81 years ago today, the Anzio landing, part of Operation Shingle during WWII, began on Jan. 22, 1944, as Allied forces aimed to outflank German defenses and capture Rome. Allied troops initially achieved surprise but failed to push inland decisively, allowing German forces under Field Marshal Kesselring to reinforce. A brutal stalemate followed with heavy casualties. In May 1944, the Allies broke through, linking with southern forces and liberating Rome on June 4. Learn about the Italian Campaign in the WWII in Europe Gallery in the American Heritage Museum.
The American Heritage Museum is open today! Celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Open 10am to 5pm.
Hello all good people! The American Heritage Museum will be open on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Monday, January 20th, 10am to 5pm. We are looking forward to seeing you soon.
The American Heritage Museum is excited to announce the launch of a new restoration project aimed at restoring a rare and historically significant piece of original World War II armor: the Type 97 Tankette “Te Ke,” used by the Imperial Japanese Army.![]()
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Read the full article at: www.americanheritagemuseum.org/2025/01/rare-japanese-type-97-tankette-te-ke-restoration-project-b...![]()
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The Type 97 Tankette was a light armored vehicle developed and employed by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. Introduced in 1938, the Te-Ke was designed as a reconnaissance and infantry support vehicle, embodying Japan’s focus on lightweight, mobile forces. ![]()
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The Type 97 Tankette was powered by a 65 horsepower, inline 4-cylinder diesel engine, giving it a top speed of around 26 mph. It featured a two-man crew: a driver and a gunner/commander. Armament included either a 37 mm Type 94 tank gun or a 7.7 mm Type 97 machine gun, making it effective against lightly fortified positions and infantry but inadequate against heavier tanks.![]()
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Our particular project vehicle has been determined to be a variant of the Te-Ke that was specifically designed as a gas scattering vehicle to either deploy chemical agents such as mustard gas or other chemical agents offensively or similarly scatter agents to counter poison gasses defensively. Vehicles in this role carried their scattering agents in a towed tracked trailer and though we do not have one of these trailers, we are actively looking for one to add to the restoration.![]()
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The rare Type 97 Tankette will be restored at the American Heritage Museum by our restoration team over the next 3-4 years and will include a full overhaul of the original and rare Ikegai air-cooled diesel engine that is part of the project. We intend to restore it to operational configuration as a running tank and it will eventually become part of an enhanced exhibit documenting the years leading up to World War II. The restoration team is seeking any technical materials, drawings, or documentation of the Type 97 Tankette type – so if you have any resources to assist, please email us at admin@americanheritagemuseum.org
A huge THANK YOU to our hardy re-enactors, dedicated volunteers, and enthusiastic guests for braving the cold and muddy conditions this past weekend for the Battle of the Bulge History Experience! This was our first cold weather outdoor experience and we were happy to welcome so many visitors who took part, deploying in the M3 Half Tracks to our slice of the Ardennes Forest! Please enjoy a selection of photos from Warren Disbrow and Roland Brooks from the weekend! Let us know if you think we should plan another in 2025! #AmericanHeritageMuseum #battleofthebulge #tanklife #wwii #worldwar2 #worldwarii #WorldWarIIHistory #1944 #visitma #hudsonma
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Speaker Series – V-Mail In WWII
December 7, 2024 @ 1:00 pm, ending 2:30 pm
Free with standard museum admission
The attack on Pearl Harbor, Sunday, December 7th, 1941, plunged the United States into a world-wide war that stretched across the Atlantic Ocean, Europe, North Africa, India, China, Australia, and islands across the vast Pacific Ocean. Ultimately, some 16 million men and women joined the armed services over the course of the 42 months of the conflict. Among the most important means of keeping up morale of all service personnel was, in these pre-Internet days, sending and, most importantly, receiving letters and packages from home. However, transporting tons of mail by ship – the primary means of overseas transport then – could take weeks and, sometimes, months to reach destinations. However, one means had been devised, based on something the British had come up with months before Pearl Harbor, that a joint effort by the Department of War (Army/Army Air Forces), Navy Department (Navy/Marines/Coast Guard), and the Post Office Department began planning for in the months before Pearl Harbor … V-Mail.
Photographer-filmmaker-historian David Watts, Jr. will tell the story of V-Mail from the earliest photographic experiments that made it possible, to how it worked, and the great efforts applied, by the government and businesses, to getting people to use it.
As part of the presentation, the exhibition of World War II writing materials, put together by Richard Binder and David Watts, Jr. will be on display in the museum for the afternoon.
No reservations needed to attend.
