[From the editor: This article first appeared on December 5, 2020. It has been updated by (i) deleting the article’s last paragraph and adding two new paragraphs, including about a new room of exhibits added to the museum, and (ii) four new photos have been added to the very end of the article.]
The state’s outstanding World War II museum must be the World War II Foundation’s Global Education Center located at 344 Main Street, Suite 101, in the old section of Wakefield. Does it surprise you that it has an incredible collection of World War II artifacts? Indeed, the museum probably has the best collection of World War II artifacts in all of New England. One serious private collector called it “The most comprehensive World War II collection in the United States.” Right here in Wakefield!
As an aside, I used to believe that I could at least claim the mantle of leading history guy hailing from Kingston, Rhode Island (at least not associated with the University of Rhode Island). But I cannot even claim that humble honor. Instead, it belongs to Tim Gray, the chairman and founder of the World War II Foundation.
The World War II Foundation is well known nationally in military circles for producing award-winning documentaries of United States veterans of World War II telling their personal stories. These documentaries capture the stories before they are lost forever (some 500 veterans pass away each day). The documentaries are donated to PBS and frequently are among the most popular on PBS. They can also be downloaded from the Foundation’s website (see link below). New England Patriots football head coach Bill Belichick, actor Gary Sinise (playing veteran Lieutenant Dan Taylor in Forrest Gump), actor Damian Lewis (playing Captain Richard White in Band of Brothers), and other celebrities support the Foundation’s work.
This article focuses on the Global Education Center in Wakefield. From the time of its dedication in 2018 until the Covid-19 pandemic arrived in March 2020, it welcomed groups of school children, the general public, and researchers. Its goal is to preserve the artifacts and stories so that future generations do not forget the sacrifices of all those who served in World War II. The center also emphasizes the hard lessons of war and war’s cost to society.
The Education Center has over 4,500 artifacts on display. It is also acquiring remarkable artifacts every year. For example, maps used by the Allies in the invasion of Normandy in June 1944 were recently acquired and are on display (see photo below). Some exhibits are interactive, and before the pandemic, attendees could touch small pieces of metal from the USS Arizona that sank in the Japanese air attack on Pearl Harbor. The Center also features more than 500 books that children and adults can peruse to gain a deeper appreciation of what the Greatest Generation went through.
The museum is jammed with artifacts. Tim said he has many more in storage that cannot be displayed for want of space. Still, with 2,500 square feet, the Center has plenty to offer. Many of the museum’s holdings are true jewels.
In 2022, the museum expanded its exhibition space by acquiring another large room, allowing hundreds of more items to be shown. This room has letters (transcribed in English) by notorious Nazi leaders such as Heinrich Himmler, Adolph Eichman, Martin Bormann and Albert Speer. But these are offset by a book of Grimm’s Fairy Tales with Anne Frank’s name on it that she once held. Dozens of new uniforms are displayed. Among my favorites are two from the Chinese Army (which held off and kept in place more than 800,000 Japanese troops during the war) and a bomber jacket for a U.S. Army Air Force lieutenant in the China-Burma-India theater of war.
There is also new Virtual Reality technology that will appeal in particular to young people. Tim Gray said, “VR is a whole new ballgame in how we will teach WWII history moving forward.”
Readers are encouraged to view the museum’s holdings in person. The Center’s website currently says: “The Education Center and Museum are now open again on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays 10 am until 4 am and by appointment. Please call us to schedule an appointment at 401-862-3030. See you soon.”
Normal admission cost is $10 for adults (but free for veterans). Children 12 and under are free but must be accompanied by an adult. There is no cost for school groups and the Foundation will pay the cost for school bus rental for public schools.
Please enjoy my photographs of some of what I consider to be the highlights of the museum’s collection:
Part of a rare collection of Adolph Hitler paraphernalia actually used at Hitler’s personal residence at Berchtesgaden. This napkin is embroidered with a German eagle, a Nazi swastika, and Hitler’s initials (AH) (Christian McBurney)
Leather SS coat, belt, and dagger of SS commander Erwin Friedrich Karl Rosner. He was executed after the war for war crimes (mass executions of civilians in Slovenia) (Christian McBurney)
Tuskegee Airman uniform belonging to George E. Wannamaker. The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of Black Army pilots who fought in World War II. Most Black servicemen in the military in World War II were assigned to perform services behind the lines and were not allowed to fight. The Tuskegee Airmen were an exception. Wannamaker was a native of Montclair, New Jersey. After the war, he became a police captain. He died in 2006. (Christian McBurney)
Jacket and skirt uniform of a U.S. Army WAC (Women’s Auxiliary Corps), with the rank of corporal. The patch indicates that the wearer served in the 9th Air Force that was active in the Mediterranean and later the European Theater of War until it was inactivated in 1945. She wears the Good Conduct Medal (the one on the left) and the WW2 Victory Medal. Thousands of women served as nurses and in other non-combat roles as WACs, WAVES (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service), and WASPs (Women’s Air Corps). (Tim Gray)
Part of an outstanding collection of items from a member of the French resistance, including a code book for a wireless transmitter and a compass. The member was Lieutenant Jean Claude Guiet, an American. His remarkable exploits and heroism are beautifully told in the book by Daniel C. Guiet and Timothy K. Smith, Scholars of Mayhem, My Father’s Secret War in Nazi-Occupied France (Penguin Press, 2019). (Christian McBurney)
Allied maps showing the invasion routes from England to the beaches of Normandy and other points on the French coast on June 4, 1944. The Foundation acquired those recently discovered and incredible maps that were actually used by Allied war planners.
Uniform of D-Day Ranger Tom Ruggiero, who was a member of the 2nd Ranger Battalion assigned to climb the 100-foot cliffs at Point-du-Hoc on D-Day.
Rare uniform of a concentration camp prisoner. It was reportedly worn by Michael Wróblewski, Prisoner #14399, at the terrible Auschwitz death camp. Wróblewski is a name associated with Polish Jews. This uniform also has added to it an armband marking the inmate as a homosexual, one of several categories other than Jewish heritage that could result in a person being sent to a death camp by the Nazis (the armband was added for display purposes only; it was not on Michael Wróblewski’s uniform at Auschwitz).
A can of Zyklon gas, of the type employed to murder prisoners at German death camps.
Rare helmet of a Seabee with the Seabee logo still in great condition. The main Seabee training base on the East Coast was at Davisville in North Kingstown.
Part of a Navy torpedo found on the ocean floor south of Block Island. The Navy’s main torpedo factory during World War II was located at Goat Island off Newport. The Navy often fired practice dud torpedoes in Narragansett Bay.
An incredibly rare control stick for a German ME109 (Messerschmitt) fighter plane. Pressing the blue nob at the top of the handle triggered the airplane’s machine guns. Four gauges on the control panel are also shown.
The uniform of an aviator in the Soviet Union’s 588th Night Bomber Regiment, an all-female regiment. The Germans nicknamed such aviators the Night Witches.
For a virtual tour of the WWII Foundation Global Education Center, click on this link:
https://wwiifoundation.org/virtual-visit/
For the WWII Foundation’s website, click on https://wwiifoundation.org
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