National Museum of the Pacific War re-opens after renovations - Monday, January 11, 2010

National Museum of the Pacific War re-opens after renovations

Monday, January 11, 2010

Kathy Parks

Expansive facility in Fredericksburg explores WWII history

The National Museum of the Pacific War, including the 32,000-square foot George H.W. Bush Gallery, enjoyed a recent grand �re-opening� after renovations and installation of new exhibits. The museum had the honor of hosting President Bush, who presented opening remarks at the Dec. 7 event in Fredericksburg.

The museum, which is now open to the public, is considered the most comprehensive exhibition of Pacific War artifacts and exhibits assembled. The museum, located on a 6-acre site, is operated by the Admiral Nimitz Foundation, which successfully raised hundreds of millions of dollars for its renovation.

Those visiting Fredericksburg will want to allow at least a day to see everything. Some of the exhibits are indoors and others are outside at a nearby site. The collection of artifacts includes many large items such as tanks, personnel carriers, submarines, vintage airplanes, a rare PT boat and an atomic bomb replica.

Tour guides give an insider�s view of the hidden dangers of working with low-tech and highly dangerous equipment. For example, personnel carriers, or LVTs, operating 85 percent under ,watered fill with water as they carried troops from ships to the beach. With no pumps, helmets were used to bail waste-deep water. When they landed, men had 30 seconds to get 50 feet from the vehicle. They could not be seen by operators of the craft as it turned from the beach. Of the 24 men carried, 9-10 were expected to be casualties.

Jaws dropped as tour guides explained how explosive torpedoes were strapped to wooden decks of PT boats and simply rolled off the sides into the water in unpredictable directions or that only one in five Japanese planes had radar and crews had little communications in flight.

The WWII artifacts seem even more low-tech amid the high-tech exhibits at the museum. Lights in a submarine room cast blue rolling waves on the wall. The sights and sounds give the illusion of being in deep water. A torpedo, also made of light, races across the floor and hits the far wall.

There is a large instructional globe catching eyes as it twirls the continents and marks the progress of naval fleets in the pacific. There are movies to watch and bombs to touch.

There are stories of Japanese expansionists and a woman who lost four of her sons in the war. There are photos of the devastation of Nagasaki and Hiroshima in the museum and a Japanese Peace Garden, a recent gift from the Japanese, outside.

Also outside is the Veteran�s Walk of Honor Memorial Wall and the Plaza of the Presidents, paying tribute to the 10 U.S. presidents who served in WWII. They are: Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan and George H. W. Bush, who is an honorary trustee of the Admiral Nimitz Foundation.

The Nimitz Museum is named after the Commander-in-Chief of Allied Forces of the Pacific Ocean area, Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, who was born in Fredericksburg in 1885. As a child, Nimitz and his widowed mother worked and lived in his grandfather�s steamboat-shaped stagecoach stop and hotel. The facade was later modernized, then restored to its original look when it became a part of the museum complex.

At the height of his career, Nimitz, who never graduated from high school but got an honorary degree and went to military academy, commanded 2 million men and women, 5,000 ships, and 20,000 planes.

He was highly decorated and honored by the U.S. military and more than 14 nations. His distinguished career included becoming goodwill ambassador of the United Nations.

The National Museum of the Pacific War is located at 304 East Main Street in Fredericksburg. For more information, visit www.Nimitz-Museum.org.

Photos (from top to bottom):

The Admiral Nimitz Museum was restored to look like the steamboat-shaped hotel where Nimitz lived during his childhood with his mother and grandfather.

The National Museum of the Pacific War and the George H.W. Bush Gallery after renovations and installation of new exhibits. The architecture resembles a ship of steel and stone.

The Pacific Combat Zone: PT boat is one of the newest exhibits. A rare find, since the boats were made of wood and most have been lost over the years.

The Plaza of the Presidents pays tribute to 10 American presidents who served in World War II. Photos by Kathy Parks