Detroit Lakes eagle scout hopeful completes howitzer base platform construction at the Becker County Museum as part of service project

Detroit Lakes, Minn. (KDLM) – The Army howitzer that stood in front of the Becker County Museum for nearly three decades is back in front of the new museum building on a newly installed base platform thanks to a 15-year-old eagle scout hopeful.

Peyton Malecka, of Detroit Lakes Boy Scout Troup 674, said for his eagle scout service project he fundraised $1,400, which included donations from Detroit Lakes VFW Post 1676 and TEAM Industries, among others, to create a new base structure for the howitzer to permanently rest just off the new museum’s parking lot.

“We had to do all this block here, and that took a day just for the block,” said Malecka. “And then there’s dirt, and then the fabaric, and then the rock. Then, we put frames for the concrete in and then we had the concrete poured, and then we put the braces in and now we’re here doing the howitzer.”

Malecka said he got into scouts at the cub scout level and really enjoyed the activities, camps and making friends, which are good reasons for anyone to get into scouts.

He also said creating a custom base for the howitzer for his project gave him some life skills that may come in handy when he gets older.

“This project, especially, it taught me a lot,” he said. “If I ever have to do block work, it’ll save me a lot of money. I’ll just did on my own.”

The howitzer itself used to rest at the Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Park off Washington Avenue before moving to the old museum property sometime after 1989. And then, as the old museum was torn down and the new building constructed, Becky Mitchell, executive director of the museum, and members of the VFW thought it would be a good time to refit the old weapon of war.

“It was in sad shape,” said Mitchell. “It was rusty, old paint. There was paint overspray on the tires at some point … but we really saw this as an opportunity with that year and a half gap between our old facility and new facility and we talked to the VFW and we just thought jointly that it’d be a good project to get it sandblasted, repainted, get some new tires on it, and just give it a little love. The individual that did the sandblasting and painting is on our Board, Craig Matson, and he is also on the board at Rollag, so lots of experience working with big machinery like this. And it actually made a little stop at Rollag this year. It was out in Rollag before it came back.”

The newly refit howitzer on its new permanent base can be seen in the parking lot of the Becker County Museum on Summit Avenue.