Featured Article: The Florida Medal of Honor Museum & Visitors Center

The Florida Medal of Honor Memorial & Visitors Center has opened in Sebring. Years in the planning and execution, the facility was dedicated in ceremonies this past December. With several speeches, numerous presentations and the snip of a broad blue ribbon, the new facility opened to the public.

For decades, Highlands County had a makeshift park honoring the 24 Florida recipients of the nation’s highest honor. It began in 1991, when a Medal of Honor Park was dedicated on the grounds of the Highlands County Health Department, with the building itself named for Highlands County Medal of Honor recipient Major Thomas B. McGuire. Ten years later, an effort was initiated to enhance the park with a structure.

In 2011, a Medal of Honor Park Foundation was established to further the effort. After numerous unsuccessful attempts to establish the park near the Highlands County Veterans Services offices off George Blvd. south of Sebring, the focus shifted to the government center complex near downtown.

The final location, at the intersection of Commerce and South Eucalyptus Streets, was the location of the Highlands County Stepping Stones Girl Scout House. That facility had become sparsely used, and had fallen into disrepair. In fact, it was so infested with termites, it could not be saved.

A New Day

The design of the new Florida Medal of Honor Museum and Visitors Center now sits on that site. The building is designed to mirror the former Girl Scout House. It both reprises and incorporates some of it’s design features. The alternating light and dark outer block on the front of the building is a tribute to the log cabin style construction of the Girl Scout house. And the floor of that historic building now is inlaid in the ceiling of the new Visitors Center.

Organizers praised the location between the Highlands County Courthouse and the Highlands County Government center as “being in the middle of everything.” Noting that the local parking lots and sidewalks made the facility easily accessible for all citizens.

The grounds of the Florida Medial of Honor Memorial feature native landscaping. In all, there are more than 650 plants, representing more than 40 indigenous species. The idea was to create a harmonious environment for the current 24 Medal of Honor Recipients from the Sunshine State.

The entire facility is estimated to have come in at around a million dollars. Roughly half of the project, including labor and material, was donated by contractors, builders, and skilled tradesmen. Florida Representative Kaylee Tuck also stewarded a quarter million dollar grant through the legislature to help fund the project.

The Dedication

The Florida Medal of Honor Memorial and Visitors Center was officially dedicated and opened in ceremonies on December 12, 2024. The keynote address was delivered by Robert Ronald Ingram, the sole living Medal of Honor recipient from the State of Florida.

Inside the Visitors Center are movable boards with plaques listing the two dozen Medal of Honor recipients from the state of Florida, a brief biography of each one, and the acts of heroism that inspired their nomination to receive the nation’s highest military honor.

Also on the walls are several posters with additional information about Medal of Honor recipients. In the northwest corner of the building is a unique display of artifacts from Major Thomas Maguire. The graduate of Sebring High School was the second highest aviation ace in World War II. He was killed when his aircraft was shot down during a dogfight with Japanese planes over the Phillipines.

In addition to being a Visitors Center, the facility is designed to be an educational center, where clubs, groups, organizations and students can learn more about the Medal of Honor and the men who risked life and limb in the service of our country.

The Florida Medal of Honor Memorial and Visitors center is staffed by docents who can give detail on the exhibits. It is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10am until 4pm. More information on the facility may be obtained at https://floridamedalofhonor.org/