War Room Moving From To War Memorial Civic Center

DeRIDDER, La. (AP) — A collection of war artifacts has been moved from curator Velmer Smith's War Museum in DeRidder to the city's War Memorial Civic Center.

The collection includes a housing for a lamp and compass from a World War II ship; a uniform from the German Africa Corps led by Field Marshal Erwin Rommel; and a medal from the 1941 LouisianaManeuvers.

Civic center director Sandra Rich tells the Beauregard Daily News she's excited to have the collection there.

Smith says her favorite item is a message decoded by a relative during World War II. She says most such messages were destroyed. Another unusual item is a pot used in the kitchen at the Buchenwald Concentration Camp.

Other exhibits from Smith's museum are moving to a museum in Merryville.