General Patton Museum, California - Tanks! Guns! And Leonardo Da Vinci?

If you drive interstate 10 from California to Arizona you might notice that the entire area is a desert wasteland. It doesn't mean that there isn't history to be found there. At the small town of Chiriaco Summit, California you can visit the General Patton Museum. I recently had the opportunity, here is what you can see.

When the US entered WWII the country was ill-prepared. In early 1942, just two months after Pearl Harbor, the Army decided that soldiers needed to be trained in desert warfare operations to become acclimated to the conditions of North Africa.

The man they sent to start up operations was none other than General George S. Patton Jr.

He created the Desert Training Center out of 18,000 square miles of this barren and rugged place. Soldiers, medics, tanks, and aircraft all came together to learn just what mother nature had in store for them.

During the winter troops could see a high of 100F in the day and below freezing at night. While in the summer, temperatures were often around 130F in the shade. The poor guys in the tanks had to endure oven-like conditions of around 160F. I've been in temps like this, it is no picnic believe me.

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They have an outside Tank Yard, but it was closed the day I visited.

Inside, the first display you see is of this World War I trench art.

You can just imagine the bored WWI soldiers unable to leave the trenches for weeks and months. With nothing to do besides think of the death all around them, I am sure unleashing their creativity gave them some of their humanity back.

I then spotted this cool newspaper with pictures of different WWI vehicles - some I have never seen before. They look like someone just made them in their garage, but I guess that is mainly how it was done in the early 1900's before Henry Ford perfected the assembly line.

Here is what the inside of the museum looks like.

Woah! What is a 47mm Japanese Type 1 Anti-Tank gun doing here? Sweet!
A Willys! What a classic vehicle, it really made a good impression on the soldiers that it found commercial success after the war. The design hasn't changed much at all in the 75 years since.

Hell yeah - a Bazooka! I want it!

Knives, Swords, and Bayonets - Oh my!

This is a small fold-out field kitchen. Come git yer slop!


I know I made fun of the field kitchen, but a warm meal was miles above whatever they put inside these things in the 40's. Blech!

I was really interested in these tank and plane models. However, my daughter liked something else entirely...

Piggy, bunny, fox, and "puppy"!

While a small museum, I enjoyed the visit. Not a bad place to spend some time if you want to stretch your legs on the long, desolate drive.

Plus, they have these Leonardo Da Vinci weapons of war reproductions - check out my article on that HERE.