Fredericksburg

The first smart bomb: WW II's the bat

At first you have to wonder why the National Museum for thePacific War would be in a land-locked area like Fredericksburg, Texas until you learn that this was the birthplace for Admiral Chester Nimitz, Commander of the Pacific Fleet. Our AAA book suggested a minimum of 2 ½ hours to visit this museum, we spent almost 6 hours. It started with a history lesson going back into the 19^th century of how Western nations treated China and Japan as well as the many conflicts Japan had with China, Korea, and Russia. Almost all of these conflicts were over Japan’s desperate need for natural resources. The museum then took us through the initial conquering of Korea, Manchuria, and eventually most of China. Followed by the simultaneous attack on Pearl Harbor and the Philippines, followed quickly by the conquering of much of South East Asia.  Our only good moment in these early years was the Doolittle bombing run on Japan using Army planes, which took off from carriers, but had to land in China (only a few made it all the way). The expansion was stopped at Wake Island, thanks to breaking the code the Japanese were using and mounting a Naval force that counteracted the Japanese force. Both sides lost a lot of planes and ships but things began to turn around. The museum was great at providing a multimedia experience of the many naval battles and amphibious landings to slowly take back the pacific. Particularly effective were narrated, videos showing the movement of forces combined with photos and movies of the action.

Since the dropping of 2 atom bombs is still controversial, the display seemed to make a point around how far the Japanese would go before surrendering. For example, on one island they had 21000 men, by the time the commander committed suicide and they surrendered, only 700 were still living. Their point: if they would do this for a remote island, what would they do to defend their homeland? They also made a point about the Japanese had armed their old people with swords and children with knives, to kill an American before dying themselves. But it was also clear that when we began fire-bombing the Japanese plants, this also had significant civilian casualties. War is never totally one-sided in the atrocities that are committed. One of the interesting factors that led to the Japanese surrender was not only our bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but also that the Russians had easily taken over Manchuria from the Japanese, also in August, 1945.

TBM Avenger Bomber

After some lunch, we quickly visited the Admiral Nimitz museum in the restored Nimitz hotel built by his Grandfather. It has a unique “steamboat façade” that makes it stand out. The museum explained the history of the hotel and the career of the Admiral. It was a fairly moderate account of his career. Then on to the Pacific Combat Zone section of the museum. Here we had a guided tour which featured a TBM (Torpedo Bomber – built by GM)  Avenger bomber, one of the 9000 that were built and accounted for most of the ship sinking’s of the war. Then a PT (Patrol Torpedo) boat one of only 14 still in existence. I was amazed to see that it was made of wood and actually had more armament for its size than any other ship. The tour ended with a mock-up of the beach at Tarawa and then a Quonset hut fitted like a field hospital. This was quite an interesting museum, I highly recommend it.

PT Boat

We traveled about 25 miles to Kerrsville and stayed at the Kerrsville/Shriner city park. Nice tree filled campsites with full facilities alongside the river.