While in Dubois, we knew we wanted to visit the National Museum of Military Vehicles. We heard from a few different people that it was a “must see” and we weren’t really sure what to expect. Wow, this museum was just as amazing as the big museums in Washington, DC! This isn’t a quick visit museum – you really need to plan several hours to see it.
The first area we entered was the weapons vault and it was very impressive:
It was fun seeing all of the traditional and then unusual weapons:
This gun below caught my eye because it was made by Singer, the sewing machine company. I didn’t realize they also made guns. Apparently they only did for a short time. Here is what was posted below the Singer gun:
“Singer produced 500 pistols between 1939 and 1940 on a demonstration contract. Their quality was so high that the government instead asked Singer to manufacture precision aircraft parts. Singer pistols are the prize of any collection of handguns because they are so rare.”
I love my vintage Singer sewing machine (thank you Richard for the amazing gift!) and it will last forever.
Then you enter into a very large space with so many vehicles. I only took a few photos – there were so many:
I also thought this vehicle was really neat – it is a kitchen!
“Swiss Model 1909 Field Kitchen. These horse-drawn self-contained kitchens included provisions, firewood, mess gear and boilers. The cook built a fire beneath the boilers and served a hot breakfast. He then added soup or stew ingredients, more fuel to the firebox, and drove the wagon to his company’s evening site. There he served up a freshly cooked meal to the tired, hungry men. Two boilers in the rear cooked 48 gallons of stew or soup, sufficient to feed a standard Swiss infantry company of 209 men.”
The entrance to the Korean War section:
It was REALLY, REALLY cold in the Korean War section. I don’t know how they got it so cold but it fit with the theme. Notice the quote on the wall:
The entrance to the Vietnam War area:
The Vietnam area was done so well, too. We enjoyed walking through the tall dark bamboo area where they showed how soldiers could hide and how booby traps could be set up.
I enjoyed the fire truck display:
I highly recommend visiting this museum. It isn’t far from Jackson, Wyoming and Yellowstone. And since you will most likely want to visit during the summer, I also recommend going to the Dubois Friday night rodeos!