History of the Group

The Wise County Veterans Group (WCVG) was established in 2002 with a founders group of 21 Charter members. The goals of the Group was to establish a forum to serve our Country in all appropriate ways while bearing in mind the distinguished record of public service to community and country, as rendered by the returning veterans of former wars. 

Since our Wise County Veterans Group (WCVG) was founded, we have continued to increase our membership. We now meet on the first and third Saturday of each month.  We share breakfast and camaraderie while providing a forum to interface with our community. In addition, the WCVG participates in numerous County and City events, as appropriate. We also provide graveside Military Honors for deceased Veterans at the request of the family members and their funeral home.

In 2005, we designed and built The Wise County Veterans Memorial Park in the County seat, Decatur. This park was funded in it's entirety by contributions from the citizens and businesses from Wise County. The park was officially dedicated on 10 November 2005 with the Honorable US Representative Kay Granger as our guest of Honor. Since it has opened, The Park has been in continuous use, honoring our national patriotic holidays and such other events as deemed appropriate. We have received National and International acclaim for this Park as being one of the finest west of the Potomac River.

After the success of the Park, we began planning for a Wise County Veterans Museum, as an extension of our Park. Most of our members had items they wanted to donate that would contribute to the heritage of not only Wise County, but also to that of Texas and our Nation as a whole. We needed to preserve these items and stories before they were lost forever. The goal of the Museum is to provide the visitor with a basic introduction into the military history of our country and the Texas heritage contributing to same.

In 2014, the City of Bridgeport came to our assistance through the purchase of a beautiful facility ideal for our purpose in the heart of Bridgeport, which they provided for our use. 

We solicited funds from organizations throughout Wise County which helped us complete the First-Class Museum we promised our County, State and Nation. We Officially opened the Museum on September 11, 2015 with Lt Gen Richard Carey, USMC, a Korean War veteran, as our guest speaker. 

The Museum is now well into our 9th year of operation and we are confident this County Museum will soon be acclaimed nationwide as a fitting adjunct to our County Park, and a stimulus to the economic development to our County wide community. We look forward to new additions and possibilities of expansion as opportunities evolve. 

Updated 02/24/2024

The Wise County Veterans Group is a 501(c)(3) organization, EN#55- 089170.  A donation is considered a tax-deductible contribution in support of this Community wide effort and is most appreciated.  A plaque denoting donors of $1000 or more is displayed in the Museum.