A few weeks ago, mention was made of our visit to the Texas Hill Country and the splendid National Museum of the Pacific War (aka the "Nimitz Museum") in scenic Fredericksburg.
Now comes word that a significant expansion and a change in administration is in the works.
It has been an extraordinary year for the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg. It is the 60th anniversary of World War II's end. And the museum's exhibits, its research library and its programs have taken on a new importance.The museum is no longer a small naval archive sequestered in a strange-looking house on the town's main drag.
It isn't merely a curiosity amid Fredericksburg's ample arts and crafts and German restaurants.
Earlier this year, the museum staged a highly successful, emotionally stirring re-enactment of the assault on Iwo Jima. It took months of planning and hundreds of volunteers. It ended with thousands of enthralled visitors.
Now there is funding on the way to complete a 40,000-square-foot expansion at the burgeoning facility, and the museum will soon break from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and move under the administrative control of the Texas Historical Commission.
In addition to its indoor exhibit space, the museum displays Allied and Japanese aircraft, tanks, guns and other large artifacts from the Pacific War campaigns. The museum attracts more than 75,000 visitors annually.
"In my mind, we're no longer a small historic site," said Joe Cavanaugh, the museum director. "We'll have 61,000 square feet of building space here. The Legislature recently passed a bill to fund $9 million for 40,000 square feet."
Cavanaugh said the addition will make the facility "a pretty big museum," and, "from most people's perspective," a better fit for the Texas Historical Commission, rather than for the parks and wildlife agency.
Who knew our inept Legislature actually accomplished something in 2005?
In a related development, the Texas Historical Commission is kicking off a three-year initiative in dramatic fashion on Sept. 2.
One of the most famous airplanes ever built, the B-17 Flying Fortress, will fly over the State Capitol on Sept. 2, highlighting a special event marking the 60th anniversary of the official end of World War II.The B-17 Flying Fortress is best known for its long, daylight bombing raids over Europe. With up to 13 machine guns attached, the B-17 was considered a “flying fortress in the sky.” The B-17 used in this event is one of only nine still flying in the world and comes from the Lone Star Flight Museum in Galveston. Other World War II-era aircraft participating in the Sept. 2 flyover are from the Centex Wing of the Texas Commemorative Air Force in San Marcos.
World War II veteran speakers will include Loel Dene (L.D.) Cox, Deanie Parrish and Matthew Honer Clay. Cox is a survivor of the USS Indianapolis, torpedoed by a Japanese submarine in what is considered the worst naval disaster in U.S. history. He was 19 years old when the ship sank after delivering the atomic bomb to the island of Tinian that would be dropped on Hiroshima.
In addition, the THC will launch its new brochure Texas in World War II, featuring historic sites and individuals who figured prominently in the state's contribution to the war effort. Nearly one million men and women served at Texas military installations from 1941 through 1945 and more than 750,000 Texans were in uniform. Seventy-two counties hosted major military bases.
The event marks the beginning of a three-year Texas in World War II initiative by the THC, in association with Texas Parks and Wildlife, the Texas Veterans Land Board, the Texas Veterans Commission, the Texas State Historical Association and Preservation Texas.