As museum visitors emerge from the trench-like entrance of the Nation Overseas Gallery, cast figures, lighting effects, imagery, and sounds of distant battle recreate a setting based on a famous photograph of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.

Military Museums

George Rogers Clark and his men trekked nearly 200 miles across what is now Illinois in February 1779. Creeks and rivers flooded by heavy winter rains ranged far beyond their banks, covering open grasslands with several inches of water. On the final push to Vincennes to capture Fort Sackville on the morning of February 22, they faced a vast chest-deep floodplain. Second-in-command, Captain Joseph Bowman kept a detailed journal of the campaign, detailing the difficult surprise march on the British outpost.

Military Museums

‘A Few Men Well Conducted’

By Joshua Shepherd

Benumbed by months of cold and boredom, bleary-eyed British sentries stared over the ramparts of Fort Sackville in the Illinois Country as thick fog rolled in from the Wabash River. Read more

This pristine Lockheed P-38, “White 33,” was buried in a pit in the New Guinea jungle for decades before being retrieved and restored to better-than-new condition at the WestPac Restoration facility.

Military Museums

The National Museum of World War II Aviation

By Flint Whitlock

Colorado Springs, Colorado—at the foot of majestic Pikes Peak—has long been a favorite vacation destination. And now there’s another reason to head for the Rockies: the National Museum of World War II Aviation. Read more

A samurai and his horse bound up the bank of a river to come to grips with the enemy. Precious sword in hand, the tsuba, or hand guard, is clearly visible. For hundreds of years great artistry was worked into the tsuba.

Military Museums

Katana Handguards

By Peter Suciu

The swords of the samurai have long been desirable to collectors. Now, even their parts have become prized. Read more

Since World War I, Ft. Benning, Georgia, has been the training ground of U.S. Infantry. Since 1959, its National Infantry Museum has displayed artifacts and equipment of U.S. infantrymen and their foes. Below is a M4A2 Sherman tank.

Military Museums

The National Infantry Museum.

By Blaine Taylor

Over 100,000 visitors annually trace with pride the footsteps of infantrymen from the 1607 wilderness of Virginia to the 1991 sands of the Persian Gulf and view weapons from the French Charleville flintlock musket to the atomic Davy Crockett mortar,” says the director of the National Infantry Museum, Z. Read more

Military Museums

The United States Naval Academy Museum

By Blaine Taylor

The United States Naval Academy Museum at Annapolis, Maryland, is “an educational and inspirational resource for the Naval Academy Brigade of Midshipmen, other students of American naval history and thousands of visitors each year,” according to Shayne Sewell, assistant media relations director at the USNA Public Affairs Office. Read more

Military Museums

Finnish Mosin Nagants

By Chuck Lewis

Deral Mosby is hooked. In a little over two years, the 58-year-old retired chemist’s collection of 20th-century military-surplus firearms has evolved from a handful of Russian Mosin Nagant infantry rifles valued at around $125 each to an ever-growing horde of Finnish military rifles and carbines, some of which are quite rare and worth considerably more. Read more

A mannequin wearing the uniform of a technical sergeant in the American 359th Infantry Regiment mans the equipment in the Hoffmann Museum’s “radio corner.”

Military Museums

Luxembourg’s Hoffman Museum

By Raymond E. Bell, Jr.

You won’t find the familiar little triangular signs, “Warnung Minen!” hanging on barbed wire today in Western Europe, with one exception. Read more

While the National Army Museum lacks the space for extensive display of vehicles or field guns, the outside is usually “protected” by an armored vehicle or two.

Military Museums

London’s National Army Museum

By Peter Suciu

The city of London practically overflows with military history. Predating the Romans, London has been the seat of government ever since it was fortified by William the Conqueror in the 11th century. Read more

A supersonic Air Force F-111 Aardvark destroys a North Vietnamese ordnance bunker in March in 1968 in a painting by Jack Fellows.

Military Museums

To Hell And Back

By William E. Welsh

An armada of U.S. Air Force strike aircraft roared through the sky toward the North Vietnamese ammunition storage depot at Xom Bang, 10 miles north of the DMZ, on March 2, 1965. Read more

Marines of the British Royal Naval Division go over the top in an assault against Ottoman positions on the strategic high ground of Achi Baba at the base of the Gallipoli Peninsula.

Military Museums

Senseless Slaughter at Gallipoli

By William E. Welsh

The crash of the heavy guns from a dozen British and French capital ships, one of which was the super-dreadnought the HMS Queen Elizabeth, reverberated against the shoreline of the Dardanelles on February 19, 1915. Read more

As if seen in flight, this Vought-Sikorsky U.S. Navy Corsair R4U hangs close to a visitor viewing platform.

Military Museums

Museums: The UDVAR-HAZY Center

Anyone traveling to Washington, DC, should take the time to head west to Chantilly, Virginia (near Dulles International Airport), and visit the Steven F. Read more

Military Museums

1st Infantry Division Museum

By Steve Hawkins

One of America’s finest military museums, the 1st Division Museum near Chicago, presents the history of America’s oldest division––from its inception in World War I, through World War II, the Cold War, the jungles of Vietnam, and Desert Storm. Read more

Military Museums

The Imperial War Museum

By Roy Stevenson

Although Britain has a number of war museums, the Imperial War Museum (IWM) is acknowledged as the Holy Grail of them all—the one you must visit when in London. Read more

Military Museums

The American Air Museum in Duxford

By Roy Stevenson

In the lush, green rural community of Duxford, a 20-minute bus ride from the university town of Cambridge, the American Air Museum in Britain houses the finest collection of historic American combat aircraft outside the United States. Read more

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