the purpose of the museum: "All Wars collects, preserves and exhibits objects and equipment relevant to the history of America's military engagements."

It starts with Revolutionary War items and moves to the Civil War. A replica English 6-pound smoothbore cannon gleams. Among the many quotations on the walls, this one jumps out -- "There was never a good war or a bad peace," by Benjamin Franklin.

A massive framed portrait of the Andersonville Prison is the first thing that really jumps out. It was done from memory by Pvt. Thomas O'Dea, who served in the Maine infantry, and painstakingly details the notorious Civil War POW camp in Camp Sumter, Ga. It was done in memory of John Taylor McAllister, a survivor of the camp who served in the Ill. 73rd Regiment, Company H. It was presented to the museum by his great-grandchildren, including Raymond McAllister of Quincy.

There all kinds of a facts presented in displays. For instance, the term "hobo" comes from homeless civil war veterans, also called "Hoe Boys," who roamed the countryside with hoes on their shoulders looking for work.

The posters are fascinating glimpses into very different times. A World War I poster shows a good-looking gal staring longingly as the caption reads: "Gee, I wish I were a man -- I'd join the Navy. Be a man and do it."

There are 127 Adams County residents listed as being killed during The Great War. There are familiar names like Sturhahn, Arrowsmith, Darnell, Veile, DeJaynes, Landis. Long gone, not forgotten in this place.

It's not just about weapons and uniforms. There's a beautiful model of a ship made from a tin can. A metal shaving mirror with case. A German belt buckle. A Japanese headband.

There's a sword belonging to Hermann Goering, second in command to Adolf Hitler himself. It's a standard Luftwaffe sword blade, confiscated from one of Goering's "treasure trains." Like many items, it was donated for display at the museum, this item by Dr. Thomas Reed.

Look closely or you'll miss the most poignant items. They are two postcards sent from Pvt. Herschel Nichols to his wife in Quincy. He was a German prisoner of war. She lived on North 29th. Nichols wrote on Christmas Eve 1944 and told his wife not to worry about him, he was all right.

And, he wrote, he loved her more than anything.

Sign the guestbook before you leave. A few days ago, a visitor from Germany left this entry -- "I love this place!"

Perhaps this saying on the wall sums it up -- "Sacrifice is meaningless without remembrance."

You will remember here.

-- rhart@whig.com/221-3370