Since it was cold and rainy, we put aside our Civil War research for our current homeschool studies in Fredericksburg where we were temporarily staying after moving from Texas.
Seeking an indoor museum to keep warm and dry, we drove north to the National Museum of the Marine Corps.
CORSAIRS, THE WHISTLING DEATH
When we first walked in, my son immediately found this plane.
He has a model of this Corsair, called Whistling Death.
He told me that when it flew close to the enemy to attack, the enemy could hear it whistle.
Then I told him about Pappy Boyington and his squadron of Black Sheep, who flew Corsairs.
At this point, a docent came over and my son asked lots of questions about Corsairs.
Later, in the WWII section, we got to see a display on Pappy Boyington.
After we left the boot camp display, we found a section of the museum that is being built, to tell the 1775 beginnings of the USMC.
IWO JIMA INTERACTIVE MAP
While we hit the highlights, the Iwo Jima interactive exhibit caught our attention.
Having just arrived at the door to what we that was a sit-down theater, we were approached by a man asked a group of us if we were ready and we said yes. (Famous last words.)
Inside the doorway he showed us actual footage of a surveillance map of Iwo Jima and told us the geophysical characteristics of the island and our objective. (Objective? For a movie?)
Then he walked out the door and shut us inside the room with a dark bluish hue, like seen in war movies. (gulp)
Meanwhile footage of the map of Iwo Jima showed all the angles of the island as we were informed that the Japanese were hidden with an extensive network of armament and communications under the ground.
Our mission…access and conquer the island. (How interactive is this to be?)
IWO JIMA INTERACTIVE BOAT RIDE
When another door opened, there was the man again.
He ushered us into the next room, a boat, where he issued more directives then shut the door.
Seeing the rolling waves, the aircraft and artillery overhead, and feeling the craft moving, rolling, pitching…caused me to lose my balance! (I only have one balance nerve.)
Leaning on my son for support, he told me afterwards that the ship wasn’t moving at all!
Ha! That’s how effective the imagery was to mess with my vision system…and I’m happily no worse for the wear from this fun experience, better than a movie!
CORSAIRS DEBUT AT IWO JIMA
The landing on Iwo Jima was the first to see the Corsair as the primary close air support aircraft. Once again, VMF-124 was first, as the squadron led an attack on the invasion beach by 24 F4Us and an equal number of F6Fs flying from Essex-class carriers with napalm, rockets, and strafing. –Warfare History Network
ADMIRAL CHESTER NIMITZ
Seeing this made me feel at home, since Admiral Chester Nimitz was born and reared in Fredericksburg, Texas, not far from where I recently moved.
Fascinatingly, he grew up in a hotel there that is shaped like a ship, which is today the Pacific War Museum.
WWII, KOREA, VIETNAM
There is a lot here and we never had time to do it all.
We’ll return when we study WWII, Korea, and Vietnam next year.
