Virginia War Museum

As part of a master-level class we visited the Virginia War Museum. The museum has quite a bit of property with beautiful gardens in the middle of Huntington Park, a large collection of military equipment in a "petting zoo" format, and a large collection of posters from several advertising campaigns to support various war efforts. The tour guides were expert veterans of WWII, Korea and Vietnam. The price was $5 to get in (for military and AAA members, $6 for adults) and we received a guided tour, complete with graphic descriptions of the horrors of war. Those who are in the military always want peace but we serve to protect our freedom when threatened.

The equipment outside is not for letting kids climb on the peices and some are very rusty anyway which would require a tetnus shot if you did climb on them. The large rail gun in front is HUGE and there are several tanks, AAA and howizters outside. Inside has numerous displays, many war-related posters and an entire section of the Dachau Concentration Camp fence. Be sure to see the flame-thrower copied from the Japanese during WWII.

The gift shop specializes in miniature models of soldiers and equipment, along with a multitude of military-related campaign posters. You can see pretty much everything in the Virginia War Museum in less than 2 hours. Be sure to drive around back behind the main museum building past the military equipment park becasue the front driveway and parking area is a 1-way street.

The museum covers all wars from the American revolution to the present conflict in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Global War on Terrorism. For the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, you can't find a better place to learn about our nation's history in battle.