The generosity of Fayetteville's Airborne and Special Operations Museum has enabled the Vass Area Library to add recently a new exhibit depicting some of the World War II Operations of the 17th Airborne Division, which was based at Camp Mackall.

The exhibit is made up of several large panels that had been used in a temporary display at the Fayetteville museum. The panels had been in storage until John Duvall, the museum director, offered them as a long-term loan to the library.

The 17th Airborne Division was still in training during the early stages of World War II, but they became an integral part of the Battle of the Bulge and Operation Varsity, the airborne assault on the Rhine. In the final days of the war, they were front and center in a daring and successful airborne assault behind enemy lines in Westphalia. They were one of the mighty arms of the XVIII Airborne Corps, along with the better-known 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions.

"This is an especially appropriate exhibit for a library that was dedicated as a veterans' memorial," says a spokesman.