Republican Lawmakers Want Historic Military Artifact Moved From State Capitol To New Camp Ripley Museum

(KNSI) – The famous .50 caliber gun now located outside the Minnesota State Capitol could have a new home under a plan being unveiled by two Republican legislators.

State Representatives Ron Kresha of Little Falls and Isaac Schultz of Elmdale Township want it moved to the new Minnesota Military and Veterans Museum being built at Camp Ripley. It would be a fitting culmination of a multi-decade journey from being affixed to the deck of a World War I destroyer to the infamous battle of Pearl Harbor and, finally, its prominent spot on the capitol grounds.

The USS Ward was on patrol on the morning of December 7^th, 1941, when it encountered a Japanese mini-sub. The Ward sank the vessel, killing both men inside. They are officially the first American-caused casualties in the Pacific Theater in World War II. The sub was doing reconnaissance for the larger Japanese attack that would commence barely an hour later.

Serving on the Ward and manning the .50-cal was a crew of reservists from Minnesota, forever tying the Land of 10,000 Lakes to the “day that will live in infamy.” Kresha and Schultz believe that moving the gun from the capitol to the new museum will help preserve it and better tell the story about the state’s military history.

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