is a long established museum which houses aircraft some of which are associated with WW11. We’ve known it would be interesting to visit but the opportunity was not to be missed when the American Veterans Travelling Tribute (AVTT) Vietnam Wall was making a stop at the
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| Palm Springs Air Museum |
The Palm
Springs Air Museum is the home of one of the largest
collections of flyable WW11 aircraft, some of them on display outside as well
as three large hangars that house several more. They were host to the AVTT Vietnam Wall when it was displayed behind the hangars on a visit to Palm Springs, CA.
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| American Veterans Travelling Tribute Vietnam Wall |
The mission of the AVTT is to bring the community together
to Honor, Respect and Remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their
country. The wall is 80% size of the
original one that sits at
Washington,
DC. This travelling one is 360’x 8’ at the apex
and has a total of 58,263 names dating from 1955 to 1975. The names are listed on the date they were
wounded or missing, then alphabetically on that date.
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| Flags fly over the Vietnam Wall |
The Memorial Wall in
Washington,
DC was designed by Maya Lin. This
was completed by November 1, 1982 and is now part of an area called the Vietnam
Veterans Memorial and dedicated to those who fought in the war. This was accepted by the President of the
United States
on November 10, 1984. It replica appears
to have been travelling since 2010 although I wasn’t able to confirm that as
the beginning of its travels.
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| Represents the American soldier |
This story of war is never easy and the ages of these young
men and women who lost their lives fighting the Vietnam war was a heartbreaker
to read. The largest age group was 18
years of age at 33,103. They were only
kids. Over 50,000 of them were aged
17-29 with majority 18-26 years old. 997
of them died on their first day there. 1448
died on their last day of duty before they were to go home. 31 sets of brothers died fighting this war.
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| Travel trailer for the travelling Vietnam wall |
The AVTT Tribute Wall
is transported within a trailer on cross country travels. Costs are self funded with merchandise sales,
donations and sponsorship fees that cover expenses for providing the Wall, crew
that transports and displaying the Wall for us to see.
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| Inside the Palm Springs Air Museum |
The
Palm
Springs Air Museum offers so much to see for anyone
who may have an interest in war memorabilia.
It is the home of one of the largest collections of flyable WW11 aircraft,
some of them on display outside as well as three large hangars that house
several more. There is a library with
shelves of 8500 books to read as well as several computers with flight
simulators for the young and old to play with.
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| Tomb of the Unknown Soldier |
The City of
Desert
Hot Springs and the Community and Cultural Affairs
Commission brought donations of supplies and funds together with local artist
Dan Sarberg and now have “Project Fallen Hero – Tomb of the Unknown Soldier” which
honors fallen soldiers from all wars.
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| "Flying Boxcar" |
This “Flying Boxcar” is a Fairchild C-119-G and is part of
the Korean War Commemorative Exhibit.
This war was fought 1950-1953 and the instruments are a reflection of
that era. We were able to enter the
small cockpit and have a good look at it and marvel at the bare bones on the
body of the aircraft.
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| Palm Springs Air Museum |
The AVTT Vietnam Wall was what brought us to the
Palm Springs Air Museum
but there are several reasons why anyone with an interest in aircrafts would want
to visit this amazing museum, there is so much to see. Veterans make up the majority of volunteers
at the museum and are more than willing to share the history. For more information or planning a tour on
your visit to the museum,
click here.
