Our Newest Museum

Wow.

You have got to go see this museum.

I had a couple of hours to kill yesterday so I thought I'd swing by Liberty Memorial and check out the new National World War I Museum.

I was totally unprepared for how comprehensive, vast, impressive and awe inspiring this place is. Kansas City done good.

A couple of hours wasn't nearly enough. I'll be going back when I have more time and there are fewer people.

But I'm telling you, this is going to become an international destination for scholars, researchers, writers and simple citizens with a personal connection to this war.

The collection of artifacts on display is absolutely amazing! They started collecting stuff in 1920 and never stopped. The condition of the items just boggles my mind. We are talking about metal, leather, wood and wool over 90 years old. But it all looks brand new. It's incredible. Posters look like they were printed yesterday.

The only museum with a larger collection of WWI artifacts is the Imperial War Museum in Great Britain. But that museum has a much broader scope. Our National WWI Museum is, to the best of my knowledge, the only museum in the world dedicated exclusively to the First World War.

Did you know that NINE MILLION soldiers were killed in this war? That doesn't count the wounded and "shell shocked" (that's what they called Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome back then). It was the first war that saw the use of airplanes, tanks, chemical and biological weapons; while at the same time, employing cavalry charges and swords. Google "trench warfare". It was probably the most barbaric, unsanitary, brutal form of warfare ever fought.

I was very impressed. The National World War I Museum at the Liberty Memorial gets the very first, ever, Hip Suburban White Guy Seal of Approval.