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the Veterans Memorial Museum
the Veterans Memorial Museum
Located in Laurel Mississippi, the Veterans Memorial Museum is a little known gem of military collections
hangzhou,
zhejiang,
China
(prbd.net)
28/02/2011
Founded in 2005 on the location of an old US Army Air Corps training field in World War Two (WWII), it harbors exhibits to naval, air, and ground forces from all eras. The 6000-square foot museum is located at 920 Hillcrest Drive in Laurel, just off Mississippi Highway 84.
Exhibits remembering the war at sea.
Naval exhibits include a 14"x17" steel plate recovered from the USS Arizona, sunk at Pearl Harbor and a WWII aerial torpedo of the type used by TBM Avenger aircraft and late model PT-boats. Naval uniforms and insignia, including those of Special Warfare operators in the Vietnam conflict are very touching reminders of the service and sacrifice of local veterans.
Contact numbers are 601-428-4008. The museum is open Monday-Saturday (closed Sunday) 1000-1600 and admission is free. The museum is run entirely by volunteers, all primarily former WWII-Korea-Vietnam era service veterans.
Land warfare exhibits
Land warfare exhibits include an amazing World War One doughboy display, US Civil War era ordanance, a good deal of World War Two small arms from all sides. The WWII section even has an extremely rare British RAF issued-Swift Training Rifle in perfect condition complete with the original and correctly marked packing crate and instructions. A local veteran donated the Swift, like most of the other articles of the museum. A US M60 Patton main battle tank and other vehicles stand guard as sentries in the front parking lot of the facility.
Aviation exhibits of the museum
The primary focus of the main entry hall is the dragon fly-shaped Santos-Dumont Demoiselle aircraft that the museum acquired from the USS Intrepid collection. Meaning "Damselfly" in French the pre-WWI era craft only weighs some 350 pounds and is made of bamboo, canvas and wire propelled by a 20-hp motor. Used for scouting in World War one this aircraft is one of the very few left of aviation pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont. Santos-Dumont was an earlier competitor of the Wright brothers and some historians believe his “14-bis” aircraft actually may have been around before the Wright Brother’s Flyer. Santos-Dumont is celebrated in Latin America and Brazil’s largest airport is named in honor of him.
The second aircraft in the museum is located at the rear of the facility outside of the main exhibit hall. It is a U-4B Aero Commander 500. This aircraft became a presidential transport aircraft for President Dwight Eisenhower between 1956 and 1960. This was the smallest "Air Force One" ever used at only 36-feet in length and 4200 pounds unloaded. It is in a poor state of repair but the museum only recently acquired it and is in the process of restoring the craft as a static exhibit.
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