Glenn Hearn wasn’t expecting any great discoveries when he started researching military history in 2007. He just wanted to help his granddaughter with her homework.

Madison Wreyford’s class at West Side Magnet School was studying the Spanish-American War of 1898.

“I knew a little bit about the Spanish-American War,” Hearn said, “and I wanted to give her more information.”

One thing Hearn knew, but only vaguely, was that his grandfather, Samuel Glenn Hearn, had been an Army private during the Spanish-American War era. The elder Hearn joined the Army at age 16 and soon found himself on the other side of the world, fighting in harsh jungle conditions during the Philippine Insurrection in 1899.

The two conflicts are a year and thousands of miles apart, but linked in military history as the “Spanish-American War era,” Hearn said.

The LaGrange grandfather also knew the whereabouts of the uniform his grandfather had worn in combat. His father, World War II veteran Jack Hearn, donated it to the National Infantry Museum at Fort Benning sometime after the elder Hearn’s death in 1958.

“My father loved history, and he loved his country,” Glenn Hearn said. “He was very patriotic. It just seemed right to him to honor both by giving the uniform to the museum at Fort Benning.”

Hearn visited the museum in Columbus with an idea of helping his granddaughter with her report, but saw no sign of the uniform. Inquiries revealed it was in storage.

Not any more.

A newly expanded infantry museum opened at the Columbus military base earlier this summer. Hearn visited it during opening week.

“I walked down the main hallway and saw uniforms in display cases beside the doors leading to the exhibits for each military era,” he recalled, wonder creeping into his voice.

Hearn had a feeling the uniform outside the Spanish-American War era exhibit was the one belonging to his grandfather, but there was no name identifying the donor.

It took some persistence, but the proud grandson finally got the confirmation he was looking for. “The coat and trousers on the mannequin were worn by Pvt. Samuel Glenn Hearn in 1899,” a military official wrote. Other items in the display, including the helmet and gun, are from other sources.

Hearn said his family is very proud that his ancestor’s uniform is so prominently featured in the 190,000-square-foot facility dedicated by Gen. Colin Powell in June. His sister, who now lives in Detroit, came down and visited the museum with him.

“She said she was really proud but wished our dad could have seen it,” he said. “So do I.”

Jack Hearn, who played on championship LaGrange High School football teams before entering military service in 1942, died in 2002.

But the stories of both “old soldiers” live on in family lore.

Glenn Hearn recalls walking from Callaway Stadium to his grandfather’s house on Harwell Avenue. A trumpeter in the LaGrange High School band, he offered to play something. The request?

“He wanted me to play ‘The Star-Spangled Banner,’ so I did,” Glenn Hearn said.

That seems appropriate, he said, for someone whose century-old uniform now helps others understand the military history of the U.S. Army Infantry.

Or, as Powell remarked in his dedication speech, “Among many other things, this is what we owe to those who came before. This is the home. This is their legacy.”

— About the National Infantry Museum: Opened in June, the museum is just outside the gates to Fort Benning on Victory Drive. Admission is free, although there is a nominal charge for the IMAX theater. For other information and operating hours, visit the Web site, nationalinfantrymuseum.com