Although dedicated to the general history of British army aviation from 1878 to present day, the museum has enough WWII displays and exhibits to qualify as a solid WWII museum in its own right, receiving 25,000 visitors each year.

Starting with a chronological history of Army flying in peace and war, there are hundreds of interesting artifacts and objects in display cases. Army aviation started in the 1880s with gas-filled balloons, evolving with the use of airships, autogiros, gliders and airplanes, and, today, remote-piloted aircraft.

The first hall features Royal Flying Corps aircraft, observer/spotter and other light aircraft of the 1940s and 1950s, in addition to helicopters.

The WWII European Operations section features dioramas of a German field kitchen, and British pilots in a waiting room during the Battle of Britain. Nearby are the remains of a crashed aircraft engine. A chart shows the defensive areas of southern England during the Battle of Britain and photos of the devastation from air raids.

The large glider display hall illustrates how WWII glider operations were risky ventures, with many of operations amounting to little more than suicide missions. Fragile gliders, poor planning and new equipment, often untested in battle conditions, caused horrifying casualties on both British and German sides — far more than would be acceptable today. Glidermen must surely rate amongst the unsung heroes of WWII.

A comprehensive collection of authentic allied gliders includes a Horsa, Hamilcar, Hotspur and Waco.

The Operation Market Garden display features a diorama of the airborne soldiers at Arnhem with various artifacts including maps, uniforms, daggers, captured Nazi flags and pieces of glider equipment. Alongside, visitors can enter a Hamilcar glider. Unique photos of the Arnhem landings complete a great gallery.

The well-presented Operation Overlord D-Day display features an open Horsa glider, with battlefield objects such as parachutes, packs and weapons. Newspaper headlines and rare photos of the glider formations on the ground in England show commandos training, being inspected by King George VI, on a ship on the way to Normandy, debarking on a DUKW amphibious transport, and crossing Pegasus Bridge.

Looking down over the WWII Glider Hall is the Glider Gallery telling the story of the glider pilots and describing British glider operations.

D-Day exhibition
Great exhibits include a small parachute dummy that was dropped over German territory to confuse the Germans on D-Day. Other artifacts include maps, medals, towropes and allied money for the occupation of France, a Horsa glider, and memorabilia from the highly successful Pegasus Bridge glider landings.

A description of the Arnhem glider landings and the nine days of fighting that followed have a large-scale map diorama of the landing zones. The appalling, long odds of survival from glider operations are never better highlighted than from this operation. Of the 10,000 British Airborne troops over 7,600 men were killed, wounded or missing.

There is a section on Operation Varsity — the crossing of the Rhine in March 1945 — the largest single airlift airborne operation of WWII. An interesting recreation of a 1940s house, complete with a bomb shelter, is packed with authentic household goods from the era.

There is a lot to take in at this fine museum and for those who linger, there is a cafeteria. There is also a gift shop and bookstore with a variety of books about Army aviation. The pleasant staff is helpful and enthusiastic about their museum.
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The MUSEUM OF ARMY FLYING (Middle Wallop, Stockbridge SO20 8DY, United Kingdom; phone 01264 784 421, www.armyflying.com) is not situated near any major cities, but is well worth a visit, especially if you have an interest in Airborne forces, paratroopers and the aircraft and gliders that transport them. To visit, it is recommend that travelers take the train to Andover, then a taxi from to Middle Wallop, about 5 miles.

The museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission, adults, £7.50; children aged 5-16, £5, and senior citizens/students, £5.50. Allow at least two hours for your visit.

Armed with four 75mm Skoda field guns, the Merville Battery would have wreaked havoc with the invasion ships in the sea-lane that had to pass by Ouistreham to reach the invasion beaches. Because the battery endangered the British D-Day Sword landing beaches, the task of eliminating the battery fell to the 9th Battalion led by Lieutenant Colonel Terence Otway of the British 6th Airborne Division. Their task was to land by glider and parachute a mile away, move quietly on the battery, and then storm it.

The battery was formidable. It contained 130 men, 15 to 20 weapons pits, each with four machine guns and some 20mm anti-aircraft guns. Four reinforced concrete casemates six feet thick, two of which were covered over by 12 feet of earth provided almost unassailable mini-fortresses. On two sides of the battery, anti-tank ditch stretched 400 yards, 15 feet wide and 10 feet deep. Two belts of barbed wire surrounded the entire battery, one, six feet wide by ten feet deep. And minefields. The battery was considered impregnable by the Germans.

Due to the usual misdrops and mislandings, only 150 of the anticipated 750 airborne troops were assembled by 0250 hours. With a deadline of 0500 hours to capture the battery, they had to hurry — an offshore cruiser, HMS Arethusa was scheduled to begin its bombardment of the battery unless they heard from the commandos.

The advance party quietly cleared two narrow lanes through the minefield and wire barriers, marking it by leaving scuffmarks on the ground with their boots. Otway’s team, without heavy weapons or mortars, attacked just after 0400 after a German machinegun post opened fire on them, alerting the whole battery.

The assault parties split up once through the wire. While some attacked the weapons pits, others attacked the casemates, all the while under fire from all sides. Much of the fighting was hand-to-hand. In 20 intense minutes of battle, at 0445, they had cleared the gun battery and taken 20 prisoners. The cost was heavy — at the end of the assault only 75 paratroopers were still standing. Many of the German defenders surrendered once they realized that tough paratroopers were attacking. The cry “Fallschirmjagers” went up, and resistance quickly fizzled out.

The museum
Today the open air and indoor MUSEE DE LA BATTERIE MERVILLE (Museum of the Merville Battery), makes an interesting tour. Inside the first casemate you’ll see documents and maps, weapons and other artifacts that describe the assault. If you’re lucky you’ll meet some Airborne veterans there.

As you wander around the four casemates and smaller concrete weapons pits, now covered by earth, long grass and trees, you’ll get a good idea of how concentrated this battery is in such a small area. The assault must have been very violent in such small confines. A bronze bust of Colonel Otway stands in the grounds, close by a memorial to the 9th Parachute Battalion. There’s also a British artillery piece guarding the museum. A small gift shop is just inside the museum.
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MUSÉE DE LA BATTERIE DE MERVILLE (Place du 9ème Bataillon, 14810 Merville, France; phone/fax 02 31 91 47 53, visit www.batterie-merville.com) is open from March 15 to May 31 and Sept. 1 to Nov. 15, daily 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., and June through August, daily from 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. The museum is open during the winter by reservation only. Coach parking, handicapped access, WC. Admission for adults, €5; students, €3, and children under 6 are free. The Museum takes part in operation PASS.

American and British Airborne soldiers were to attack and hold a series of bridges along a 60-mile road from Eindhoven to Arnhem to enable the following infantry and tanks to cross and pierce Germany in a lightning strike that would catch the Germans unprepared. The stately, white painted Museum Hartenstein tells the story of these battles.

The museum is located in the former Hartenstein Hotel, headquarters of the British Divisional commander, Major-General Urquhart during the fighting. The events in this battle unfold, starting with the air landings, the march to the bridge, the fighting at Arnhem and Oosterbeek, and the eventual retreat across the river to the allied lines.

Battle of Arnhem
Meeting with early success, the American paratroopers managed to hold their objectives. However, the 1st British Airborne troopers, dropped in to secure the Rhine Bridge at Arnhem, the furthermost point, became victims of “a bridge too far.” After their drop on 17 Sep 44, 600 British paratroopers held out for four days at the north entrance to the bridge at Arnhem. Meanwhile, at nearby Oosterbeek, other British paratroopers held out for another four days against overwhelming odds. They were never relieved and of 10,000 British and Polish Airborne troops, only 2,293 made it across the Rhine River in a daring night withdrawal on 25 Sep.

Exhibits and photos
Exhibits include British and German arms, helmets, ammunition and equipment, some of which were dug up from the battlefield. Authentic films, slide shows, photographs, maps, unit armbands and models in uniform illustrate this dramatic battle. You won’t see any of the striking, unique photographs in books about the battle. Reader board captions in English and Dutch explain the scenes. Historic photos show allied paratroopers loading into their C-47s in England, and the battle from the German perspective, their troops looking as battle shocked from the hard fighting as the British.

Local inhabitants are shown marching in long lines to safety, often caught in the crossfire of these highly fluid battles. Scenes of house-to-house street fighting show German tanks hunting British soldiers. Some photographs show jubilant allied soldiers being liberated from POW camps at the end of the war.

Amongst the memorabilia is Polish paratroop commanding officer Stanislaw Sosabowski’s Army ID book. An excellent scale model of Arnhem and the Rhine River Bridge is displayed, along with radio equipment, pistols, unit banners and flags.

Dioramas
Lifelike dioramas depict scenes from the battle — one showing a street scene in Oosterbeek as British soldiers liberate it on 17 April 1945. The first aid post diorama was reconstructed with the help of medical officers who were at the Hartenstein Hotel — all items displayed are authentic. Another diorama shows the radio signals post in the cellar.

The Dutch resistance
A little known fact about this battle is that Dutch resistance fighters helped many British paratroopers escape across the river while Dutch civilians sheltered another 500 allied paratroopers around Arnhem and Oosterbeek, at the risk of being shot if they were caught. A gallery is dedicated to this aspect of the battle.

Outside the museum stands a Sherman tank and an artillery piece. In a small park across the road, a tall stone memorial to the fallen soldiers in this battle has been erected by the townspeople. Every year the Dutch hold a memorial march (Airborne Wandeltoch) in which tens of thousands of people march to commemorate this battle. A 10-minute walk from the museum is the Airborne Cemetery where a number of the paratroopers lie. You can get a map showing the cemetery’s location in the museum giftshop, along with books and souvenirs.
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AIRBORNE MUSEUM HARTENSTEIN (www.airbornemuseum.org) is open from April through October, Monday-Saturday from 10-5, Sunday and holidays, 12-5; from November through March, Monday-Saturday from 11-5, Sunday and holidays, 12-5. Closed on Christmas and New Year’s Day. Admission for adults, €8; OAPs, students, €7; youths, aged 13-18, €5, and children aged 6-12, €3.50.

The different-looking structure houses the National Museum of the Marine Corps, opened to the public in November 2006, and boasting more than 1.5 million visitors as of October 2009.

The museum is on a 135-acre site off of US Highway 1 South, adjacent to Marine Corps Base Quantico. The structure, which will cover 200,000 square feet when completed, was paid for mainly by private donations and some help from public funds.

Legislation to authorize its construction was passed in September 2001. In September 2003 ground was broken, and construction started in April 2004. It was officially dedicated on November 10, 2006, the 231st birthday of the Marine Corps, and was open to the public on Nov. 13th.

The U.S. Marine Corps funded the design, exhibitions and start-up, and now provides overall management, operations and staffing. The Marine Corps Heritage Foundation funded the construction, and now manages revenue-generating activities and is an active partner and supporter of the museum.

The museum, a lasting tribute to all Marines, contributes to the recruitment, training, education and retention of Marines through its exhibitions and other public programs; preserves and exhibits the Marine Corps’ material history; and honors the commitment, accomplishments, and sacrifices of Marines past, present, and future. It also provides an understanding of what it takes to “make a Marine.”

When visitors walk into the museum, they are greeted by Marines at the front desk and a spacious central gallery which includes WWII and Korean War exhibits and several vintage aircraft hanging from the ceiling. From there, they can go to other period galleries or to the second floor where a cafeteria and Tun Tavern Restaurant are located.

The best way to start a visit is by going to the theater where a 14-minute film on what it means to be a Marine is shown every 24 minutes; this pretty much sets the stage for what you’re going to see throughout the museum.

The galleries include “Making of a Marine,” featuring boot camp; “Uncommon Valor,” the WWII gallery; “Send In the Marines,” which covers from 1946 to 1953 including the Korean War; and “In the Air, on Land and Sea,” an exhibit depicting from 1954 to 1975 and the Vietnam War.

“An interesting display is the Iwo Jima ‘immersion’,” said Jim Kyser, a retired Marine master gunnery sergeant and docent at the museum. In this exhibit, visitors listen to a briefing that was given to Marines the night before the landing, followed by actual film footage shot the day of the landing. “If you were getting wet by sea spray,” Jim continues, “you would think you were actually making the landing.” The movie is shown on a surround screen above a mock-up of a Higgins boat, the landing craft used during the invasion.

Throughout the museum there are aircraft, uniforms, weapons and land equipment displayed dating back to the beginning of the Corps. There is also the “Legacy Wall,” which displays artifacts, information and lists events that occurred in the world and in the Marine Corps from 1775 to 2006.

The next construction phase is now underway and will include galleries highlighting the 20th and 21st centuries; an art gallery, studios, storage and a large format theater; and “From the Halls of Montezuma” (1775-1865); “First to Fight” (1866-1914); “Every Marine a Rifleman” (1915-18), and “The Marines Have Landed” (1919-40).

Supporting exhibits in the planning stage include the contributions and sacrifices of the Navy-Marine Corps team in the late 20th and early 21st centuries; significant post-Viet-Nam events including Beirut (1982-84), Grenada (1983), Panama (1989), Desert Shield/Storm (early 1990s), and Operations Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan) and Iraqi Freedom. Completion of these galleries is scheduled for summer 2010.

“We try to accommodate everyone,” said Patrick Mooney, Manager of Docent and Visitor Services, and a Marine veteran. “We have plenty of free parking, wheelchairs, audio tours and a museum store where visitors can get patches, pins, stickers and other mementos.”
The museum is open daily, except Christmas, from 9 to 5; admission is free. For more info, visit www.usmcmuseum.com.

The entry building where you get tickets has a comprehensive photograph exhibition with detailed reader boards on the general history of WWII. There’s also an audio-visual presentation of Operation Market-Garden visitors can watch while sitting in old airliner seats. The second hall on your tour tells of the liberation of South Limburg. Starting with a photographic display of the German occupation of the Southern Netherlands, it proceeds to dioramas showing the liberation of the area, including a slide show of the Liberation of the Netherlands. A diorama features an American soldier standing by a jeep, and a German soldier next to a Kettenkrad tracked vehicle.

The history of Operation Market-Garden is depicted with large wall paintings that provide a realistic backdrop to dioramas of 501st PIR airborne troops bailing out near Veghel, and drop zone scenes at other sites including Best and Son. Airborne trooper models sit in the foreground, parachutes draped around them. Another diorama shows an airborne trooper talking to liberated civilians in front of a farmhouse, while another features a paratrooper exchanging cigarettes for eggs. Model soldiers of the British XXX Army Corps guard a realistic painting of the Bailey bridge over the Wilhemina Canal in Son.

An excellent series of displays in the Operation Barbarossa Hall shows the Russian contribution to WWII. A German Jagdpanzer Hetzer with model German crew on top is staged near a Russian Katyusha rocket launcher, nicknamed the “Stalin Organ.” A Russian T34 tank dominates the room. Interestingly, a series of exhibits extends into the post WWII-era with a display of the Berlin Wall and some DDR soldiers.

The Scottish Hall pays tribute to the 51st Highland Division who attacked towards Schijndel as part of Operation Pheasant on 20 October 1944. Scottish officers standing on a platform receiving a march past salute are displayed in original uniforms. The Scottish soldier’s camp is shown in another diorama.

For aviation buffs, the next two halls are exciting. An RAF Spitfire and RAF pilot sitting in a life raft, the engine and propeller of a German ME BF-109, a mobile control tower and a U.S. Piper Grasshopper observation plane are featured in Aviation Hall I. A scale model of a German V-1 flying bomb and partial frame of a Waco glider are among the exhibits in Aviation Hall II. The Waco exhibit is a reminder of how fragile these gliders really were.

The final hall features several military vehicles including an American Mobile Command Post and a Dodge Command Car. Spread out around the grounds are a Sherman tank, U.S. radar set, a U.S. halftrack, U.S. GMC 2½-ton trucks and a DUKW American amphibious vehicle.

The best airborne display, however, stands toward the end of your tour: two well-restored Douglas Dakota C-47s. Painted U.S. military green with white invasion stripes around the fuselage and wings, these two beauties are lined up next to each other, presenting an awesome sight.
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WINGS OF LIBERATION MUSEUM (Museumpark Bevrijdende Vleugels, Sonseweg 39, 5681 BH Best, The Netherlands; phone 0499-329722, www.wingsofliberation.nl) is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday through March 31, 2010 (check the website for seasonal changes). Adult admission is €7.50, children 6-12, €4 and children under 6 are free. WWII veterans are also admitted free of charge.
Allow two to three hours for your visit.

Following on the popularity of the “Band of Brothers” and “Brothers in Arms” TV series, the museum rates as a must visit alongside St-Mère-Église for followers of the Airborne credo. The uniform and combat gear worn on D-Day, by Major Dick Winters of the 506th PIR of “Band of Brothers” fame is proudly displayed here. A “Band of Brothers” display case shows other memorabilia from this regiment.

Background
The two-story building with red-and-white painted shutters housing the museum sits on crossroads at the corner of a country road leading to St-Côme-du-Mont. The house has been well maintained, with red, white and blue French and American flags fly next to the front gate. Terrible bloodletting took place around the house, beginning on 8 June 1944, with fighting from hedgerow to hedgerow, through the green fields nearby, and along the road into the streets of St-Côme-du-Mont.

St-Côme-du-Mont was the last village on the road from Utah Beach before the large city of Carentan. The road terminates at this crossroads, hence its strategic importance. The 101st had been assigned the mission of capturing Carentan, but they had to first take St-Côme-du-Mont to do this.

Paratrooper history haunts this house: it served as HQ and an aid station for the crack German paratroopers of the 6th Fallschirmjäger Regiment under Major von der Heyte, who were well entrenched around it. They had been issued orders to hold Carentan at all costs. Ironically, the German Fallschirmjäger faced off against their counterparts of the 101st Airborne Division here. After hard fighting, the Germans were evicted from the building that is now the museum, and the American paratroopers took it over.

On 8 June, soon after D-Day, an American tank was struck in the turret right outside the house, disabling it and killing the commander, 1Lt. Walter T. Anderson, who hung from the turret. The paratroopers thereafter referred to the crossroads as “dead man’s corner,” hence the museum’s name.

The museum
Its professionally designed exhibits and dioramas of equipment and uniforms make this excellent museum well worth visiting. Most of the artifacts come from U.S. Airborne troopers who fought here. There is also a large collection of photographs and hundreds of hours of interviews of American Airborne veterans who fought for Carentan. It claims to have part of the world’s largest collection of German and American paratrooper memorabilia, which took the collectors, a Belgian and two Frenchmen, over 20 years to amass.

The signage is in French and English. Amongst the memorabilia are General Matthew Ridgway’s paratrooper helmet; Colonel Ben Vandervoort’s footlocker, arm flags, jump boots, ID cards, ribbons, letters, dog tags, musette bag, wallet, belt buckle, newspaper clippings, a C-47 pilot’s A-2 jacket, M-2 knife, mess kit, glove, a German para helmet, a Nazi flag, rifles, and even 1940s road signs from nearby.

Realistic models in Airborne uniforms pose in dioramas typical of the battle scenes of the time. One scene shows two troopers in the attic listening to a radio; another, a realistic aid station with bloody, bandaged wounded German troops, and a third diorama shows German troops conferring.
This museum is also notable for the large array of military paraphernalia for sale. Be warned, it is hard to resist buying something to take home. The museum store features gifts, books, posters, figures, Airborne-related souvenirs, reproduction uniforms and accessories, military jackets, helmets, helmet liners, Nazi plates, original first aid dressings, WWII cigarette packets, and even authentic WWII uniforms.

This is a worthwhile addition to the many D-Day museums in Normandy, especially for Airborne fans.
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DEAD MAN’S CORNER MUSEUM (2 Village de l’Amont, 50500 Sainte-Côme-du-Mont, France; 02 33 42 00 42, e-mail carentan101@aol.com, website www.paratrooper-museum.org). The museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., but closed on Sundays between 1 Sept and 30 May and closed entirely between 23 Dec-2 Jan. Adult admission, €5.95, or €4.95 with a Normandie Pass. Allow 1½ to 2 hours for your visit.

One of the most exciting museums is the ARDENNEN-POTEAU ’44 MUSEUM, located in a very rural area of the Ardennes. The museum is at a crossroads between St. Vith and Vielsalm, where the American 14th Cavalry Group ambushed the German Kampfgruppe Hansen on 18 December 1944. The ambush resulted in significant damage to the German vehicles and heavy losses of troops, stalling the German advance even longer. Foxhole trenches, dug by Americans, are still visible on the banks of the nearby river.

The museum is partly located in a former Prussian custom house and packed with equipment, uniformed models and well-presented dioramas, weapons, cannon, photographs and even loop films about the battle. It is well known for its large number of working U.S. and German military vehicles that stand in and around the museum, lovingly restored and maintained by museum owners Rob and Jacqueline de Ruyter from Arnhem, the Netherlands. Their expanding collection of WWII equipment and vehicles, started in the 1970s, has meant extending the museum twice since it opened in 1998. A monument to the two soldiers in the 14th Cavalry Group who were killed in the ambush is located on the grounds.

The vehicles are displayed inside and out. For a private museum, the motorcycle collection is impressive: a Harley-Davidson WLA, a BMW R75 with Stein sidecar, a BSA M20 with sidecar, and a rare U.S. Airborne Cushman motor scooter.

Most U.S. automakers are represented with soft- and hard-skinned vehicles including the ubiquitous Willy’s MB, a Ford M8 Greyhound light armored car, a Cadillac M5A1 Stuart light tank, two IHC M5 halftracks, a Dodge WC51 ¾-ton truck, a Studebaker M29 Weasel full-tracked vehicle and two White halftracks (M2A1 and M4A1) and of course, the proverbial Chrysler M4 Sherman medium tank.

German vehicles exhibited are the Sd.Kfz. 251 halftrack and an Opel Blitz 1½-ton truck. During summer months, visitors can take a 20-minute tour of the original battlefield where the ambush took place in either a German halftrack (actually a Czech OT-810 taken into service by the Wermacht), or a U.S. M5 halftrack. A Sherman Firefly also adds some interest — take a look at the tank turret; it looks like Swiss cheese. It’s sitting on the ground outside the museum, absolutely punctured and gouged with anti-tank rounds.
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ARDENNEN-POTEAU ’44 MUSEUM (Poteauer Strasse 22, 4780 Poteau [near St. Vith], Belgium; phone +32 080 21 74 25, www.museum-poteau44.be). You’ll need your own car to get to this museum; it is in a rural area. Visit nearby St. Vith to go on a sign-posted walking tour of the town to learn about the battle that largely destroyed it.

Open from 1 April-14 June and 16 September-31 October, Saturday-Sunday, 1-5 p.m.; 15 June-15 Sept, daily 1-5. Also open by appointment. Admission, adults €6; children 4-14 years €3, and groups €5 per person.

The first town in France liberated by allied forces, Sainte-Mère-Église seems so much larger than life because of the extensive film and literature coverage it’s received. If you stand on the cobblestone square at Sainte-Mère-Église, looking around at the bustling little town you’ll see that its legendary aura does not diminish when you visit in person. It’s tangible. It’s visceral. The pump is still there. Tall stone memorial monuments dot the square. A uniformed model of a paratrooper hangs from the church roof by his white parachute. The towering old medieval church of gray stone so typical of Norman buildings still dominates the square. It now has beautiful multi-colored red, green and blue stained glass windows of paratroopers inside, just above the enormous ancient creaky wooden doors.

The Town Hall has a small museum dedicated to its liberation by the Sky Men. The D-Day landings and airdrops are now a deeply ingrained part of this town’s history. Even the many souvenir shops lining the square with racks of key rings, books, uniforms, helmets, caps, postcards and uncountable other airborne memorabilia do not detract from this shrine to U.S. Airborne forces. I’ve seen old paratroopers who landed here on 6 June 1944 break into tears as they remembered combat scenes that I hope my generation never has to witness.

Walk around the town to soak up the atmosphere before visiting The Airborne Museum. A stone’s throw from the square, brass commemorative plaques to the 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions are mounted on 6-foot high stone walls at the museum’s entrance. Walk inside and sprinkled around the beautifully tended large 3,000 square meter green-grassed park you’ll see a Sherman tank standing guard, a U.S. Army half-track and an American anti-aircraft gun.

Two large buildings of very different architecture totaling 32,000 square feet face you. The Waco Building (“Planeur Waco”) shaped like a large white parachute shroud, features a Waco glider as its centerpiece. The other rectangular building, the C-47 building, houses an authentic C-47 airplane, complete with white invasion stripes painted on its wings. Paratroopers jumped from this plane on D-Day. Both buildings display a fascinating array of authentic airborne equipment, weapons and other memorabilia, including some very historic pieces donated by members of the 82nd and 101st Airborne.

The Waco building’s exhibits include long rows of glass-covered counters around the inside perimeter of the parachute shaped building, crammed with medical kits, photographs, weapons, books by and about paratroopers, German Wermacht dinner plates, helmets, uniforms, plaques, letters, documents, etc.

Model glider men sit inside the Waco, anxiously waiting for the controlled crash landing. Of the 295 Waco gliders landing on D-Day, most were destroyed in landing accidents or by German fire; 97% of all gliders used in the operation were abandoned in the field because of the damage — statistics that today’s airborne forces would consider unacceptable.

The C-47 building features larger dioramas of uniformed model airborne soldiers with weapons, in scenes typical of the D-Day landings. Two airborne soldiers greet a Frenchman at his front door, asking where the Germans are. An airborne officer keeps lookout while a machine gunner sets up beside him. A 20-meter long line of 6-foot high glass cases features dozens of models wearing the entire range of airborne dress and combat uniforms.

Along another wall a series of large bulletin boards display dozens of photographs illustrating various airborne operations. Another glass cabinet shows the variety of rifles used by paratroopers. Brightly colored allied flags hang from the wall high above. Beneath the C-47 stands a green U.S. Army tractor; an airborne messenger on small collapsible motorcycle rides off on a mission.

There’s a second floor in the C-47 building where visitors will find rows of glass-topped counters crammed with more memorabilia and an excellent view looking down on the C-47. A well-produced film “Combat pour la Liberte” (Fighting for Freedom) tells about the events from the German occupation to the liberation of Sainte-Mère-Église. This museum leaves you appreciating the fact that the French still remember the allied sacrifices to liberate them in 1944 — enough to create such a fine museum in their honor.
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THE AIRBORNE MUSEUM (14 Rue Eisenhower, 50480, Sainte-Mère-Église, Frankreich, France; phone +33 (0)2 33 41 41 35, www.musee-airborne.com) is open daily from February 1 to March 31, and October 1 to November 30, and during Christmas holidays from 9:30 a.m. to noon, and 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. (closed on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day); from April 1 to September 30, the hours are 9 a.m. to 6:45 p.m.
Admission is adults, €7; Children 6 to 16, €4. There is no charge for children up to six years; disabled; WWII veterans, or military and firefighters in uniform, whatever their nationality. Allow two to three hours, plus one or two more hours to explore Sainte-Mère-Église.

Outside the museum is a long, granite Memorial Wall engraved with the names of Washington soldiers who were killed in action. The museum is located underneath the Benaroya Hall, home of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra.

This small museum is filled with an impressive collection of authentic memorabilia from the Civil War, World War I and through to the current war in Iraq. The reader boards tell some moving stories. For example, visitors can read a beautifully written letter by a civil war soldier to his wife, penned a week before he was killed. A revolutionary war soldier stands guard in one corner.

Exhibits include Army, Navy and Air Force uniforms, photographs, weapons, currency, helmets, banners, flags, medals, medical supplies, model aircraft and much more; some are personal items donated by Seattle area soldiers. Take some time to read the various newspaper articles lining the walls.

The museum’s volunteers are enthusiastic and will tell you stories about various artifacts on display. Postcards and other souvenir items, including secondhand military books are available for purchase.
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The SEATTLE VETERANS MUSEUM (located on 2nd Ave between Union and University streets [west side of Benaroya Hall] in downtown Seattle, WA; phone 425/821-0489, visit www.seattleveteransmuseum.org) is open Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., as well as Memorial Day, July 4 and Veteran’s Day. Admission is free (donations welcome). Allow about an hour to tour this museum.

Another superb museum located right beside I-5, about an hour’s drive south of Seattle, the Veterans Memorial Museum is dedicated to the men and women who have served our nation in the armed forces during peacetime and war.

Greeting visitors at the entrance is a model of a U.S. soldier with tracker dog. Inside the 9,000-square-foot main gallery a thorough historical narrative of the history of the United States military is presented in chronological order, starting with items from the Revolutionary War, the Civil War and Cavalry period, before moving through WWI, WWII, Korea, the Cold War, Vietnam to the Persian Gulf Wars. All branches of the U.S. military are represented with artifacts from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard.

The 85 large glass display cases are filled with professionally arranged and signed artifacts ranging from Medals of Honor, extensive weapons displays, ammunition displays, medals, historical photographs, equipment, original letters, vehicles, life-size models in uniform, flags, banners, divisional patches and hundreds of memorabilia items, all with their own story to tell.

Smaller displays about special and historic aspects of the United States military such as Special Operations, Pearl Harbor, Code Talkers and POW/MIA also capture visitor’s attention. There’s a fascinating series of artifacts taken from German soldiers during WWII in a glass case: Nazi flags, medals, belt buckles, etc., that came back by the thousands in the soldier’s packs and duffel bags. An excellent display of Japanese soldier’s personal belongings and weapons lines another case.

There is a display on the unknown war that U.S. soldiers participated in Siberia from 1918-20. A nice tribute to the Glenn Miller Band tells how the band provided entertainment to hundreds of thousands of soldiers with their Big Swing Band sound, popular at the time. One thing that makes this museum more personal, are the stories told by veterans from the town of Chehalis, accompanied by their letters home, uniforms and photographs.

Proudly displayed along an entire wall is the 30-foot by 60-foot flag from the USS Abraham Lincoln. Visitors can’t miss the life-size replica of General George S. Patton standing in front of this enormous flag in a recreation of the famous opening scene starring George C. Scott’s “kill them before they kill you” speech in the movie “Patton.”

Museum volunteers are happy to accompany visitors through the museum, sharing their personal stories. When I visited, a WWII aviation bomber veteran was sharing all sorts of fascinating stories with a visiting family.

There’s a bonus for military aficionados: an impressive military library with shelf after shelf of military books and magazines, as well as military videos. A well-stocked gift and souvenir shop stands at the entrance to the museum.

VETERANS MEMORIAL MUSEUM (100 SW Veterans Way, Chehalis, WA 98532; phone 360/740-8875, visit veteransmuseum.org) is open June through September, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Tuesday-Saturday, and 1-5 p.m., Sunday; from October through May, hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Tuesday-Saturday.
Admission is $5 adults, $3 students and children under 6 are free. Allow about two hours.