OK KCSJ and WWI buffs, kick the knowledge ...

I'm on a road trip in mid-January that will take me through Kansas City. Will likely stay there on a Sunday night.

I lucked out because the World War I Museum is open on Monday that week because of MLK Day. I'm a huge WWI buff and would love to visit it.

Is it worth it? Is it for those with a scant knowledge of WWI? Or, can those with an advanced knowledge of the war, such as myself, enjoy it too? Is there an interactive exhibit where I can get mustard-gassed? Wait ... strike that last question.

What say you, KCSJ/WWISJ?

 

I've been to Verdun. SCOREBOARD!

 

So jealous.

K.C. is very, very high on my travel list -- been there twice, but not since the Negro Leagues or WWI museums opened. Just got a few other trips that have to come first.

 

My company had an event at the Liberty Memorial (WWI museum) last spring. I've lived here for most of my life, but had never been, despite being a big history guy.

After walking through that place, I was almost ashamed I'd never been there before. I only had a half hour to walk through, but I could have used three times that. I spent most of my walk in silence, trying to take it all in.

It's good. It's worth it.

 

I've always wanted to go to that museum, but never been to KC.

The WWI sections of the Imperial War Museum in London were terrific when I went many moons ago.

 

The WWI museum is definitely worth it. I'm not a buff, but enjoyed it. We took the wife's grandparents, and her grandpa is a big WWI buff and he thoroughly enjoyed it.

The Negro Leagues museum is damn cool, too.

 

All I know if WWI is that we didn't give up with the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor.

Is Patton in the WWI museum? That's when he started his love of tanks.

 

I gave a flip answer earlier, but Verdun was very cool. The visitor's center had a reconstruction of what the battlefield looked like, with trenches, concertina wire, and bodies. Wasn't too gory, but pretty grim. They said they still found a couple of pieces of explosive ordnance a month (this was 15 years ago). We toured the battlefield and saw the fortifications on either side -- German and French. Very sobering but also very interesting.

 

I went to France for my honeymoon. I would love to have gone to Verdun, but it didn't really fit the vibe, as you might imagine.

 

Bubbs, it's absolutely worth it. A great museum with some cool looks at primary sources and just all-around interesting stuff.

 

I can only imagine, FB, considering the French lost about a generation of men there and the Germans lost more than that trying to take the place. Along with the US coming into the fray, it was basically the battle that prevented the Germans/Central Powers from winning the war.

Along with Stalingrad, on the short list of one of the most ghastly battles in history.

 

Because of trench warfare and battle tactics that were behind the technology of the weapons, there were several bloodbaths in WWI.

Verdun is only one of them. The Somme, Tannenberg, Ypres, Gallipoli, the Brusilov Offensive, among other battles, all featured appalling loses.

At the Somme, the British lost 60,000 casualties in the first day of the battle, the most ever. By the end of the it, there were 1.3 million casualties in that battle.

In the Brusilov Offensive, when the Russians briefly put the Austrians and Germans back, there were 2.4 million casualties along the Eastern Front.

At Passchendaele, also called the Third Battle of Ypres, casualties approached one million in a sector that was probably no bigger than a typical U.S. county.

WWI was truly awful in the massive amount life lost for no significant purpose.