Military History Won't Fade on Their Watch; A Museum in Green Cove Springs Is Men's Bid to Ensure It

Beginning of article

Byline: CHARLIE PATTON

GREEN COVE SPRINGS -- In 1943 Bud Nelson found a bazooka that had fallen off a railroad car next to some tracks in Virginia.

That lost weapon became the beginning of a lifelong hobby for Nelson, now 76, who spent the next six decades collecting military memorabilia.

About a decade ago, Nelson said, his wife took a look at their overstuffed garage and asked: "What are you going to do with all this junk?"

The answer to that question is taking shape in a World War II-era Quonset hut in Reynolds Park, just outside Green Cove Springs.

Nelson is president and his fellow collector Herb Steigelman is curator of the …