Coach David Bates held back tears while unveiling the new military museum at Marsh Middle School. It’s been less than a year since he and his Leadership Cadet Corps laid out plans for the project that would honor local war veterans while educating students about their sacrifice. We wrote about the early efforts in our October 2011 issue.

The dream finally become a reality at today’s ribbon-cutting ceremony, and there was quite a crowd of Marsh students and staff, neighbors, school board members, TV reporters and local war veterans themselves. The community really rallied around this one.

“This is not a Mickey Mouse operation,” Bates said. “This is the real deal.”

The video above offers a look inside museum, which will be open for field trips and the public.