Before you view The Veterans Museum, check to see when a guided tour is available while you are there.
The opportunity to follow a veteran guide throughout the displays can enhance your experience. If you prefer, explore the exhibits on your own, at your own pace, to appreciate what veterans have confronted and overcome.
Make time for these exhibits during your visit:
Seven Murals by Richard DeRosset
Throughout the museum are five wall paintings by celebrated maritime artist, Richard DeRosset, depicting significant military events such as the attack on Pearl Harbor and other battles from the 1800s to D-Day Normandy to Korea to Iraq.
Interesting fact: DeRosset’s Pearl Harbor mural contains the actual signatures of Pearl Harbor survivors, including John Finn, the first American awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions at Kaneohe Bay that day.
Women’s Military History Room
Walk through this presentation of uniforms, photographs, and documents that explain how the role women play in all branches of the military has progressed over time.
The exhibit will teach you about the role of women in military history from the Civil War to today, including the formal acceptance of nurses in the Army and Navy’s officer corps in the early 1900s to being accepted into the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard in a clerical capacity during World War I.
Women’s roles and importance as parts of today’s military is reflected in their service in all aspects of military operations, from aviation, shipboard, and ground combat arms to its logistical, administrative, and medical components.
Public Awareness
The Museum also serves as a home for programs for charitable, scientific, literary or educational purposes that promote public awareness concerning the sacrifices and contributions of men and women who serve and have served in the Armed forces.
Pow Flag Flying at the Veterans Museum at Balboa Park
The Military in Balboa Park, 1915 to 1988
This celebrated park in San Diego has seen its share of active duty, and this exhibit provides a glimpse of the relationship of both the Army and the Navy with the growth of the city, from the Panama-California Exposition of 1915 through the end of World War II and the development of the San Diego (Balboa) Naval Hospital up through 1988.
Hold at All Costs – The Battle for Outpost Harry
The last battle of the Korean War is explained through dioramas, relics, documents, and video recordings from that difficult struggle for American troops.
Listen to video interviews from American, Greek, South Korean, and Chinese soldiers and see communication equipment, mine-hunting gear, uniforms, maps, weapons and more, all realistically arranged to depict the bunkers and trenches in Korea as they would have appeared in the field.
Vietnam Remembered – A 50th Year Retrospective
Multimedia displays and oral histories of the men and women who fought in Vietnam shed more light on this difficult and often painful chapter of military history.
The role of the Army, the Marines, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard are presented with participating Units identified. Exhibit cases include POWs, gun ships, SEALs, patrol boats, river (PBRs), Naval aviators, and Army aviators.
Plaque of the B 24 Liberator at the Beautiful Veterans Museum at Balboa Park
Memorial Garden
Located on a one-acre parcel of land outside The Veterans Museum and Memorial Center, the Memorial Garden honors veterans of all eras who served in the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Wartime Merchant Marines.
The garden is divided into three areas: the Air Garden, Land Garden, and Sea Garden. A bronze statue of a World War II B-24 Liberator, a one-sixth scale replica, is the centerpiece of the Air Garden, soaring over a reflecting pool and pointing in the direction of the old Consolidated Aircraft, where the majority of B-24 aircrafts were manufactured during World War II.
Research Library
Less an exhibit and more a resource, this substantial library of personal accounts and books can expand your knowledge of military events.
It is open to the public by appointment every Thursday, but you can also view and search much of its Storytellers Video Collection, photos, and archives online from the comfort of your home on The Veterans Museum at Balboa Park’s website.