Remembering warfare - museums, artifacts, battlefields

[mrhnau]

Over the years I've visited alot of battlefields, seen alot of really fantastic relics of warfare. I've always enjoyed those trips. Some of the most recent/memorable have been the Tank Museum in Danville, VA. The largest private collection of tanks in the US! Lots of other weapons of war. It was quite a trip! I've been twice I've also spent alot of time at the USS North Carolina, docked in Wilmington, NC. Spent a few days out at Appomatox a few years ago, and enjoyed that very much

I'm always moved when visiting the USS NC. The ship is so massive and took so much to function properly. I know bigger ships exists, but the scale is just breath-taking. I always love reading the history of the ship, learning a bit of what life must have been like on deck.

What are some of your favorite military sites or fixtures? The most meaningful?

 

[Steel Tiger]

Speaking as an Australian, we have a magnificent museum attached to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra (where I live). It both commemorates and educates on Australians in conflict from the 1860s, when troops from Australia fought in China, through to the modern conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The collection is fantastic, and there are very good explanations of various battles and the Hall of Valour is wonderful. If anyone gets a chance to visit Australia I would recommend a visit to the Australian War Memorial.

 

[SFC JeffJ]

I loved going to Waterloo and the Normandy Beaches. I even had the opportunity to jump near the beaches on the anniversary back in '94. Stateside, I've been to Gettysburg and Little Big Horn as well.

All of them really jerked around the emotions a bit.

Jeff

 

[MBuzzy]

DMZ Tour...

It is crazy standing in North Korea...having North Korean Guards staring at you with loaded weapons, through binoculars. Kind of rattling also to walk through the infiltration tunnels. We've found three and turned them into tourist attractions, but how many more might be there....

 

[grydth]

Yorktown - Well preserved and posted Revolutionary site...even I could understand the course of the battle.

Ann Frank's house in Holland - from a different kind of war. I'm not the fragile type, but after coming out of there - even on a hot Summer afternoon - I had the shakes.

Enjoyed visits to the Brussels and Vienna military museums.

 

[HKphooey]

Special Forces Museum at Fort Bragg.

 

[mrhnau]

Special Forces Museum at Fort Bragg.

wow... thats actually not too far from me I'll have to go check that out sometime!

While not exactly a war museum, I was really moved by the holocaust memorial in Jerusalem...

 

[HKphooey]

Once you go there, you will see it is. The museum is a testiment to those who have served silently. There are a few great sites to see on that base.

One of my favorites.

Link to the website:

http://www.soc.mil/swcs/museum/museum.shtml

http://www.asomf.org/

 

[JasonASmith]

It's a stroke of luck to live where I do, because two of the most bloody battles of the American Civil War were fought within a two hour driving radius of my front door. The three day melee that was Gettysburg is 45 minutes away, and the hell of Antietam is approximately 2 hours away...I have visited both on numerous occasions, and in fact I grew up(partially) in the towns of New Oxford and Hanover, which are less than a half hour away from Gettysburg...

 

[The Kidd]

Being a massive History buff I don't think there is a battlefield or ship within a thousand miles I have not seen (some farther than that). Vicksburg, Ms is in great condition and they have a great audio tour very moving (it helped that I had several relatives who fought in this one and found where they were encamped), the USS Lexington in Galveston is in great condition, the best well preserved ship I have been on is the USS Texas, awesome condition for as old as it is and more of the ship is open to visitors than most ships I have been on. The most moving experience was going to Arlington National Cemetery.

Runner-ups:
Fort McHenry (Baltimore,MD) USS Constitution (Philadelphia)
Alamo (San Antonio,Tx) USS Olympia (Philadelphia)

 

[Ninjamom]

We're neighbors, Jason!

I was also very moved during the visits to Gettysburg, as well as Fredericksburg, VA (Chancellorsville Battlefield), which is very well laid out as a historic site. I've visited Shiloh. In all three cases, there seems to be a silence that falls on the visitors - perhaps a reverance at the magnitude of what is being remembered at the sites.

Several years ago, I was able to visit the National D-Day Musuem in New Orleans, LA. I do not know if it is still in good repair. At the time, it was a massive and moving tribute to the invasion at Normandy. The museum was put together mostly with private funds by the company that manufactured and tested the amphibious assault vehicles used to land from sea (which was based just outside New Orleans).

Mr H., if you liked the tank museum, you might want to visit my old stompin' grounds, at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD. They have one of the largest collection of outdoor ordnance available for public viewing, and you will want to visit it while it still may be seen. The tanks (and two of the big guns from Anzio) are currently housed outdoors, and are being worn away by the weather. There are plans to use private funds and enclose them all, but it is a race against time.

The grounds at Aberdeen are NOT that inspiring. There is a small museum indoors there, as well, with a very large collection of ordnance of all sizes.

 

[JasonASmith]

We're neighbors, Jason!

I was also very moved during the visits to Gettysburg, as well as Fredericksburg, VA (Chancellorsville Battlefield), which is very well laid out as a historic site. I've visited Shiloh. In all three cases, there seems to be a silence that falls on the visitors - perhaps a reverance at the magnitude of what is being remembered at the sites.

Several years ago, I was able to visit the National D-Day Musuem in New Orleans, LA. I do not know if it is still in good repair. At the time, it was a massive and moving tribute to the invasion at Normandy. The museum was put together mostly with private funds by the company that manufactured and tested the amphibious assault vehicles used to land from sea (which was based just outside New Orleans).

Mr H., if you liked the tank museum, you might want to visit my old stompin' grounds, at Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD. They have one of the largest collection of outdoor ordnance available for public viewing, and you will want to visit it while it still may be seen. The tanks (and two of the big guns from Anzio) are currently housed outdoors, and are being worn away by the weather. There are plans to use private funds and enclose them all, but it is a race against time.

The grounds at Aberdeen are NOT that inspiring. There is a small museum indoors there, as well, with a very large collection of ordnance of all sizes.

How Do, Neighbour?
Uhhh, are you just up the street, round the corner, or down the boulevard?

 

[Ninjamom]

.....try 'down the Interstate'.

Southern tip of MD, about 2 1/2 hrs drive from York.

 

[Touch Of Death]

Speaking as an Australian, we have a magnificent museum attached to the Australian War Memorial in Canberra (where I live). It both commemorates and educates on Australians in conflict from the 1860s, when troops from Australia fought in China, through to the modern conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The collection is fantastic, and there are very good explanations of various battles and the Hall of Valour is wonderful. If anyone gets a chance to visit Australia I would recommend a visit to the Australian War Memorial.

I understand you guys are all "have war will travel" LOL
Sean

 

[Steel Tiger]

I understand you guys are all "have war will travel" LOL
Sean

That pretty much covers it. We've been fighting other people's wars for 140 years and the country is only, officially, 219 years old.

 

[Tez3]

Vimy Ridge in Northern France. It's a Canadian War Memorial that's both awe inspiring and humbling. To walk around the small war cemetaries dotted around the memorial and see the ages of the fallen soldiers makes your heart ache.

http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/remembers/...ls/ww1mem/Vimy&CFID=13715213&CFTOKEN=64562641

 

[Shuto]

It's a stroke of luck to live where I do, because two of the most bloody battles of the American Civil War were fought within a two hour driving radius of my front door. The three day melee that was Gettysburg is 45 minutes away, and the hell of Antietam is approximately 2 hours away...I have visited both on numerous occasions, and in fact I grew up(partially) in the towns of New Oxford and Hanover, which are less than a half hour away from Gettysburg...

Yep, I've been there multiple times as well. I really like Antietam because it isn't very built up with houses/businesses or filled up with numerous monuments. I'd like to go there for the candlelight thing sometime. I think they do it around Christmas.

My family visited Petersburg when I was very young but I can still remember The Crater.

I was reading about the Battle of Gettysburg a few years ago in preparation for my kid's field trip there. I read about JEB Stuart's escapades in Maryland during that campaign and I believe that he burned a railroad bridge about 2 miles from my house. It's not a Battlefield but I often think about it when I pass by it.

edit. I'll also add that I was very moved when we visited Thailand and went to the military cemetary near where the "Bridge over the River Kwai" was built. What I found moving was all of the 40+ year old privates buried there. Society was really pulling out all of the stops for that conflict.

 

[Langenschwert]

Vimy Ridge in Northern France. It's a Canadian War Memorial that's both awe inspiring and humbling.

One day I'll go and see that.

Best regards,

-Mark

 

[Steel Tiger]

The Turkish government has just finished building a museum at Gallipoli which honours both Turkish and ANZAC soldiers. I would love to go there one day.

I have always found it strange, and somewhat heartening, that there is no animosity between the Turkish and Australian people even though their soldiers fought so viciously. Gallipoli made both nations as far as the modern world is concerned. Maybe that's why.