ATHOL — Jim Stephens first came to Farragut Naval Training Base as a young man, ready to serve in World War II. 

He became a swim instructor for new recruits and learned the skills he would need to serve in a military hospital for American soldiers fighting in the Pacific Theater. 

After moving to Coeur d’Alene last year, Stephens was invited to a preview of the newly renovated Museum at the Brig on Thursday, which he attended with his family.   

Stephens is turning 100 in August, and his return trip to The Brig was a major part of his celebration. 

“The highlight is coming here,” Stephens said. 

One exhibit showed different knots, and his family quizzed him about what he learned during his training. 

“We were supposed to learn all these knots,” Stephens said.  

“Did you?” one asked.   

“No,” Stephens said, earning a laugh from his family members.  

When he joined the Navy, he thought he was heading to San Diego for training. 

“Instead, I got on the train and I got sent to Farragut, Idaho, not San Diego. I had no idea where it was at all,” Stephens said.  

Training time was cut in half to eight weeks for naval recruits like Stephens. 

“I came down with scarlet fever and the hospitals were so full, we were put into barracks,” he recalled. 

Stephens spent most of his time after training at the U.S. Navy hospital in Okinawa. 

“We were the receiving hospital for the South Pacific. We saw everything,” Stephens said.

The Museum at the Brig recently replaced its roof and refreshed some of the displays with never-before-seen exhibits. They are ready to start welcoming visitors today. 

Park manger Liz Palfini said the museum put about $600,000 into the renovations and that approximately 30,000 visitors come to The Brig to learn about history each year. 

“Lots of people have touched this place,” Palfini said. 

There used to be 776 buildings when Farragut was a training base for the Navy, but now, only the brig remains standing. 

The naval and war memorabilia housed in the museum is dedicated to the 293,381 naval recruits who received their basic training at Farragut.  

This year, a new exhibition, “Women of WWII,” follows the journeys of women in the Navy who became Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) such as Lorraine Mae Zeller, who joined after her brother’s accidental death at a naval base. 

Another new exhibition, “Solitary Confinement,” contains details about those who were placed in the brig or were foreign prisoners of war held at the base. 

In solitary confinement, cells measuring 5 feet by 7 and a half feet were reserved for those facing serious disciplinary punishment. They were given only bread and water.  

Errin Bair said the new materials were selected by herself and two volunteers over the winter to spruce things up after having to remove all of the memorabilia during renovations. 

“We were able to put together materials that have never been exhibited before," she said. 

Susan Buxton recited some of the roles the site has served over the years. 

“It's been used as a naval facility, as a mechanic shop, for the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. They had the jamborees here and the governor of Idaho actually came to that Boy Scout camp,” Buxton said, before adding, “There's just so much history here.”

    Liz Palfini, Jim Stephens and Susan Buxton share a moment during a preview of the reopening of the Museum at the Brig. Stephens first came to Farragut Naval Training Station in 1943 as a new recruit. This summer, he turns 100 and is looking forward to returning to the museum as part of his celebration.
 

    Jessica Sites and her husband, Jason Sites move through the Women of World War II exhibition Thursday at the Museum at the Brig.
  

    The Museum at the Brig at Farragut State Park.
  

    The new exhibition, "Solitary Confinement" takes visitors through preserved pieces of the U.S. Navy's brig at Farragut State Park. The Museum at the Brig also hosts prisoners of war during WWII.
  

    The original words used in Morse Code during WWII line a wall at the Farragut State Park's Museum at the Brig.