Wars, Heroes Remembered at Small Museum

The jewelry store may be upstairs, but the real treasures are in the basement.

A private collection of memorabilia from veterans of every American war has gone on display beneath Manuel Toledo’s jewelry store in this community 150 miles north of Los Angeles.

“It’s not the medal that counts, but the deed that it represents,” said curator Cliff Cates. “Any man that puts himself on the front line has to be a hero.”

Cates and Toledo have devoted four years to constructing the museum and arranging its displays. They have been thinking about this and simultaneously collecting war-related artifacts for more than 20 years.

“This is dedicated to all wars and all veterans of all wars, regardless of whether they were our enemies or not,” Cates said.

Items include a flintlock pistol of the type used during the Revolutionary War, Civil War guns and medals, rifles from 19th-Century wars in Spain, France, Japan, Italy and Germany, and shells, ammunition, gas masks, food pouches, belts, bayonets and sabers, all from the turn of the century.

The museum also features Nazi memorabilia, which Cates admits more than once has shocked visitors. It includes a full SS uniform once worn by a battalion commander.

“People are sometimes a little taken aback, but no one has come out and complained yet,” he said.

Display cases have been set up in the 45-foot-square museum to house the items, many of which sat in boxes in Toledo’s garage for years. He was motivated to find a safer home for them after some Japanese sabers and knives were stolen from his collection.

Toledo, who will have volunteers conduct tours, said he hopes that schools and youth groups will visit regularly.

“These kinds of groups have sort of lost a lot of the kind of patriotism there used to be,” he said. “At parades nobody even salutes or takes their hats off as the flag passes anymore.”