ELDRED — The Eldred World War II Museum’s first “Ship Week,” May 15 to 25, offers the public an opportunity to learn more and have a greater understanding of the U.S. Navy’s vital role in the Allies’ victory in World War II.
Jesse Case of Wellsville, N.Y., the museum’s executive director since Oct. 1, 2017, said the museum’s regular hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 1 to 4 p.m. on Sundays.
Via self-guided tours, visitors can see the museum’s ever-growing and diverse collection of naval artifacts, such as photos, pictures, uniforms, weapons and equipment in fascinating, temporary and permanent exhibits that tell the stories of our navy’s sailors, aviators and even the women’s branch of U.S. Naval Reserve, commonly known as the WAVES, Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service. There is even a Merchant Marines display. “We’ve amassed quite a collection of World War II naval and ship-related items,” said Steve Appleby, the museum’s curator and program director.
Appleby and Case, along with museum volunteers, will be present to speak with visitors.
For Appleby, one of the museum’s most interesting exhibits is the large model of the aircraft carrier USS Hornet crafted by an Ohio man. Commissioned in November 1943, the Hornet and crew spent three months in training before joining U.S. forces in the Pacific Theatre. According to Appleby, “This model appears just as it did when fighters left its deck for the Doolittle raid on Japan.”
This raid in April 1942, approximately four months following Pearl Harbor, was planned to shatter the then- Japanese military’s reputation of invincibility after Pearl Harbor and some other early successes.
On Oct. 26, 1942, the Hornet joined the USS Enterprise heading to intercept a Japanese task force. Later that day though, near Santa Cruz Island, the Hornet was hit by numerous Japanese torpedoes and bombs. in addition to several kamikaze attacks and sank.
One of the museum’s most unique artifacts is a small chess set that belonged to an aviator from the Hornet who flew the famed Douglas Dauntless dive bomber, a two-crew aircraft from the Hornet, that was the Navy’s main carrier-based aircraft and is credited with destroying more enemy targets than any other plane in the war.
“The pilot,” Appleby said, “was attached to Scouting Squadron 8 on the carrier. While on a reconnaissance mission on May 29, 1942, the aircraft, with the pilot and gunner aboard, vanished. It’s believed that engine failure caused the plane to ditch in the ocean. Neither body was recovered.”
This miniature chess set, with one pawn missing, was among the pilot’s personal effects that were returned to his family. A niece from Rochester, N.Y., donated it to the museum.
The museum has a photo of the Scouting Squadron 8, but it’s not known which of the pilots was the owner of the chess set. “Still, these two artifacts put a human face on the wartime situation — an ordinary guy doing extraordinary things that saved the world,” Appleby said.
On May 19, Jerry Kirk, a Navy veteran from Wellsville, N.Y., returns to the museum as a featured guest with his model of the USS Antigone, the ship on which his grandfather served during World War I. He will share his grandfather’s and father’s service in the world wars.
“To make the five-foot long model as authentic as possible, Kirk, an engineer, corresponded with the German shipbuilder and received copies of the original plans,” Appleby said. “He’s a stickler for details.”
Case provided museum information, including a photo, about the Antigone. “Originally named the “Neckar,” the ship was built in Germany and named for the river that runs through Heidelberg,” Case noted. Records show that in its early days, the ship carried mail, cargo and second and third class passengers between Germany and America. In 1914 it was interned in Baltimore and seized later when the U. S, entered the war.
Commissioned into the U.S. Navy on Sept. 5, 1917, the ship’s name was changed to “Antigone,” and it served as a troop transport during the war. It was decommissioned on Sept. 24, 1919, and returned to civilian service almost two years later. The Antigone was scrapped in 1928 in Holland.
Case said Kirk has made an 11-foot model of the USS Boston, on which he served during the Vietnam War.
It is just as a detailed as Kirk’s other model ships and is fully operational, as evidenced by a video at the museum.
While this is the inaugural “Ship Week,” Case said it very well may become an annual event.
He also mentioned the museum’s upcoming exhibits and programs through year’s end.
The “Flags of Our Heroes” exhibit, June 5 to 17, will feature wartime flags with 48 stars and be displayed throughout the museum
“Banners of Evil” featuring flags and banners of the Axis Powers will be this summer’s main exhibit. According to Case, “This educational display is designed to demonstrate how evil disguises itself through symbolism.”
From Oct. 1 through Dec. 22, the museum, with its expanding collection of World War I artifacts, will pay tribute to the anniversary of the end of that war.
