Liberty Memorial WW I Museum

The only museum in the entire world dedicated solely to the first World War, "The Great War", is in Kansas City at what is called The Liberty Memorial. It was recently completely remodeled and my son, Greg, wanted to visit the Memorial and Museum while he was home from Guam.

Greg, my daughter, Becky, and I got together today and made the trip to the "Liberty Memorial World War I Museum".

The Liberty Memorial tower is on the right in the left photo below and the museum building is on the left. It's a beautiful location setting on top of a hill overlooking the renovated Union Station, Crown Center (Hallmark Cards) and downtown Kansas City. The new entrance to the museum and the reflecting pool is shown in the right photo below.
















Inside, the museum is awesome. Yes, I know that word is grossly over used today, but this museum is truly awesome.

Inside the entrance is a field of Poppy's, one Poppy representing each US Soldier killed in "The Great War". This field of Poppy's is about 8'-10' below a glass floor which you walk over to enter the museum. They did have a carpet runner across as some people felt uneasy walking across that glass floor while 8'-10' feet in the air.

The displays were very well laid out explaining in detail what led up to the war, how and where the war was fought, who the combatants were, and the aftermath of the "war to end all wars". I hadn't realized before that the war was fought in Africa, Asia, and the Pacific. I had always thought it had only been fought in Europe.

The large number of artifacts was astounding. I was amazed at the detailed information given about everything on display. Many of the uniforms on display were identified by the name of the soldier, sailor, or nurse who wore it . . . both allies and German. Also many of the individual guns on display, rifles and pistols, were identified with the name of the soldier who carried and used it.

Flash pictures were discouraged inside of the exhibits, but I did take one picture of the display of cannons and mortars.


This museum is really magnificent and I strongly recommend it to anyone who may have an opportunity to see it.

We spent the better part of the day touring this museum and were unable to cover it all . . . and some parts we did see, we kind of skimmed over. The next time Greg comes home for a visit, going back to the "Liberty Memorial World War I Museum" will be on our schedule. Maybe we'll even take two more days and really see all of it.