by Joe Snyder
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With the 60th anniversary of Pearl Harbor coming this year, all eyes will be on that site and this year’s smash movie by that name has done much to create special interest in the event that put America into WW II. However, if you are one of those who cannot make it to Hawaii this fall, please remember that old Joe and Kathy now live fairly close to what is billed as the only museum in the world dedicated to telling a complete story of World War II in the Pacific.
The National Museum of the Pacific in Fredericksburg, Texas is only about 80 miles from where we live and their book store has sold quite a number of my MacArthur books. This is because the museum was once called the Admiral Nimitz Museum, dedicated to the memory of Fredericksburg’s own Admiral Nimitz who commanded the Pacific Fleet during World War II, including 2.5 million men and women.
The book has a picture of General MacArthur and Admiral Nimitz on its dust cover, in addition to photos dealing with the surrender, it has done well there. The museum has been a source of great pleasure to me and, besides, Kathy has a niece and nephew living in that neat, clean, bustling and basically German, community. The museum began operating in the sixties and is housed in the distinctive old Nimitz Hotel on Main Street.
The Plaza of the Presidents which opened in 1995, was Phase I of an expansion: Phase 2 was, naturally, The George Bush Gallery. Phase III will be the addition of 20,000 square feet of exhibit space, and a 20,000 square foot library and archives to be known as the Center for Pacific War Studies. The target date for these is 2004.
Other parts of the seven-acre complex include the Memorial and Victory walls, the Veterans Walk of Honor, the Japanese Garden of Peace, the Surface Warfare Plaza and the Pacific Combat Zone. There one can view a Japanese midget submarine involved in the attack on Pearl Harbor. Its commander, Ensign Kazuo Sakamaki, became our first Prisoner of War. The mini-sub is displayed on the deck of a larger sub. Visitors can walk on the deck with waves lapping against the larger vessel with lights of Hawaii in the distance.
A very realistic exhibit is Henderson-Field-Guadalcanal, depicting events in late October, 1941. A Marine "comes to life" and begins talking about returning to the "ridge" with supplies. His head turns, his eyes blink, his mouth moves. It’s so realistic the sounds will make you run for cover.
There is a hatch (door) from the sunken USS Arizona showing a hole cut with a torch in the search for survivors after the December 7, 1941 attack. This is a splendid, developing war museum in a culturally rich community. There are many examples of the finest stonemason art to be found anywhere in lovely homes, business buildings and churches. Old buildings are kept up and most merchants still sweep the sidewalks each morning.
The wife of former President Lyndon Johnson still lives on their ranch which is on the highway to Fredericksburg, and tours are available each day. If you’re lucky you’ll see Ladybird in the porch swing.