What do you think of when you go to ,say GETTYSBURG , Or the ARIZONA ? I went to the ALAMO yesterday .Although living in ARKANSAS (my home for many years ) and TEXAS too . I never got to go there .Till yesterday as I’ve said .Yes , there is commercialism around this HALLOWED ground , but , it seemed to be subdued and polite .Now walk in .
The history and meaning ,hit you , if you have any real feeling about AMERICAN history , like a ton of bricks .Here’s a place ,where the few were defeated by the many . Why ? their belief in freedom and self determination . This is one of the AMERICAN icons to the fight for the right to be free .
Oh, you might say , How does this relate to model building ? It does . When you build that plane , tank or ship , you are ,in a way , participating in history. The miniaturist who chooses figures could tell you probably better than me .This hobby , to us , makes part of history come alive .I suggest ,if there is a museum or HALLOWED ground you can get to, do visit .
The experience , if you are serious , will definitely move you and increase your value of history and the part your models take in telling the story . This is something we should ALL remember. Ther are many who have gone before, some in battle , some peacefully , but their aim was simple . FREEDOM for this great land of ours . Sure we do and still are making mistakes , but , I am guaranteed the right to sit down , fire up the stereo and build models . A thank you is in order , once in a while . Have you said yours lately ? Tanker-builder
I had the good fortune to tour the Alamo a many years ago and it is a unique feeling being there. And I have to say that I’ve had similar feelings when touring the USS North Carolina and a couple of B-17’s & a B-24…you just feel the history all around you.
I don’t think we have any of those around here. We’re too far west for the Revolution, too far north for the Civil War and too far east for the Indian Wars. The best we can do is the boyhood home of Mark Twain and they even put that on the other side of the river.
There are a surprising number of historical museums around, if you just look for them. For example, there is a little museum in the town next to mine that has some memorabilia from all of the wars since the Civil War. Its not much, but there is a connection to the history. One of the native sons turns out was killed ove rthe Med in a B-26. A small town called Bolingbrook IL has a fairly extensive air museum, and hosts a small airshow every summer. While none of this stuff is of the caliber of the Arizona, lets say, it can still be very educational, moving and inspiring. The other thing is to watch your local library or other public place. A few years ago, I got to meet a Tuskeegee airman at the local library during Black History Month. That was an incredible experince to hear him speak and shake his hand. I am guessing you live in Illinois. Have you visited Chanute, near Champaign? Turns out, the Tuskeegee Airmen were based there for a short while. St. Louis has its Science Center, which has a dispaly from McDonnell Douglas in it. A few hours west is the SAC museum in Nebraska. A few hours east is the Air Force Museum in Dayton. If you can get creative, there are plenty of opportunities to get `in touch with history. Give it a shot
Been to Pearl Harbor a couple of times, and am going again in two weeks. It gives you pause to stand on the monument, see all of the names and watch that little bit of oil rise to the surface as the Navy did after the attack. I’ve been to several of the battlefields also.
Well, I can tell you that, having been around the world, know what you’re saying, tankerbuilder about being somewhere and feeling that evocative feeling of standing on “hallowed ground”. I’ve been to some of the great battlefields of Europe, and the feeling of standing, say, between the Brandenburg Gate and the old Reichstag building was humbling, to say the least.
The same feeling of awe hit me when I stood on Red Square in Moscow, and imagined it during the 1940’s. I’ve been to Cologne, numerous times, and there’s still a church there which is left burned out and bombed out, and of course, the Dom itself was in the very heart of the fight. I’ve stood where that Panther was burned out and reflected on the death around me more than half a century ago.
I’ve walked on numerous German and Dutch battlefields and ruminated heavily on the conflict, the death, the ideology and the legacies of those times.
I’ve been to many, many castles where evidence of the battles was still evident, and I’ve walked the Walls of Constantinople and saw the hole in the dungeon floor which emptied out into the Sea of Bosphorus in Istanbul where they threw the head of Sultan Osman II after he was taken prisoner and tortured. I’ve also stood on the battlefield where the “300” resisted the Persians in the Battle of Thermopylae in Greece.
The ironic thing is, I have been to very few American battlefields or areas of conflict. The only thing that I can think of that really hit me hard was the Vietnam Veteran’s memorial in Washington DC, and I"m not ashamed to say that I cried. SO many names, so many young kids who gave their lives. I built my M48 Patton here and dedicated it to the veterans–many of whom helped me with details of that build here on the forums.
I live some ways from the Shiloh Civil War battlefield, and have gone there a couple of times, especially for the 150th anniversary, where we took a guided tour. It really made what I read about it make sense, there’s nothing like being at the point where the battle began and visualizing what it might have looked like on that morning.
There’s also the World War II museum in Halls, TN, just south of Dyersburg, where there was a Flying Fortress training base during the war. I didn’t know that Nathan Bedford Forrest III was the commanding general there at one point. Just as quickly as that base sprung up in the middle of cotton fields, it was gone. It was ignored until the 1990’s, as a matter of fact, it was used as an impromptu drag strip in the 60s.
Then there’s downtown Jackson, TN where Davey Crockett told them that they could go…well, now…, but he was going to Texas…and the Alamo.
South of Jackson, in Pinson are the old indian burial grounds from way before the colonization of North America.
Fort Donelson and Fort Henry up on the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers, Casey Jones’ home, Parker’s crossroads in Lexington are a few more places.
I have traveled a lot in ex Yugoslavia and visited quite a few battlefields there. The monument at Sutjeska river is very impressive, the distroyed bridge at Neretva river is still there, the Kozara mountain, the city of Kragujevac where the Germans shot thousands of schoolchildren, the Jasenovac concentration camp and numerous other battle sites.
In many of the museums, I saw guns and leftover uniforms. I couldn’t help but wander how many people were killed by this or that gun and what happened to its owner.
I also met quite a few old partisans. It was almost surreal to listen to them and stand on the hills and fields while they were telling me that they were here and Germans were advancing from there…Who was killed at the very place where I was standing?
I also went scuba diving to see a Spitfire shot down by German AA crew. The pilot baild safely and was taken POW.
Several years ago I traveled through Croatia and visited some battlefields from the war for independence. I was speachless…especially as I was there during the war, just 20 years younger…
“In great deeds, something abides. On great fields something stays. Forms change and pass: bodies disappear: but spirits linger, to consecrate ground for the vision place of souls and reverent men and women from afar, and generations who know us not. and that we know not of, heart drawn to see where and by whom great things were suffered and done for them, shall come to this deathless field, to ponder and dream: and lo! the shadow of a mighty presence shall wrap them in it’s bosom and the power of the vision pass into their souls”.
General Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. Gettysburg. Oct. 3 1889
That is a thought that about covers what I was saying .I went to the HORNET as she began her career as a museum .You could sit in the pilot’s " ready room " and feel the tension palpably .Then in pri-fly you could feel the excitement of plane-ops .There is history where we find it .I had a friend that stopped and read every roadside plaque he found .
Now , I belong to the docent staff of the NEW BRAUNFELS ,TEXAS, RAILROAD MUSEUM . Even there , you can feel the spirit of those who rode and worked the rails. It is indeed humbling . Tanker-builder
Was fortunate to visit the Alamo last year. Was unable to enjoy it properly and take it all in, had family in tow. (Wife, a 14y.o. and an 8 y.o.)
Few days later though was on the USS Lexington down in Corpus Christie. I think they got more out of that, but not the same as I. Being a Navy vet and served on a CV and a CVN…standing and reading about where a japanses Long Lance torpedo hit the ship, and looking at Long Lance that they have on display right there.
I can only do so much with my minds eye…there will always be just some stuff that we will never truly know.
(Want to get to the Udvar-Hazy Museum and the USAF musem in Dayton…and God willing, out to Pearl.)
Oh, and have been to Gettysburg twice – once for 8th grade graduation trip, and the second time for OCS…much better appreciation for it the second time around.
Took the family up to the USS Cobia in Manitowoc, WI too. (Cramped!)
I would like to get down to Corpus Christi to see the ol’ Lexington. She was my last ship before getting out of the Navy. I used to drive her, hence my avatar.
Lee
p.s. There is a brass plate located on the overhead in the flag bridge that is inscribed “On this spot, on June 19, 1944, Admiral Marc Mitscher gave the order to ‘Turn on the lights’.” Lex was his flagship during the Battle of the Philippine Sea, or the “Great Marianas Turkey Shoot” as it is also known.
Another place to go is the PIMA museum in Arizona, and if you get down to Tuscon, check out the Titan missile museum. You actually go down into a bunker where the crew sat with their fingers on the trigger. When I was there, a young boy about 12 sat in the commander’s seat and turned the key to ‘launch’ the missile. Very interesting.
I always seem to end up in one of two places when it comes to things like this–air museums/air shows, and US Navy ship museums. Grew up in CT, so of course I’ve been on the Nautilus. Battlehip Cove in MA, USS Alabama, USS Lexington, USS Kidd(WWII destroyer in Louisiana, where I live now). Been on USS Razorback–a Balao-class sub in Arkansas. Been on USS Drum, a Gato-class sub, in Mobile Bay.
I know the feeling that some of you mentioned…the Kidd was struck by a Kamikaze and several of her crew died. Today, you can stand at the exact spot where she was hit. But one of the most amazing experiences for me was a flight in a B-17…there’s something about sitting behind those guns that just seems so surreal. At the time I took the flight, I was 20…about the same age as many gunners from WWII.
Wright Patterson is an awesome museum, as is the USN museum in Pensacola, FL. Well worth the trip. You will see things at both of these museums that you simply will not see anywhere else in the world. Looking forward to my next trip to DC, as I have never yet made it to the Smithsonian.
Also, want to mention this–if any of you get the chance, the National WWII Museum in New Orleans is 100% first rate. Something really cool is going on over there-they are restoring an actual PT boat, PT-305. 305 is an actual combat veteran, having sunk two German ships in the Med. Really looking forward to seeing this one finished.
I’ve been to a lot of historical sites and museums around the world in my lifetime, but the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. and its annex at Dulles never fail to blow me away. The Milestones of Flight Gallery alone contains the Spirit of St Louis, Glamorous Glennis, Apollo 11, Friendship Seven, Gemini IV, and the original Wright Flyer among others. That is just in one room. Well worth a visit at least once in your lifetime.
I loved it when I lived in Alexandria, VA. I was just moments away from a nearly endless list of hallowed locations. You couldn’t step out of your house without running into one.
I live in Green Bay now. Not too many hallowed and sacred locations here except for one. Everyone say it with me…
LAMBEAU FIELD!!! It’s humbling to walk on the same field where the Ice Bowl was played and where Vince Lombardi walked.
