The rainy Fourth of July forced us to find something to do inside that still felt celebratory so we packed up 2 cars w/9 people and headed out.
The section that made the biggest impact on me this time was the narrow hallway where they had their small Holocaust exhibit. Someone had donated his black and white striped coat, worn in a concentration camp. There was also a video of Air Force servicemen who were part of the liberation of some concentration camps. Some of those servicemen were barely 21 years old when they found those camps…
Another interesting piece was the door of a plane that went down during WWII. The survivors had counted off the days in pencil on the door, in a little diary format. He noted things like how much food he had, how much he wanted a cigarette…Christmas Day…and the penultimate marking: Johnnie died today; perhaps his last surviving comrade. The final notation was: New Year’s Day…
This was the 3rd time I’ve visited the museum but the first time on the Fourth of July. We overheard one of the volunteers at the museum comment that he’s never seen so many people at the museum in one day…