Join us this Saturday, December 7th, 1pm to 2:30pm at the American Heritage Museum for a presentation on V-Mail during WWII. No reservations needed. For more information see: www.americanheritagemuseum.org/event/speaker-series-v-mail-in-wwii/
You might have just noticed that we added a brand-new event on December 28-29... the Battle of the Bulge History Experience! We are transforming our wooded tank course into an Allied encampment in the Ardennes in Winter of 1944 as the German surprise offensive cuts off soldiers from reinforcements. A force of 50+ Allied re-enactors and 40 German re-enactors will be braving the cold in foxholes and makeshift camps through the weekend. With your ticket, you'll be literally transported back in time as you are shuttled from the museum to the encampments in either a WWII vintage M3 Half-Track or WC56 Command Car - worth the ticket price in itself! ![]()
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Bring your family and friends who are visiting from out of town and share the living history at the American Heritage Museum and the Battle of the Bulge History Experience!
Battle of the Bulge History Experience Weekend - The American Heritage Museum
www.americanheritagemuseum.org
Join us on December 28th and 29th for the Battle of the Bulge Commemorative Weekend at the American Heritage Museum to honor the 80th Anniversary of the German offensive siege that surrounded and cut-...
As #GivingTuesday approaches on Tuesday, December 3rd, we are only $10,000 away from our $25,000 goal to unlock a donor challenge! Help us make your year-end donation go even farther to support our living history mission and allow us to continue growing our exhibits, programs, and events into 2025! Donate before midnight on 12/3/24! ![]()
Step Forward: Give to the 2024 American Heritage Museum Annual Fund
www.americanheritagemuseum.org
In the spirit of America's heritage of voluntary generosity, will you step forward with a year-end gift to support the Living History programs of the American Heritage Museum in Hudson, MA?
Our mission at the American Heritage Museum is to keep history alive for our future generations and when we meet young adults who have that same passion, we are happy to help! Meet Luke Morrison, a 13 year old historian from Vermont who is on his way to being the youngest person to operate a military museum! Way to go Luke!
As another amazing year comes to a close, the American Heritage Museum hopes that you will consider a year-end gift to help propel us into the coming year! Americas history is full of stories of voluntary generosity and we hope you'll join in that heritage to support our living history programs. Make your donation before #GivingTuesday on December 3rd and your donation will go even farther thanks to a $25,000 challenge from a group of donors. We are almost half-way to the goal, so please give today!
Step Forward: Give to the 2024 American Heritage Museum Annual Fund
www.americanheritagemuseum.org
In the spirit of America's heritage of voluntary generosity, will you step forward with a year-end gift to support the Living History programs of the American Heritage Museum in Hudson, MA?WWI Trench Experience
M1917 6-Ton Tank – USA | LIGHT TANK
Ford Model T Ambulance – USA | AMBULANCE
German 1917 Maschinengewehr 08 – GERMANY | MACHINE GUN
World War I began in 1914 after a series of disputes that reached a tipping point when Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb Yugoslav nationalist, assassinated Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Austria attacked Serbia, supported by Germany. Russia supported its ally Serbia against Austria and Germany, which next attacked Russia’s ally France, invading through Belgium. Britain then declared war on Germany, bringing its world empire into the fight, from India to Australia to Canada. Bulgaria and the Ottoman empire joined the Central Powers of Austria and Germany, while Italy (1915) and the United States (1917) eventually joined the Allied powers, which numbered 28 by the end of the war in 1918.
H.G. Wells thought it might become the ‘war to end all war,’ a hope echoed by Woodrow Wilson. It did not. Instead, it unleashed horrors of modern war and social and political destruction that we live with still. WWI was one of the deadliest conflicts in history with an estimated 9 million combat deaths, and 13 million civilian deaths as a direct result of the conflict. World War I was a significant turning point in the political, cultural, economic, and social climate of the world. The war and its immediate aftermath sparked numerous revolutions, uprisings and the shattering of four empires: German, Ottoman, Austrian, and Russian. It began the breakup of all the old empires, including the worldwide British and French empires. Its major effect was to set the stage for the calamity of WWII, which was even more destructive. Together, the two world wars finished off all the old European imperial systems, leaving many quarrels over territory in successor nations and memories of wartime horrors that still lead to military conflict today.
The setting of the immersive WWI Trench Experience is the bleak, frightening, battle-torn landscape of Saint-Mihiel, France. The WWI battle of Saint-Mihiel was a major clash along the western front fought from September 12th to 15th, 1918. It was the first battle to involve the American Expeditionary Force led by General John J. Pershing. The attack at Saint-Mihiel was part of the plan by Pershing to have the Americans break through the heavily trenched and fortified German lines and capture the city of Metz. It was the first offensive launched primarily by the United States Army.
The main narrative character in the WWI Trench Experience represents nurse Helen Dore Boylston from New Bedford, Massachusetts. She graduated as a nurse from Massachusetts General Hospital in 1915 and sailed for France to serve in the First World War with the Harvard Medical Unit, as part of the British Expeditionary Force. She nursed the wounded at a front-line field hospital specializing as a nurse anesthetist and reaching the rank of captain. Boylston wrote about her experiences in a book Sister: The War Diary of a Nurse, which was published in 1927. Some of Helen Dore Boylston’s excerpts from her diary are recreated in enthralling dialogue and presentation.
