Joint Base Lewis-McCord Museums

The above pic was taken while stopped in traffic on I-5 driving north, while the below pic was taken in front of the museum.  Actually, there are two museums across the sprawling Joint Base Lewis-McCord in the Tacoma, WA area.  One of the museums is on the Camp Murray side of the base, and it is occupied primarily by the Washington National Guard.  The other is located south about 2 miles and it too is just off I-5.

The main museum has quite a history.  From wiki: Lewis Army Museum (originally Fort Lewis Military Museum) is a military museum at Fort Lewis in the state of Washington, U.S. It is housed in the historic former Red Shield Inn, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) and can be seen prominently from Interstate 5. It is the only certified U.S. Army museum on the West Coast. Red Shield Inn is one of two surviving Fort Lewis buildings that date back to the World War I era, when the present Fort Lewis was "Camp Lewis". It is the only remaining structure from a onetime recreational area that was called Greene Park.  

Not sure what these old tanks are, but they are steel relics from previous combat engagements.

Some of these pics require no explanation, so I'll just post.  Some are pics of storyboards which will be self-explanatory.  In any case, enjoy.

I was in the Navy, so I am clueless as to what these weapons are called.  All I know is that they are weapons of combat.

Never really gave it much thought as to the real number women in uniform during WW2, not to mention the "Rosies" here in the factories across the country.

Quite frankly, my hat's off to the tens of thousands of Soldiers and Marines who have served our country in places that no man would go voluntarily, and under conditions that are just not akin to friendliness and the sanitary conditions, well, I'm glad I was Navy.  I had three Brothers who were in the Army and Marines, and I just wonder....

This lake is primarily inside Camp Murray, and the RV Park is also on the Lake.  We parked our coach on the lake for about five weeks or so.  Most of the pics below were from the Camp Murray National Guard Museum.  From Wiki:  The Washington National Guard Museum, also known as The Arsenal Museum, is a military museum of the Washington National Guard. It is located at the Washington National Guard headquarters at Camp Murray visible from I-5 near Lakewood, Washington.

The museum is run by Washington National Guard State Historical Society volunteers.

Weel, that about wraps our time for this blog.  We enjoyed the walk thru the museums and learned some things that we never knew before.  Of course one would expect that when touring museums, a look into our past.  So, till the next blog, RVing Beach Bums signing off.  This blog written from Coburg, OR on Aug 23, 2015.