Military on display
The Porterville Historical Museum hosts special military exhibit
The Porterville Historical Museum houses a permanent military display all year round, but decided that they would create an extensive and special military display showing off items from each war, beginning with the Spanish-american War.
The museum, which is open mostly on Friday’s and Saturday’s, allowed The Recorder an exclusive look at their newest feature display, and it is absolutley breathtaking.
Upon entering into the room, an immense sense of patriotism is apparent, and covering every inch of the walls is wartime memrobilia. From uniforms to war weaponary, the museum is currently showcasing some remarkable pieces of history, and the public is encouraged to soak it all in before September when the display will be removed.
“We have a donor appreciation dinner, and every year we have a special exhibit that goes with it,” said Susan Uptain, a member of the museum’s board. “We thought that this would appeal a lot of our members, other people and veterans.”
Plenty of commitment and love went into creating the display, and hours of thought went into the arrangement.
Visitors can start at the left hand side of the room at the Spanish-american War, and travel through time as they walk clockwise around the room peering at old wartime grenandes and pictures, just to name a few things on display. Encased uniforms gleam under the lights, and hand written letters from soliders can
be read.
“We have a lot of local veterans who donated their stuff,” said Uptain. “This is a very military town. We are a small town, but per capita, we contribute a lot to the military force.”
Items from the Spanish-amrican War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam, and a select amount of items from Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom, are all available for viewing a the museum.
The museum also has some special events coming up. One of the events will be a military reception on August 3 beginning at 6 p.m. This event is free and the publicis encouraged to attend.
The Porterville Historical Museum is operating under summer hours currently. The museum’s summer hours are Friday from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday 10 a.m. To 4 p.m. The museum is located at 257 N. D Street. Admission is $5.00 for adults, $1.00 for students and children six under are free.