As a museum expert, he was comfortable speaking with those in the C-suite, so he didn’t let his rank get in the way, although others suggested that maybe he would feel more comfortable coming to work in a suit. He laughed and said, “No, it’s okay. Boatswain mates like telling people what to do.” Wallace got to work. With the narrative and the stories having been taken care of by the National Coast Guard Museum Association and other elements at Headquarters, Wallace’s focus was which objects would be highlighted, and how, even silently, they could tell the Coast Guard’s story to the visitors. His boss, deputy The unveiling ceremony of the CG-1426 as a permanent exhibit of Smithsonian Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. director (and fellow reservist), Lt. Cmdr. Byron Dixon said, "We would have these meetings where he would suggest things in terms of exhibition or design — things no one thought of — but he did, because he's an expert. He sees things differently." “We want to be on par with the other military museums,” said Wallace. “We’re small, but like Adm. Z[ukunft, former Coast Guard commandant] said, we punch above our weight class.” Wallace said as he brought his background to bear, the job ballooned into much more than object selection. He coordinated with contractors, historians, and archivists to identify a thousand artifacts and more than 5,000 images to incorporate into the five-floor museum space. He reviewed hundreds and hundreds of pages of exhibit and content design to provide designers with recommendations. He even took the museum team on a tour of the current renovations at the National Air and Space Museum to showcase curatorial procedures and best practices. The petty officer became the voice for the museum, planning rotating displays, ensuring the entire Coast Guard workforce was represented, finding errors and working with the Historian’s office to find original sources and correct inaccuracies. “The Historian’s office wasn’t developed to create a museum from the ground up,” he said. “We have eight historians compared to the other services that have between 10 and 40 times that.” He even enjoyed briefing senior leadership. “It was funny, because I was the curator, but I’m also a BM2,” said Wallace, “but that’s what’s advantageous about the Coast Guard. It doesn’t matter what my rank is, or how long I’ve been in. And I realized that was what was missing from the museum. It was focused on assets, not people. But an asset only does what it does because of the individuals that make up the crew. We’ll say, ‘This cutter did this and this and this,’ but it wasn’t the cutter. It was the people on board.” Placing the emphasis on the people at the new Coast Guard Museum is Wallace’s legacy there. Wherever he could, he included the rich stories and achievements of the people, past and present, who made the Coast Guard work — those who accomplished its missions, sometimes at their own peril. Wallace said he was honored to bridge that gap, but he was also eager to get back behind the wheel at PSU 305. He passed the curator baton when he left in April, and his command presented him with the Coast Guard Commendation Medal. It was a rare award for his rank, but Wallace oversees the loading of the original Starship Enterprise into an exhibit in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. to say that the second-class boatswain’s mate was doing tasks far exceeding his military paygrade would be an understatement. The Coast Guard Museum is set to open in 2024. � Issue 2 • 2020 � RESERVIST 27
