Exhibits

The Military in Balboa Park 1915 – 1988

The history of the Army and Navy in Balboa Park from 1915 to 1945 beginning with the Panama-California Exposition of 1915, extending through the end of World War II and including the development of the San Diego (Balboa) Naval Hospital up through 1988. The exhibit focuses on the relationship between the Army, the Navy and the City of San Diego leading to the growth of the importance of the two services in San Diego, their impact in Balboa Park, and how this major Naval presents helped raise the importance of San Diego as a center for commerce on the west coast.

Hold At All Costs – The Battle for Outpost Harry

The Battle for Outpost Harry – the last battle of the Korean War.

Several hundred Americans from the 3rd Infantry Division, Greeks from the Sparta Battalion, and South Koreans hold this outpost against attacks of 5,000 Chinese from June 10-18 just prior to the signing of the armistice on July 27, 1953. This 9-day struggle involved hand to hand fighting and over run trenches as the outnumbered American and Greek forces held their ground, even calling in artillery fire on their own position. This diorama includes video interviews from American, Greek, South Korean and Chinese soldiers who participated in that battle. You will also see communications equipment, mine-hunting gear, uniforms, maps weapons and more, all arranged realistically to depict bunkers and trenches in Korea as they would have appeared in the field during that conflict from 1950 to 1953.

Seven Murals by Richard deRosset

Noted maritime artist Richard deRosset has 5 murals in our museum. The first, depicts the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor with two life-rings near the center of the mural that contain the actual signatures of Pearl Harbor Survivors, including John Finn, the first American awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions at Kaneone Bay that day.

Additional murals depict Events in American History from the 1800s through Iraq, Navy Sea Services, D-Day Normandy, and Korea, also grace Museum’s walls.

Vietnam Remembered – A 50th Year Retrospective

Vietnam Remembered – A 50th Year Retrospective provides an overview of the War with a timeline surrounding the top of the exhibit hall. The role of the Army, the Marines, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard are presented with participating Units identified. Multimedia displays of photographs and videos of units are included. A documentary film on the evacuation of South Vietnam at the end of the war is also provided. Dioramas depict US and VC/NVA personnel and equipment. Exhibit cases on POWs, Gun Ships, SEALS, Patrol Boats, River (PBRs), Naval Aviators, Army Aviators, Oral Histories of servicemen and women.

Women’s Military History Room

This exhibit looks that ever evolving roles of women in the military, from the Civil War to today. With the formal acceptance of nurses into the Army and Navy’s officer’s corps in the early 1900s this was expanded during WWI when women were accepted into the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard in a clerical capacity. In WWII women joined the Women’s Army Corps (WAC), Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service (WAVES), U. S. Marine Corps Women’s Reserve, and U.S. Coast Guard’s SPARS (not an acronym). Their roles and importance as part of today’s military is reflected in service in all aspects of the military including aviation, shipboard, and ground combat arms in addition to the logistical, administrative and medical components.

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