Military Museum

Keeping with this week's theme, Crossroads Magazine is highlighting the Military Museum of Southern New England, which is located in Danbury, CT. The museum is home to more than 60 war tanks, and over 85 percent of them are in working order and can actually be driven. For the most part the tank collection starts with vehicles made in the early years of World War II and the models continue all the way up until the late 1990s.

The museum was the brainchild of John Valluzzo, a Korean War veteran who was approached by a friend with the idea of a museum devoted to tank destroyers. John began searching for the 9 different types of vehicles used by tank destroyers during World War II, contacting the US government, private individuals, and even other countries in his quest to honor American veterans.

Since the museum first began nearly 25 years ago, its collection has expanded from World War II tank destroyers to all of 20th century mechanized warfare. But the heart still remains the vehicles of World War II.

The museum features over 10,000 artifacts covering nearly 100 years of American military history. The museum also hosts open turret days on the last weekend over every month, so you can get inside many of the tanks and other vehicles in their collection to see what they’re actually like inside. The museum also has a mobile unit that travels to schools and other special events to bring military history to people throughout the state.

Crossroads Reporter Kim Sanders visited the museum for a behind-the-scenes look at those massive tanks.

To see pictures of the tanks and to see them running, click here.

Women Veterans

As we advance into the new millineum, women soldiers are becoming more and more commonplace. But that was not the case back in the 1940s, when Rose DelMonico Murphy joined the service.

Rose is in her 90s and is one of thousands of women veterans in the state of Connecticut. Her acts of kindness and valor as an army nurse have been documented in letters sent home by other soldiers, and live on in her memory, told as heartening stories to younger members of her family.

Rose was stationed in the heart of the south Pacific, and helped to heal hundreds of wounded men.

In honor of the more than 14 thousand women veterans living right here in Connecticut, the state has introduced a new memorial in the veteran’s alcove.

Crossroads reporter Alisha Leavelle honored Rose DelMonico Murphy during our Memorial Day Special. We thought we'd bring it back through the blog in time for Independence Day.

Click here to see Rose's amazing story.