Fredericksburg - National Museum of The Pacific War

Having lived in Europe, I was always more familiar with WW2 history facts which were connected with the old continent - especially Poland. During our first visit in Fredericksburg, we also spent quite a lot of time at the National Museum of The Pacific War  - the only museum in the continental U.S. which tells about the battles  and WW2 history connected with the Pacific area. That was a great educating experience to me.

We started our tour from the family home of Admiral Chester William Nimitz ('Commander in Chief, United States Pacific Fleet (CinCPac), for U.S. naval forces and Commander in Chief, Pacific Ocean Areas (CinCPOA), for U.S. and Allied air, land, and sea forces during World War II'*) where I learned about his life and career.

Then we moved to the internal part of  the museum - with multimedia presentations, interactive exposition, and displays. A very interesting history lesson. The museum is so big that watching and studying all the exhibits takes actually much more time than one school class only. Luckily, the museum tickets are valid for forty-eight hours which allows coming back (and further exploring) on the next day.

The exposition area covers six acres and consists of several sections such as:

• the George H.W. Bush Gallery (Allied and Japanese planes, tanks, guns and other items made famous during the Pacific War),

• Plaza of Presidents, Veterans' Walk of Honor and Memorial Wall,

 

• Japanese Garden of Peace and
• Pacific Combat Zone

 

The field hospital seemed rather creepy to me - did not want to spend much time around it.

The museum is really worth visiting. You cannot miss it when you come to Fredericksburg!

 

Museum hours:

Interior exhibits: 9 AM to 5 PM (except Christmas Day and Thanksgiving)

more info: ww.pacificwarmuseum.org 

*citation from wikipedia.org