Donor Spotlight: Mark P. Norman

The National WWII Museum is fortunate to have an incredibly generous family of donors who make it possible for thousands of visitors each year to experience personal accounts, artifacts, documents, and photographs from the war.  These are the members of the Dr. Stephen E. Ambrose Legacy Society who have included The National WWII Museum in their will, trust, life insurance policy, retirement assets, or other estate plans. These gifts support our mission to preserve and share the history of the American Experience during World War II.

Mark Norman and President Nick Mueller

One of these honored legacy donors is Mr. Mark Packard Norman. Not only does he support the Museum through his estate plans, but he is also a Patriots Circle, Solomon Victory Theater seat donor, and an artifact donor. On this week’s donor spotlight, we are proud to highlight Mark and the story of his artifacts.

At the age of 65, Mark Norman began a bold, decade-long project to restore three WWII-era trucks. Mark was inspired by The National WWII Museum’s first V-Mail newsletter, which contained a wish list of macro artifacts. Mark thought, “Why can’t I do something like this?” At the time he was recovering from open-heart surgery, but didn’t fare well with idle time. He was determined to restore the trucks and “once they were done see if the Museum would be interested in them.

Mark found these trucks in Norway, Belgium, and Denmark. When he finally shared with his doctor what his new hobby was, the doctor encouraged Mark to continue, even if it posed a risk to his health, because he was “doing something that he truly loved.” He went on to finish the trucks and the Museum feels fortunate to be the recipient of two of his beautifully restored vehicles. Here, these vehicles and the war experiences they represent can be appreciated by millions.

We extend our greatest thanks to Mark for his generosity and his commitment to the Museum.