On the eve of America’s 250th, a WWII-era Tallahassee airfield fights to be remembered

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — At first glance, it doesn’t look like much.

A weathered white house sits behind a flagpole on the edge of Tallahassee State College’s campus. Nearby, patches of aging asphalt blend into the surrounding pavement. Most drivers pass without realizing they’re looking at remnants of one of Tallahassee’s most significant contributions to World War II.

The house once stood in Mabry Heights, a military housing community built in 1941 for families stationed at the Dale Mabry Army Air Field. The flagpole has stood on the property since the 1960s. Even sections of the original runway remain.

Together, they tell the story of an airfield named after Tallahassee native Capt. Dale Mabry, an Army aviator killed while testing an experimental aircraft in 1922. Nearly two decades later, the federal government honored his legacy by naming a wartime training base after him, where thousands of Army Air Forces pilots and other servicemembers prepared for combat during World War II.

Today, a small group of volunteers is trying to make sure that history isn’t forgotten.

“It’s contribution to WWII is lost,” said Oscar Brannon, a retired Tallahassee police officer who joined the Dale Mabry Army Air Field Museum board seven years ago after discovering how little he knew about the site despite spending decades patrolling the surrounding area. “Somebody needs to tell that story.”

Brannon says he was stunned to learn that streets he drove every day traced back to a military installation that once played a role in preparing American forces for war.

“The more I learned, the more I wanted to learn,” he told FOX49.

His family’s own military history deepened that connection. One uncle, a World War II tail gunner, was killed when his bomber was shot down. Another survived combat but lost a leg after a hand grenade exploded near his foxhole.

Those discoveries transformed what began as volunteer work into a personal mission.

The timing is fitting.

As the nation prepares to celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence, volunteers spent Friday decorating the museum grounds with American flags while continuing work to restore the site into a permanent public museum and welcome center.

Their efforts received a significant boost this year when state lawmakers approved one of two funding requests for the museum.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed nearly $183,000 into law for one Dale Mabry Army Air Field Museum appropriation but vetoed a separate $37,163 request. The governor’s veto list does not provide a project-specific explanation for the cut.

Museum leaders say the approved funding allows restoration work to continue, but they’ll now have to replace the portion of state support that was lost.

For Joe West, time matters as much as money.

The 75-year-old Vietnam veteran served in Vietnam in 1970 and 1971 as a driver and security escort for the chief intelligence officer of the Third Regional Assistance Command. Today, he serves as president of Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 96, whose members donated more than $2,300 to help launch the museum years ago.

The chapter wasn’t looking for recognition.

“They needed it,” West said of the museum’s early fundraising efforts. “They asked and we gave it.”

Now, he hopes to see the project completed while he still can.

“At 75 years old and with health issues, I’d really like to see it done,” West said.

West understands that governors make difficult decisions when balancing a multibillion-dollar budget. Still, he questions whether this was the right place to save money.

“$40,000 of the state’s… I don’t know how many billion-dollar budget, seems kind of like a chicken s— to me,” he said.

His frustration isn’t rooted in politics as much as history.

West believes Tallahassee’s wartime role deserves far more recognition than it receives today.

The Dale Mabry Army Air Field trained military pilots, while nearby waterways along the Gulf Coast helped prepare servicemembers for amphibious operations before deployments overseas, he said. Losing that history, he argues, means losing part of the community’s identity.

Brannon remains optimistic.

The board plans to continue restoring the historic Mabry Heights house, expand exhibits and keep raising private donations to replace the money lost in the veto.

For him, the work has never depended on a single appropriation.

“It’s a work in progress for sure,” Brannon said. “And it’s a work of love.”