National World War I Memorial & Museum in Kansas City, Part I of II

With the annual history of medicine conference happening at the Westin Crown Center Hotel (named for the world Hallmark headquarters next door) and literally across the street from the National World War Memorial and Museum, how could I not go? I found a hole in my panel schedule one morning and navigated through a construction site to reach Penn Valley Park.

On one side was Union Station, one-time railroad gateway to The City of Fountains and The City of Champions.

On the other side of the street, a grassy lawn gently slopes upward toward the memorial that had opened in 1926 as the Liberty Memorial. The museum followed in 2006 and has been expanded since then.

There's a bas relief below the stele that I didn't get very good photographs of.

If there is not yet more construction, apparently you can approach the museum from this direction, but I had to walk the long way around to the south to find the sunken entrance.

Above: The parking lot is behind me from this perspective.

Below: After buying my ticket and dropping my bag and jacket off at Guest Services, I entered the museum via this glass bridge over a field of poppies.

For a small museum, there is a LOT of stuff and information, and I don't think anyone could look at all of it. There are big things like posters and artillery as well as small things like postcards and personal objects. There are large panels with general information about the war as well as smaller panels with specific details. There's a comprehensive timeline in the center of the space as well as many glass cases of clothing, weapons, implements of various kinds, etc.

Hardtack!

There are life-sized dioramas of British, German, and French trenches,

as well as a one toward the back about the trench as "one long grave."

The photo below is part of a quotation about the experience of being shelled.

(Maybe from Ernst Junger? I forget.)

There are three well-done films about the beginning the war, the middle of the war with an emphasis on the American experience (uniforms below), and the aftermath.

I was interested of course in the medical side, which had a lot of details on the American side, with several cases of women's experiences. I didn't see anything about the influenza epidemic until I got to the gift shop, however.

I buzzed by the gift shop to pick up a book on the history of food and the war that I somehow hadn't already read, as well as a poppy pin and a "food as ammunition" magnet before hurrying back to the conference hotel. Luckily, I was able to come back after the conference ended to see some of the special exhibits. (See Part II.)

A Merry-Time in Maritime San Diego, Part II

On the second day of our vacation, my awesome parents (MAP) and I went back to the harbor to visit the Maritime Museum. When doing my online research, I thought it was a building with some boats moored out back. In fact, the 9 ships ARE the museum. They range from tall-mast sailing ships to a yacht to a submarine. While the weather was gray with temperatures in the 60s when we arrived, by the time we had finished a 45-minute boat tour of the bay, the sun had come out!

Apparently, if you put a dead fish in a barrel of hardtack, the maggots will preferentially crawl onto the fish; replace regularly until there are no more maggots, and you'll know your ship's biscuits are safe(r) to eat. Bottom left is a hanging table; bottom right: sailors had to climb over the front rail of the ship toward the bowsprit to find the "head" (platform with a hole in it that served as the restroom).

Below is the 1898 steam ferry Berkeley, which once worked the San Francisco Bay, which has the museum offices, the gift shop, restrooms, and multiple exhibits. You can see how cloudy the weather was.

One of the local industries is tuna fishing. To the left, some representative packaging. To the right, a shallow "set line basket" with coiled line and hooks along the outside. It's a Sicilian method.

I learned that for most of the 1500s, Europeans thought that California was a big island!

Left: There are also many beautiful hand-made models of various kinds of sailing ships.

Right: You can go down into the bowels of the ship, where a volunteer will run the motor and show you how the captain on the bridge communicated with the engine room.

Upstairs is an auditorium on one side and a dance hall on the other.

Check out these glorious stained glass windows!

At 11 o'clock we went out on the San Diego Bay--just the three of us, a gregarious Italian-American tour guide who told the best stories, and the captain.

They keep fleece blankets onboard for the wind; I used an extra one as a seat cushion.

Above: The bridge supports are supposedly designed to look like the nave of a cathedral from this view.

Below: The symphony was rehearsing at this shell for a performance of an Indiana Jones movie that night with live accompaniment.

AHOY, matey!

The ship on the left is the HMS Surprise, the replica British frigate made for the Russell Crowe movie Master & Commander. On the right is Star of India, which they market as the world's oldest active sailing ship, dating back to 1863. It had been overrun by pirates--I mean, school children--the day we visited.

A Merry-Time in Maritime San Diego, Part I

I recently joined My Awesome Parents (MAP) in San Diego for my youngest brother's graduation. There was plenty of time for sightseeing at the harbor. The first afternoon we decided to visit the USS Midway aircraft carrier, named for the World War II Pacific battle in June 1942 but only commissioned in September 1945.

It was active for the duration of the Cold War, plying arctic waters, supporting NATO in the Atlantic, evacuating Saigon in 1975, patrolling the Pacific, participating in the Operation Desert Storm in 1990, and rescuing Filipinos after the eruption of Mount Pinatubo. It was decommissioned in 1992 and became a museum in 2004. In 2022, TripAdvisor named it the #1 thing to do in San Diego!

Essentially a floating city armed for war, the ship could house up to 4,500 crew members and 80 aircraft. On the main hanger desk, we watched a 15-minute film about the Battle of Midway, which involved high loss of life on both sides but did help turn the tide of WWII in the Pacific theater.

Below decks, they have both officer and enlisted men's sleeping quarters, the "ready rooms" that also served as living rooms, command centers devoted to the people in charge of the operations of the ship, a darkened area for radar, weapons stations, the mess hall, and exhibits about helicopters and the Vietnam War. We could also walk around the enormous chains that hold the anchor.

A helicopter airman's gear--looks heavy! We had about 2-2.5 hours but should have budgeted for at least 3 hours. We did manage to see the medical facilities.

There are multiple operating rooms on board.

This mannequin is a pharmacist. Below left is one of multiple dentists, and on the right I think is the mailroom.