Kruse World War II Victory Museum
Once upon a time, there was a museum near Arlon, Belgium that housed
one of the largest collections of allied and axis armored fighting vehicles
and support vehicles in the world. And why not? At the end of the war,
it was relatively easy to scour the countryside and/or the storage facilities
of the various military garrisons to pull together such a collection.
Thus the Victory Memorial Museum was born and this museum housed over
140 military vehicles, 50 motorcycles and 279 uniforms from 11 different
nations. As with many such museums, location and economy took its toll
and the museum closed.
Enter Dean V. Kruse. For those of you who deal with collectible (one-scale)
automobiles, this name should sound familiar as does the annual pilgrimage
to Auburn, Indiana to the largest collectible car auctions on the planet.
The Kruse Auction Park was so successful that eBay bought the operation
from Dean to launch eBay Motors and after a few years, sold it back to
Dean after it neglected the 'live' auction community in favor of the online
community. The Kruse Auction Park is located at Exit 126 off of Interstate
I-69, which is a few minutes north of Fort Wayne and just south of Auburn.
In addition to being a renowned auctioneer, Dean also became the youngest
Indiana State Senator.
In early 2000, in the midst of the eBay transactions, Kruse purchased
the entire collection from the closed Belgium museum. On September 4,
2000, the groundbreaking ceremony was held for the new 192,000 square
foot American Heritage Museum that would house the former Belgian collection
on a site that was directly across I-69 from the Auction Park. The museum
complex opened in early 2003, with the WWII Victory Museum housed in the
south wing of the complex, with an impressive automotive museum housed
in the north wing.
In its new home in Indiana, the Victory collection still honors those who
fought to free Europe and with an emphasis on Indiana (Hoosier) veterans.
Even with approximately 75,000 square feet of space, you are immediately
struck with the sheer volume of the collection and how the staff has managed
to 'cram' the lot inside. It is my understanding that in the coming months,
portions of the collection will be put into storage while the remaining
exhibits are spread out more and put into dioramas to highlight the uniforms
and other materials on display, providing the periodic visitor something
different to see.
If you are looking for German or Allied tanks, you'll need to take a
trip out to Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland. On the other hand, if
you're looking for tank destroyers, armored fighting vehicles, halftracks,
support trucks, staff cars, motorcycles and more from eleven different
countries, including an LVT-3 amphibian, then this is the place to be.
You will not find examples of some of these vehicles anywhere and the
remainder not together in one museum anywhere else!
The museum is located a little over two hours drive up I-69 from Indianapolis,
and about three hours drive from either Chicago or Detroit. You'll need
at least half a day to tour the museum complex, and if you're an AFV modeler
with a camera, you'd better make that a day and bring loads of film! For
this article, I shot over 400 photos including photo walkarounds of 18
vehicles. You can follow my tour of some of these selected vehicles at
Cybermodeler.com (www.cybermodeler.com)
and tour the armor/AFV section.
Admission to the general public is $8.00 and if you want to see the
auto museum while you're there, admission to both museums is $10.00. Kids
12 and under are $6.00 for one museum or $8.00 for both, and kids 6 and
under are free. If you're a WW2 Veteran, admission to the WW2 museum is
free. If you're a non-WW2 veteran, admission to the WW2 Museum is $4.00!
In the meantime, let me give you a photo tour of just some of the unique
sights you'll see at the Kruse WW2 Victory Museum (click on a photo to
see a larger image):
Return to the Museum Menu
HOME
WHAT'S NEW
REVIEWS
AIRCRAFT
ARMOR
NAVAL
SPACE
HISTORY
MUSEUM
CALENDAR
COLOR REFS
WRITERS GUIDE
TIPS
FUTURE KITS
ABOUT
READERS GALLERY
LOGOS
SOLAR MONITOR
FAQS
SPECIAL
STAFF
CONTACT
|
