SPRINGFIELD - Richard Schachtsiek, retired site manager at Postville Courthouse in Lincoln and Mount Pulaski Courthouse, was among a group of re-enactors who recently received Louisiana's highest civilian honor.

 

 

 

The group made two extended trips to New Orleans to rescue hurricane-damaged artifacts at a military museum.

Each received the Louisiana Distinctive Civilian Service Medal from Louisiana Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Bennett Landreneau. The decorations were presented by Assistant Adjutant General for the Illinois Army National Guard, Brig. Gen. Dennis Celletti during a brief ceremony June 1 at Springfield's Camp Lincoln.

Schachtsiek is also a New Salem Militia member and a part-time staff member at the Illinois State Military Museum. Some of the men volunteer at the Illinois State Military Museum in Springfield.

New Salem Militia members portray citizen soldiers at Lincoln's New Salem State Historic Site near Petersburg. Some of these same men are members of the Camp River Dubois Detachment, portraying members of the Corps of Discovery at Lewis and Clark State Historic Site in Hartford.

All the team had experience in identifying and caring for historic military items. Their skills were put to the test during the December 2005 and February 2006 rescue missions to the Jackson Barracks Military Museum in New Orleans. There, they recovered hundreds of historic weapons and flags that had been under 13 feet of water as a result of flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina.

All travel, lodging and incidental expenses for team members were paid by the U.S. Government.

Team members located as much of the museum's collections as possible in the deep muck that had settled in and around the site. Artifacts included small arms from the 18th and 19th centuries and Civil War era cannons.

They retrieved the items, stabilized them, wrapped them in protective coverings, and got them ready for transfer to specialists who began the long, painstaking conservation and restoration process. They also took before and after photographs of all recovered artifacts to assist in the museum's property registration process.

Major Mark Whitlock, director of the Illinois State Military Museum, organized the rescue mission. He received the call for assistance from his counterpart in New Orleans, who had heard of the work Illinois had done for the Hall of Flags at Camp Lincoln.

As an active member of the New Salem Militia, which demonstrates early 1800s military life for thousands of Lincoln's New Salem visitors each year, Whitlock knew several of his fellow re-enactors had an interest in preserving military history. He asked for their help, and they did something you're not supposed to do in the military - they volunteered.