Nimitz Museum

We spent yesterday in Fredericksburg, TX, which is a very neat little place to go visit. It also happens to be the home of Fleet Admiral Nimitz. I knew it was his birth place and have seen the National Museum of the Pacific War on the main street but it's never quite worked out for me to visit.

All that changed yesterday. You see, Anna's parents are in town so I was able to talk her Dad into running over there with me while Anna and her mom shopped. From the outside it looks like the museum basically consists of the old Nimitz hotel (owned by Admiral Nimitz's grandfather). We popped in the door around 3 O'Clock expecting that 2 hours would give us plenty of time to see the place in its entirety. We were dead wrong. This place is huge! It spans 9 acres, includes 2 buildings, outdoor gardens, and another set of exihibits a few blocks away. It does have one exhibit hall that is dedicated to Admiral Nimitz, but the remainder of the museum covers the entire pacific war. Needless to say, we got kicked out at 10 after 5 and still had only seen about 50-60% of the place.

Along the way, I learned some interesting tidbits. For example, did you know that every president from FDR to George H.W. Bush was a WWII veteran? There's an outdoor garden at the museum with plaques that commemorates each president's role in the war. In addition, there's a Japanese garden - a gift from the people of Japan.

There's some very, very interesting artifacts on display. They have the spotting scope from the USS Ward, the ship that engaged a Japanese sub just outside of Pear Harbor. In addition, one of the Japanese attack subs in Pearl Harbor was captured. It is on display in the Nimitz museum. They also have one of the B25s used in the Doolittle raids. Lots of neat stuff on display.

Highly recommended if you're ever in the area. Even Hope thought it was neat.