My Saturdays are usually of the mundane variety ~ chores, grading papers, etc. You know what I mean. Today was not going to be another boring day.
In case I hadn’t told you, I am a participant in our district’s “Teaching American History” grant. We headed north to Fredericksburg, Texas to visit the National Museum of the Pacific War. It also houses the Admiral Nimitz museum, who was from Fredericksburg and commanded the Pacific forces during World War II. He replaced Admiral Kimmel after the fiasco @ Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941.
The highlight of the trip was the living history reenactment: ‘Pacific Combat Zone’: a demonstration of WW-II weapons, equipment and the highlight of the show a WW-II flamethrower! (see photo) We could feel the heat in the audience and the Marine was facing away from us. The actors gave the history of the weapons and actually fired them for us. Yes, we were given earplugs but it was still loud. They quickly erased the “Hollywood” version of war movies such as John Wayne pulling a grenade pin with his teeth. Not happening, they are designed with safety measures built in.
The day was quite moving as well as an emotional one. We were given some reading material for the bus trip and one of the handouts was a 1st person account of an ensign aboard the USS Oklahoma on 7 Dec. 1941. My Uncle Eugene, a Marine, was also on board that ill-fated day. I was never able to talk with him about the events of that day since he lived in California. I do not know if they knew each other but at least I could understand a little bit of what my uncle endured. A bullet creased his skull and was awarded a medal for saving the ship’s log. Eugene spent the rest of his life suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. There were only 32 who survived as the ship sunk that day as well as the USS Arizona.
A few of us from the group want to return to the museum as it hard to do it all in one day and we were on a time limit. We all agreed that the trip was worth getting up early on Saturday!
“Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.”
-- George Santayana
~ba~
In case I hadn’t told you, I am a participant in our district’s “Teaching American History” grant. We headed north to Fredericksburg, Texas to visit the National Museum of the Pacific War. It also houses the Admiral Nimitz museum, who was from Fredericksburg and commanded the Pacific forces during World War II. He replaced Admiral Kimmel after the fiasco @ Pearl Harbor, 7 December 1941.
The highlight of the trip was the living history reenactment: ‘Pacific Combat Zone’: a demonstration of WW-II weapons, equipment and the highlight of the show a WW-II flamethrower! (see photo) We could feel the heat in the audience and the Marine was facing away from us. The actors gave the history of the weapons and actually fired them for us. Yes, we were given earplugs but it was still loud. They quickly erased the “Hollywood” version of war movies such as John Wayne pulling a grenade pin with his teeth. Not happening, they are designed with safety measures built in.
The day was quite moving as well as an emotional one. We were given some reading material for the bus trip and one of the handouts was a 1st person account of an ensign aboard the USS Oklahoma on 7 Dec. 1941. My Uncle Eugene, a Marine, was also on board that ill-fated day. I was never able to talk with him about the events of that day since he lived in California. I do not know if they knew each other but at least I could understand a little bit of what my uncle endured. A bullet creased his skull and was awarded a medal for saving the ship’s log. Eugene spent the rest of his life suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. There were only 32 who survived as the ship sunk that day as well as the USS Arizona.
A few of us from the group want to return to the museum as it hard to do it all in one day and we were on a time limit. We all agreed that the trip was worth getting up early on Saturday!
“Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.”
-- George Santayana
~ba~
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