Founded in 1994, The Citizen Soldiers Education Foundation has grown from the commitment of the three founders to a core of over 20 dedicated volunteers, a paid Executive Director, and a part-time Museum Curator/Education Consultant. We moved from a small storage space in the Staunton National Guard Armory to a stand-alone facility for the museum and archives in Verona. The Foundation provides the only regional military history museum encompassing all eras of American military activity and focusing solely on the Citizen Soldier.
The Foundation’s vision is that the world impact of America’s Citizen Soldiers will not be forgotten.
Our mission is to provide museums and archives for exhibits and artifacts of historic significance from the 116th Infantry Regiment and area Citizen Soldiers, to conduct education programs for students and adults, and to support an annual Muster for members of the Regiment and guests.
The Foundation has established three areas of programs that it executes to fulfill its mission and achieve its vision.
We provide a free-admission museum that collects, preserves and interprets objects and records of historic significance from the 116th Infantry Regiment and the greater Shenandoah Valley.
We conduct education programs by hosting and leading history tours to battlefields and historic sites in Normandy, France and the Shenandoah Valley. Our volunteers present and exhibit at state-sponsored teacher workshops each year and we plan to host one local workshop annually. These highlight the teacher resources we have and how our history can be used to fulfill nearly all of VA SOLs in social studies. We also travel to or host community groups such as Scouts and DAR/SAR chapters to share the tales of selfless service through the history of our citizen soldiers.
Finally, we support an annual reunion conference and banquet for veterans, current members of the regiment, families, and their guests. This brings our generations of Citizens Soldiers together to help pass the torch each year.
The museum, our education and outreach programs and our veteran support all contribute toward educating people about the history, heritage and legacy of America’s Citizen Soldiers.
We are a non-profit charitable organization under the provisions of Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code)