The Veterans Museum at Balboa Park occupies the former chapel of the Naval Hospital on Inspiration Point in San Diego’s Balboa Park. The original hospital buildings have been a familiar and nostalgic landmark to countless U.S. Servicemembers and San Diegans alike, since the early 1920s, including the chapel that was completed in January 1945. 

Today the Museum houses a unique collection of artifacts, memorabilia, artwork, and papers as well as a Military History Reference Library holding more than eleven thousand volumes. Dedicated to Veterans of all conflicts, the Museum’s exhibits feature World War I, World War II, Pearl Harbor, the Korean War, Vietnam, Afghanistan/Iraq, Women in the Military, and paintings of military subjects by local artists.

Ask about a living history tour by our docents who have been there! See the first American flag to fall in the Philippines in 1941 and the pen Admiral Nimitz used to sign the surrender documents in Tokyo Bay in 1945. Enjoy the Museum’s unique collections of memorabilia and artwork, dating from the Civil War to the present. This is the place to see and hear history.

The Veterans Museum at Balboa Park is one of the very few places you will find that covers all branches of the service and is indeed a home for all veteran groups. Take a moment to view a sampling of the Museum.

The Veterans Memorial Center, Inc. was formed in March 1989 to create, 

operate and maintain an institution to honor and perpetuate the memories of all men and women who have served in the United States Armed Forces and Wartime Merchant Marine.

The Veterans Museum at Balboa Park was chartered to serve five categories of function:

Serve as a museum presenting permanent, rotating and visiting exhibits of patriotic, military and war-related memorabilia, artifacts, photographs, and other artwork.

Serve as a host to programs that perpetuate the memories of deceased veterans or members of the United States Armed Forces and to comfort their survivors.

Serve 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.

Serve as a venue for services and social and recreational activities for veterans, active duty personnel, and the general public, which are compatible with other purposes of the Veterans Museum at Balboa Park.

Serve as the regular meeting place for many of the San Diego region’s veterans and active duty military organizations.

The site chosen for the location of the Veterans Museum at Balboa Park was the former San Diego Naval Hospital Chapel at Inspiration Point in Balboa Park, part of a complex of architecturally significant buildings with rich historical connections to the San Diego region’s naval heritage.