Come see our newest addition to the Vietnam War exhibit - the F-105G Thunderchief. Read the latest post from Owen Myers: www.americanheritagemuseum.org/2024/07/the-legacy-of-the-f-105-thunderchief/
We are very excited to see 102 year old WWII Pacific War Veteran Mr. Caster Salemi this Saturday. Mr. Salemi trained in Paris Texas before being sent to the South Pacific. He was first stationed in New Guinea from Mar.1944 to Jan.1945 and then made the landing in Luzon, Philippines as part of the 251st Field Artillery battalion- company B. Caster was a T4 (Tech)Sergeant responsible for setting up communications between companies. He was in the Philippines fighting the Japanese from Jan.1945 through Dec.1945 seeing action in Dagupan, Pangasinan, Bayombong, Balette Pass, Cagayan Valley, Iguig, and Manila. Caster Salemi received the Philippines Liberation Medal and Asiatic Pacific Service Medal. ![]()
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He will be here through Saturday during our Pacific War re-enactment. A very rare opportunity to talk with a Pacific War veteran who was in the thick of it.
We are getting ready for our first WWII Pacific Theater Re-enactment and living history event - This weekend! 7/13-7/14.![]()
More information and tickets see: www.americanheritagemuseum.org/event/wwii-pacific-re-enactment-saipan-campaign/
Celebrating our Independence - The American Heritage Museum will be open on Thursday, July 4th, 10 am to 5 pm. We hope to see you here to commemorate this pivotal time in American history. To life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness!
Arsenal of Democracy
M4A1 Sherman (Grizzly) – USA | TANK
Sherman Turret Trainer – USA | TURRET TRAINER
1942 Buick Super (Front) – USA | CIVILIAN AUTOMOBILE
During the Second World War, “Arsenal of Democracy” was the slogan used by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in a radio broadcast delivered on December 29th, 1940 to signal that the then still neutral United States would use all its immense industrial capacity to build the weapons of war needed by the last struggling democracies to save themselves, and the idea of democracy itself, from the threat of conquest by fascism and militarism in Europe and Asia.
Immediately after the United States entered WWII, our entire industrial infrastructure changed exclusively to support the war effort. All companies, large and small changed their production. A good example is the automobile industry. Ford focused a lot of their production on aircraft, primarily the B-24 Liberators – that became the most massed produced aircraft in American History. Cadillac made many components and engines for tanks and armored vehicles. Buick stopped all civilian car production and switched to making engines for the Liberators as well as armored vehicles, and tanks. Buick went on to make over 74,000 radial engines for the B-24, 2,000 M18 Hellcat tank destroyers, 600 M-39 tanks, over 19,000 M4, M10 and M26 power trains, over 2 million cartridge cases and more.
By the end of the war, U.S. industry was by itself out producing all the Axis countries combined. American trucks, tanks and aircraft were also supplied to Allied nations, from Canada to Britain to the Red Army of the Soviet Union. The Arsenal of Democracy exhibit highlights the phenomenal American industrial effort throughout WWII.
