National Pacific War Museum

I'm finally getting around to posting about the museum in Fredericksburg, TX. We visited on Wednesday, April 7. We still think about it every now and then. The museum was amazing. If you get a chance to see it, do it. The ticket is for 2 days. And, you should use both days. We only had the one day. The admission clerk said that it could take us 3 - 4 hours if we read everything. It took us 3 - 4 hours and we DIDN'T read everything. Just couldn't believe all of the information housed inside this building. Trying to decide what pictures to show is the most difficult. Here's a couple:




Until going through this museum we weren't aware of all the islands and places the war was fought in the Pacific. Since this museum is housed in Texas, there were also stories from Texans who fought and stayed at home. Their memories. The people recorded their memories and as you walked through the museum there were areas where you could sit and listen about specific places and times at a push of a button.

This was above one of the doors to a room that housed memories and letters.


There were several vets from WWII going through the museum at the same time we were. It was interesting talking with them. We smiled at one gentleman as he was being wheeled through the museum. Everytime, they came upon army info, he'd say: "That's just army stuff, let's move on."

There was also information about what was happening elsewhere in the war at the same time as the fighting in the Pacific. All in all very knowledgeable.

One room had a mini sub. While standing reading and looking at the sub, the lights would go dim and you could hear planes. Look closely and it looked like a torpedo was going by under your feet.

Pictures from the room with the bomb. Guess I thought it would be bigger.


We took a break for lunch and then came back to walk the grounds. First was Plaza of the Presidents.


Then came the Memorial Courtyard and Walkway. There was a stone monument for each President who served during WWII.



The Japanese established a peace garden at this museum. A couple of pictures.


We then took a drive to the Old Tunnel Wildlife Refuge. This is an area well known for the bats. There are more than a million (that's right - 1,000,000) bats that fly out of the tunnel at specific times of the year. They were present when we were there but we didn't wait around to see them fly out. Just a few more pics. It was a very scenic drive.



Well, got to go to work. Will post another one later.