Boise, ID

We left the Gowen Field History exhibit and wandered back to the main room. I gave my son a brief description of his great grandfather’s service in WWI, then pointed him to the WWI display. As he left to view them, Don wandered back toward me with a small paperbound book in hand. (Sam the Doughboy, Copyright grandpavee-2008)

“I want to show you something.” I forgot the title, but it was of the history of the 164th FA Battalion. Don proceeded to carefully thumb through the book, showing me pictures as he went along. As it turned out, his friend had written the book, with Don’s help-or as Don put it; “I gave him most of the information and he wrote it!”

From what I gathered, his friend wrote the book for the remaining members of the 164th FA, as a reunion gift. Informing Don that I would be interested in purchasing it, he told me bluntly: “It’s for members only, not for sale!” I guess he didn’t quite understand my question, as I wanted to purchase a copy, not the original. I gave up the question, when I couldn’t get an answer as to whether it would be up for sale in the gift shop, at some point.

The most interesting part of his conversation had to do with the Missouri Mules the 164th used to traverse the dangerous mountain trails of Burma. At one point, Don pointed to a 75mm cannon nearby and informed my son and I that they had to dismantle the artillery piece into 9 pieces and pack it on a mule for transport. (Mountain troops testing the merits of the mule, LC-USW33-000337-ZC).

Another story told of how  150 mules were offloaded from their ship in Calcutta, India. Seems Indians were to be stationed at all cross roads so the Army fellas could herd them to the corrals. At one point the Mules scared several of the boys guarding the intersections. Don and his men spent the good part of a day and night chasing mules all over Calcutta!!

From the looks of the non-descript exterior, we didn’t think much about it as a museum. In fact, the interior holds a lot of very important memorabilia, and displays showcase every war.

As described above the World War I and World War II displays held the most interest for my son-from uniforms, to armament, to medals and the like. I was even able to show him some of the medals I have for my granddad, my dad, and even some of my own. After I showed him my ribbons, he wanted to see the 60’s display of Vietnam. Although I didn’t serve in NAM, the display reflected the times and the war in pretty good detail. (He now wants all my military stuff)!
(Military Jeep Image, Copyright grandpavee-2008)

Other areas detailed the Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force. There were exceptional displays of WWI, WWII, (Pearl Harbor), Korea and Vietnam. The ceiling was abuzz with various large models of WWII aircraft. The West end held simulators for an F-4 Phantom and another jet, and there was a display of an ejection seat, complete with pilot. (Ejection Seat Image, Copyright grandpavee-2008)

Both of us were in awe of the array of military weaponry from both sides. The WWI display was particularly interesting, and even the Vietnam section was outstanding in the array of materials available to look over.

For any history buff, the Idaho Military History Museum is a must see. Although their website says to figure an hour to look things over, we spent a good half day. That included of course, at least an hour or more with Don Leech!!