Veteran’s Museum Memorial

This museum is very informative and well put together! We wish we had more time. We will have to come back! The museum docent was very kind and welcoming and gave us some history on the building itself when we walked in.
There are large hand painted murals with signatures over specific things to be a «Live mural». It was amazing seeing WWII Vets’ signatures along the walls.
They had many display cases with numerous personal items that told each individual’s personal accounts. The display cases where all clean and arranged so you could see each item clearly.
The museum itself is kept well. They had two different rooms that were separated from the main section, one devoted to the women in the Military and one devoted to the Vietnam War. Overall we had a great time viewing all the items and paintings.
There is a little gift shop (it was closed when we went) but inside they had hats, coins, books and Military items. The parking is free and there is a big lot. They museum entrance fee is nominal. The experience itself is great. We highly recommend this museum.

For all the time I’ve lived in San Diego, I only discovered this museum in the last couple years. Today was an excellent day to take my WWII vet father to explore this site.
Holly was extremely helpful and recognized my vet father wearing his CVE-​77 Marcus Island hat with service ribbons. She was extremely helpful addressing my queries about the recording of «oral history» and volunteered information about the Honor Flight program and even a chance for my father to attend this year’s vet parade. She even printed out the Honor Flight applications.
Sure, you can visit larger museums, but the honor and respect paid by the staff is unequalled. There are numerous displays that pay tribute to each branch of service from WWI thru current day.
Thank you for honoring his visit!

This is a great venue for retirements or other ceremonies. Also worth a quick visit just to see the displays of historical information.

I enjoyed this small but vibrant museum much more than I thought I would. The volunteer at the museum was chatty and informative. The exhibits were interesting, illustrating WWI, WWII, the Korean war, the Vietnam war. The exhibits were of real soldiers and their experiences. Even though it is a small venue, if you love history you could spend a lot of time here!
For me, getting a feeling of the very real people who served our Nation included emotional impact as well as a little history buzz (if you like history you’ll know what I mean.)
The need more stuff in their women in the military area so if you are in San Diego and you have any memorabilia you should help them out. They are also building their Vietnam collection.

This museum gets 5 stars because of one thing: LIVING history.
The volunteers and guests here have actually taken part in storied documented in the exhibits. Especially when the Pearl Harbor Survivors are here, it is the best in class, period.
This museum is for serious military history enthusiasts. This is NOT a place where you will find gaggles of Asians battling each other to take iPad selfies. It probably helps that it is housed in an old WWII chapel, but one cannot escape the sense of courage and sacrifice within these people and exhibits.
Speaking of, another unique quality to this museum is how the exhibits are presented. A majority of them tell the stories of individual experiences throughout the wars. The stories are especially compelling, and it’s an added dimension you won’t find elsewhere. I’ve taken more time to read and absorb the stories of these exhibits than in any other SD museum.
We also appreciated the cleanliness, friendliness, and ample parking. Great work.

I love this place. My father is a WWII, Vietnam and Korean Veteran and we love coming here. He has Alzheimer’s and when we are here visiting, he loves to talk about his experiences. Definitely a place to check out with family

I find this place very special I’ve been here 2 times and both times I was a part of the color guard. It was amazing and emotional every time. Is very well maintained and everyone that works there are extra nice! They are polite and want to be very helpful. Is a great place to learn about out military personnel.

Loved it! A great way to spend Veteran’s day and learn about the history behind the people.

While it’s not a very big museum, it is a moving view that really highlights our greatest generation. Authentic items can be seen from nearly every major altercation America has been in. I really enjoyed the history that was available here as it pertained to the role of women in our military. Our country was filled with the most amazing people in the 1940’s. The staff here is friendly and more than willing to help you in anyway that they can.

Had a really special military promotion ceremony here with about 100 guests. It was a fantastic intimate venue with military history and character!

Went here the other day as part of The Foundry Class 001 as a mentor to 54 First Class Petty Officers in the region. I’ve never been here before and I’m really glad that I got an opportunity to walk around inside. We got an outstanding chance to listen to Jim Bedinger, a Vietnam POW, talk to us about his life and leadership experiences. The man can definitely talk! That perspective alone made this the perfect venue for him as our guest speaker.
There’s so much history here that made me appreciate my job so much more than I already do. They have a lot of unique things to see and I didn’t get to see all of it, but I know I want to come back already!
I’d say if you decided to come, you could probably kill about a good hour taking a look of all the items inside. If you are a history buff, this is the place for you!

Is was a great experience to walk around this place after my son perform for the Pearl Harbor Survivors last Saturday. Take your family there and have a great time.

If I only had time to go to one museum in Balboa Park, this would be the one for me. The entrance fee is a mere $ 5.00. Active military members and their dependents get in for free. Veterans get in for $ 4.00. Students with i.d. get in for $ 2.00.
Come early if you can and hope that Paul is working. My wife and I were blessed with what basically amounted to a private tour because there were no other visitors for the first two hours we were here.
Each mural and painting is rich with it’s own unique story. The artist spent many hours interviewing witnesses and survivors to make sure that each painting was as accurate as possible.
The amount of medals, letters, uniforms, and other memorabilia had me taking over a hundred pictures. My wife and I spent a very short three hours here. I could have easily spent another hour or two here if we weren’t pressed for time.
Don’t forget to get some items from the gift shop. All proceeds go towards the museum. My wife and I enjoyed this museum so much that we dropped a Jackson in the donation box.

Not many people know this, but the Veteran’s Museum and Memorial is located in what used to be the old Naval Hospital chapel. While I work nearby, the only time I’d been here prior to my visit last week was for a retirement ceremony a couple of years back. Of course, that meant I couldn’t really look around much then.
I finally came here for Museum Month; even without the ½ price discount, admission here is pretty cheap — $ 5! And if you’re active military, you can get in for free with your military ID!
While there are plenty of displays here about San Diego’s military history, as well as artifacts from various eras (the ones from the USS Arizona are especially sobering), there’s a display about the Korean War here that’s very informative. We see so much about Vietnam and World War II, but barely anything about this era in history — and the movie playing about one of the biggest battles of the Korean War makes you want to stop and think for a moment.
Even if you’re not a military history buff, there’s no reason why one can’t come here to this little museum in Balboa Park. The price is right, and the sense of history here is amazing.

This is another place i had on my to do list and actually finally did. Now that i think of it I went on Veterans day.
To anyone who likes military history, is a veteran, is currently serving, or may know someone who appreciates military service I highly recommend making a stop through here.
If you are currently a service member you even get in FREE when you show your military I.D.
The museum is very well kept and organized and they have soooo much neat memorabilia everywhere. It was like every few steps I took while looking at something I was stopped to look at something else.
I liked the maps they had up that showed the ex-​military bases that existed many years ago. Did you know that Torrey Pines once housed Soldiers?
Oh and yes there are Army, Marine, Air Force, and Navy things to look at so it is friendly no matter what branch you may be in. Enjoy.