Fredricksburg, TX

After a month in San Antonio, I am heading for Tucson, AZ. I will be spending a week there enjoying the many attractions in that area. But first I am stopping in Fredricksburg to take in the National Museum of the Pacific War. What a wonderful museum!

They set you our on a self-guided tour through a maze of rooms that show you what happened in the various stages of the Pacific War. They start with "The Seeds of War" that covers the events before Pearl Harbor. Then as you progress through the museum, you are exposed to the chronological events of our march to Japan. One such event was the Doolittle Raid on April 18, 1942 with a group of B-25s that took off from an aircraft carrier in a storm. While you are in one of the rooms and are viewing film of the event. Suddenly a wall opens up and there before you is an actual B-25.

They have have several aircraft (what's left of them) displayed with lighting effects that are very theatrical. There were dozens (mostly men) of my age going through the museum and there was not a word spoken. You would have thought you were in a church somewhere. You could tell they were reliving those war years.

They had an actual Japanese sea plane in one of the rooms.

At another facility of the Museum, they take you into a simulated hanger deck of an aircraft carrier where they have displayed and actual Avenger torpedo plane.

I can certainly recommend this museum to anyone who lived though the time of WW II. Even if you didn't, you will be very impressed with their presentation. They even let you stand on a wharf next to a very real PT Boat that is getting ready to go out on a night mission. On and on it goes.

If you are ever in the Texas Hill Country, be sure and stop in Fredricksburg and take in the marvelous museum.