Of the Marines on Iwo Jima, uncommon valor was a common virtue

- Chester W. Nimitz

out of all the things we did on our honeymoon, the National Museum of the Pacific War, was one of the most intriguing.  when we had the idea of traveling to Fredericksburg, we didn't even know they had a museum of this type there, let along of this magnitude.

we walked by it several times, thinking meh, we can always do this if there is nothing else.  well that happened.  it rained the first two days we were there and it was quite cold out for being the first of May in Hill Country.  so we stopped inside.  WOW! this museum was numerous buildings we found, and for the price, (i think it was like 12 dollars a person or something), it was fantastic.  the admission was good for 2 or 3 days so you could come back multiple times, so you didnt have to rush through it in one visit.  on day 1, we spent 1 - 2 hours in there..  day 2, 3 hours.  and that was just inside....  (outside museum finds, memorials and peace garden will be another post.)

they also host a series of live re-enactments through the year that showcase pieces of the Pacific War.  unfortunately we were not there during one of the events, but i'm sure it would definitely be worth seeing.

above are just a few of the several pictures i took while we were there.
1. this was a tank that was used in the pacific war - right next to the exhibit they had a video running about this particular mission.  they were interviewing one of the men that was assigned to that vehicle. while out the field, the tank was bombed - thus the large hole in front on the left hand side of the photo.  he went on to explain how he knew he had to make it out of this vehicle, but he was only one of the survivors.  he talked about having to manuveur himself around his fallen comrades to climb out of this hole, only to be in a line of fire. 

talk about chaos!

2.  a-bomb.  going into this room was crazy.  it gave me goosebumps.   well most of the museum did, but this room inparticular.   the bomb sirens were ringing and you could feel cold wind circulating the room.  made you feel like you were there.  so weird.  so eerie.


3. this i think was my most favorite of the items - a bit bittersweet. this flag came from a group of men/women who had become POWs during the war.  they refused to leave their flag so they took it apart and shoved the pieces into their clothing to hide it from the enemy.  as you can tell they managed to keep it hidden.