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Veteran's Memorial Museum - Chehalis, WA


67Rally
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Yesterday, I went with my local vet's group to visit this museum in Chehalis, WA (located two hours south of Seattle, directly off of I-5) and had a blast viewing their artifacts. This museum is dedicated to the veterans rather than specific wars, conflicts or units. With 85 active displays (most are rotated in/out with the large inventory of groups/items), one can walk through the wars and conflicts from the French an Indian Wars through to the current conflicts. In addition to the groups, there is a fantastic weapons display of all eras of side and shoulder arms. Also included are very fine examples of enemy weapons (British, Confederate, Spanish, German, Japanese, Soviet, etc.) which I didn't capture on "film" during this visit.

 

The overall majority of the groups were donated by the veterans or family of veterans and have local ties. What I've captured here (click the link to read the captions and to see the rest of the images) is a but a small sampling:

 

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If you're out this way and you want something to do, I HIGHLY recommend a visit to this museum. The staff and volunteers are extremely friendly.

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I like the idea of the displays telling the stories of local hero's. Even with rotating the displays, each hero has a chance to have his story told, and his family still connected to the area. This is truely 'honoring' the veteran.

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I like the idea of the displays telling the stories of local hero's. Even with rotating the displays, each hero has a chance to have his story told, and his family still connected to the area. This is truely 'honoring' the veteran.

 

 

What is very cool is how they honor the enlisted (the overwhelming majority of the groups). There are stories accompanying each group that tell about the veteran's service, their family history, life before and after service, etc. There is a fantastic section on women's service - loaded with uniforms dating to pre-WW1 (nurses) up to current era.

 

 

This isn't simply a collection of artifacts on display.

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Named to a soldier - "Hakaki"

This uniform from a veteran of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team was found in a dumpster in Seattle, WA and donated to the museum.

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Very impressive.Many of these smaller museums are often overlooked but have a wealth of local history.Great to see these men,the uniforms and their stories told.

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67Rally, thanks for posting this. I live around 15 miles from this museum and my family and i are members of it. It is truly a great place, and to everyone seeing these pics, this is maybe 5% of the whole place. it is huge. it takes like 3-4 hrs to look through the whole thing in detail. it is a great place in lewis county and thanks again for posting it. :thumbsup:

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Its a great local museum, one of the nicest I have ever seen. I remember when it was in the small bulding downtown . I havent been out to the new location since the bad flood a few years that put part of the building under water. I hope they didnt lose a bunch of stuff in it.

 

 

Kurt

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67Rally, thanks for posting this. I live around 15 miles from this museum and my family and i are members of it. It is truly a great place, and to everyone seeing these pics, this is maybe 5% of the whole place. it is huge. it takes like 3-4 hrs to look through the whole thing in detail. it is a great place in lewis county and thanks again for posting it. :thumbsup:

 

 

agate hunter,

 

In the first post of this thread is a link to the all the photos I snapped during this visit. I am thinking that I will join this museum as a member as I'd like to support their mission as well as visit more frequently. I am a museum visitor whenever/wherever I get a chance when I travel and I am astounded at the quality work and care that goes into each display for such a small-town (no offense intended) museum. It is better than most large city museums that possess sizable endowment funds and have significant staffing. It is first-rate.

 

 

Its a great local museum, one of the nicest I have ever seen. I remember when it was in the small bulding downtown . I havent been out to the new location since the bad flood a few years that put part of the building under water. I hope they didnt lose a bunch of stuff in it.

Kurt

 

They had some damage and did lose some items...but they tend to focus on the removal of the carpet and installation of a tile-floor that can take the moisture. They have lots of volunteers who make bee-lines for the building to camp out in order to be there to stave off damage. There is such care for the history they are preserving.

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Great post! I have been up and down that stretch of freeway many times without ever stopping in. I will the next time. Again, great post.

 

it will be well worth the visit. just be sure you have enough time to look at everything. :thumbsup:

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Thanks for posting these great photos and letting us look inside the museum. In this "video game" generation, the service, accomplishments and sacrifices of the indidual often get overlooked. This museum brings them to the forefront and should make everyone realize what "service" is really about.

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