Guns, bandages, reenactors and meals ready-to-eat. Camp Ripley’s Minnesota Military Museum brought it all out from behind their glass cases to showoff last week during their History After Hours event.
Minnesota Military Museum executive director, Jeff Thielen, says, “Most museums don’t allow people to handle any of the artifacts. And the nice thing about this event there was a good opportunity for people to handle each firearm and look in the side of a mortar and look down the sight of a rocket propelled grenade launcher.”
Not only did the museum allow the guests to interact with their artifacts, but they also made sure each piece had a story. And they used reenactors to help bring the history to life. They even allowed the guests to sample a soldier’s meals ready-to-eat.
The museum says teaching history is important for everyone, not just to the history buffs. A good understanding of history can prevent us from repeating some of our worst mistakes.
Hudson says, “It’s world history. Mankind has to learn by its mistakes. World War I Germany lost three, four million men, France lost that many. It’s important not to do that again.”
The Minnesota Military Museum is teaching their history seven days a week at Camp Ripley.

By — Lakeland PBS

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