From uniforms and weapons to historic medals, Landstar BCOs Bud Cunningham and Michael Bauer were shocked to hear about all the artifacts they were about to haul out of the United States Air Force’s Airmen Memorial Museum in Suitland, Maryland.

“When I first booked this load, I didn’t realize what I was going to be hauling,” explained Bauer, a U.S. Navy veteran. He says he was honored to haul the World War II artifacts. “In my truck there were flight suits and bomber jackets, old medals and coins. It was a unique, once in a lifetime opportunity.”

The Airmen Memorial Museum has been dedicated to collecting and preserving artifacts, photographs, diaries, personnel records, books, letters and other personal items from enlisted airmen for the past 29 years. All of those items had to be transported 1,627 miles to a storage facility at the Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, while plans are completed for a new and expanded history museum to open in San Antonio, Texas.

“We never left the trailer with this load. These were irreplaceable items, my trailer was sealed with high security. After six years in the Army, I had an appreciation for what I was hauling. You don’t take chances with that kind of freight,” says Cunningham.

He and Bauer booked the loads through Landstar Agent Leslie Schroeder’s agency. The independent agent says every piece of history hauled from the museum was not just a national treasure, but also held special meaning for her.

“My father served in the Air Force for 20 years,” says Schroeder, “Our agency was so proud to help the Air Force move these valuable pieces of our American history.”

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