FREDERICKSBURG, Texas — The National Museum of the Pacific War is battling time. The personal connection to World War II is being lost as the generation that lived through the conflict passes away.
Only 45,000 Americans of the more than 16 million who served in the war are alive today.
To ensure World War II stories live on and resonate with people of all ages, a museum in Fredericksburg, Texas is getting creative.
“This is the only one of the five Japanese submarines that survived the attack on Pearl Harbor,” said David Shields, Museum Director of the National Museum of the Pacific War.
Shields took CBS Austin on a tour of the reimagined George H.W. Bush Gallery. The Japanese midgit sub assigned to sneak into Pearl Harbor is a major historical artifact on display. Shields said while the sub is impressive, museum visitors tell them it is hearing true stories – like the one of the sub’s commander — that will ensure December 7, 1941, remains “a date which will live in infamy.”
“It is history coming alive and you feel like they are talking to you,” said Shields. “We are very faithful to all the characters that we create that these are their words. We are just using characters to portray them as they were in that time.”
The museum has nine new virtual characters that appear throughout the Bush Gallery. They allow visitors to hear first-hand accounts of service, sacrifice, and survival and deepen visitors’ connections to the people behind World War II history.
13-year-old Elizabeth Winters said the museum’s renovation means history does not just have to be displayed, it can be experienced.
“The design is really cool and the way they redesigned it I’m just learning a lot more than I do in school,” said Winters. “If you walk through a museum like this, you are looking at the submarine, you are looking at different videos, and it is like you were actually there.”
Museums have learned that simply reading text is not the most effective way to engage teens and young adults. So, they have set up learning tools, immersive environments, and tactile experiences to bring history to life in a more interactive way.
“History matters because people matter. That is what makes history less abstract and more tangible to our guests,” said Rorie Cartier, President and CEO of the National Museum of the Pacific War. “We really kind of follow the thought that history is not just what happens, it is who it happens to.”
Fredericksburg’s National Museum of the Pacific War is home to the largest collection in the world of Pacific War artifacts. As World War II passes from living memory to history, the new modernized gallery is designed to increase knowledge and emotional connections to what is known as the “greatest generation.”
The National Museum of the Pacific War is open 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Wednesday – Monday and is closed Tuesdays. It is located at 311 E. Austin Street in Fredericksburg, Texas.