Site of the famous Dillinger 1934 escape from Purvis and his FBI team of agents The address is #1 National Guard Road, which is a couple hundred feet south off Bluff Road, just beyond the National Guard armory. The building is the South Carolina Military History Museum, a wealth of exhibits from 1670 forward.

Under the continuing direction of Buddy Sturgis in its first three years of operation, the museum is part of the state's Joint Services Detachment, which is under the command of BG John Shuler, the deputy adjutant general for state operations. The museum has a sufficient staff of volunteers, and the museum receives a steady flow of visitors and students by appointment, but it's the unannounced walk- ins who are on the rise.

To meet the demands of more visitors, the museum is about to expand next door into another 9,000 square feet, to include more meeting space, a lecture hall, and a research library.

One reason for the recent growth in visitors is the current movie "Public Enemy," the story of '30s gangster John Dillinger, played by Johnny Depp. Of particular local interest is the historical figure Melvin Purvis, the FBI's chief agent in Chicago who eradicated Dillinger.

Purvis was from Timmonsville and Florence, and he earned his law degree at USC. The awkward association between Purvis and his boss, J. Edgar Hoover, is on the bookstands under the title Vendetta, written by Alston Purvis, Melvin's son.

Beyond the para- military matters such as the Purvis/Dillinger display, of course, the museum is mostly a collection of authentic military memorabilia. Spartanburg's General William Childs Westmoreland, commander in Vietnam, has his own exhibit, for example. Every S.C. recipient of the Medal of Honor is commemorated on the wall set aside just for them. Behind glass is an incredible collection of muskets, pistols, and rifles contributed by Ross Beard of Camden.

One of Beard's rifles was carried by the winning side, the natives, in the Battle of the Little Bighorn, or Custer's Last Stand.

A smaller exhibit, but no less interesting, is the Captain Peter Mason Collection. Mason was part of the British equivalent of our Office of Strategic Services (OSS), which put him at the head of Churchill's Death Squad. Assassin weapons include pen gun, pencil gun, Derby hat with a pistol concealed in the hat, shoes with hidden escape knives, umbrella gun, Russian message drop, spy cameras and other items in use by the official Oueen's Assassin, one of Mason's career titles.

One piece of decorative history was once a part of a knight's armor in the Middle Ages. A suit of armor covered the knight from head to toe, and the protection of the throat was provided by the gorget, pronounced "gor-jet" as in gorgeous with the accent on the first syllable. The gorget survived the ages in a slightly smaller form as a badge of honor. The gorget is on exhibit at the S.C. Military History Museum, and it is depicted on the S.C. State Flag. That's no crescent moon. That's a gorget.

The museum can be found on the Web site www.SCGUARD.com, and further information can be found by calling the director's office at 806.4440. The hours of operation are Tuesday through Saturday from 10 am until 4 pm, and on Sunday it's open from 1- 5 pm. Entrance is free, but donations are never declined.

A gorgeous gorget Colt .45 automatic pistol used by Melvin Purvis in his 1960 suicide in Florence, S.C.