Operation Fredericksburg

Suddenly the quiet of the Hill Country afternoon is shattered by the sounds of warfare. A Japanese kamikaze aircraft screams toward an American destroyer while US fighters desperately try to shoot it down before it strikes home. Nearby, similar battles rage as the War of the Pacific is recreated on film and tape for visitors to the Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg.

The original building at this park honors Fredericksburg's most famous son: Chester William Nimitz. Born on February 24, 1885 in a small house on Fredericksburg's Main Street. Nimitz left Fredericksburg after high school, heading off to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, and eventually to his role as Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific (CinCPac) during World War II. In that position, Nimitz was in charge of 2.5 million troops, from the time he assumed command 18 days after the attack on Pearl Harbor until the Japanese signed the Instrument of Surrender September 2, 1945 on board the Battleship Missouri. Nimitz holds the honor of being the last of the five star admirals.

Every visitor to this hill country town has seen the Admiral Nimitz Center—there's no way to miss it. Located on Main Street, the center keeps a watchful eye on the comings and goings in town from its perch in what was once a steamship hotel. It was built by Admiral Nimitz's grandfather, Captain Charles H. Nimitz, one of the area's first settlers in 1846. The patriarch of the Nimitz family had spent time in the merchant marines and chose to add a structure much like a ship's bridge to the front of his hotel, earning it the name the Steamboat Hotel.

Today, the Admiral Nimitz State Historical Park is a blend of the old and the not-so-old. The building's early history as a hotel is preserved along with a detailed account of Chester Nimitz's military career.

Several rooms of the original hotel serve as examples of the original purpose of the structure. On the second floor, visitors may view the Robert E. Lee Room, where the hotel's most famous guest stayed. Stationed at Fort Mason, Colonel Lee was a frequent guest at the hotel and a personal friend of Nimitz's grandfather. Today, the Lee Room, where the colonel last stayed on February 18, 1861, is a good example of the no-frills hotel room of the period, with its simple bed, quilt and washstand.

The hotel's kitchen is preserved on the first floor of the museum. The huge room, well stocked with iron kettles and skillets, saw the preparation of many a meal for hungry travelers on their way to California.

Perhaps the biggest attraction of the hotel was its bathhouse. Located a short walk from the kitchen, this was billed as the only bathhouse between San Antonio and San Diego! Standing on the cool stone floor, visitors can almost imagine weary, dust-covered travelers sinking thankfully into a warm bath in one of the two metal troughs hidden behind the flimsy curtains.

The career of Chester Nimitz began long before World War II. The Nimitz Center contains three floors worth of displays in chronological order, beginning with the first floor exhibits on life in old Fredericksburg, Nimitz's boyhood and his naval academy days. Follow the timeline from room to room, with photos and memorabilia that belonged to the Nimitz family. The first floor also contains the Pearl Harbor Gallery, with its continual radio broadcast on the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

The second floor exhibits are perhaps the most popular. Climbing the stairs, visitors are confronted with a giant map of the Pacific. For those unfamiliar with the sequence of the war in the Pacific, this is an excellent place to start. Tiny lights built into the map trace each campaign and battle that raged across the Pacific as the audio tape broadcasts results of the confrontations, from the tiny island struggles to the bombing of Hiroshima.

Both the American and the Japanese side of the war are displayed through the many exhibits on this floor. Visitors will see American and Japanese uniforms, flags, photos, and other artifacts that show the human element of wartime.

Climbing to the third floor, visitors will hear the voices of people reminiscing about Admiral Nimitz. In a series of small alcove rooms, visitors can hear the reading of letters written by Nimitz, as well as the recounting of anecdotes about the famous naval leader.

In one of the alcoves, Mrs. Nimitz reads a letter that her husband wrote to a young girl wanting to know what she should do to prepare herself for adulthood. "Read good books and learn to speak your language correctly. Study history and be familiar with the sacrifices made by earlier Americans to make a country a wonderful place to live."

Perhaps there's no better place to become familiar with these sacrifices than the Admiral Nimitz State Historical Park. A history buff could easily spend days wandering among the many exhibits or watching clips of W.W.II newsreels, but there's much more to see outside the museum. Behind the old hotel, visitors can see the Garden of Peace, built by the people of Japan as a symbol of peace and respect for Nimitz. The Fredericksburg hero realized the personal tragedy that both sides suffered, and his empathy won him the respect of the Japanese following the war. Nimitz had considered himself a disciple of Japanese hero Admiral Togo, and after the war he returned Togo's samurai swords and started a fund to restore the Japanese leader's flagship Mikasa.

Today the Garden of Peace stands as a quiet symbol of friendship between the once warring nations. A replica of Admiral Togo's study stands at the entrance to the garden, built in the simple Japanese style, with shoji screens and tatami floor mats overlooking a gentle, goldfish-filled stream. A walk through the Garden allows visitors time to contemplate the many wartime exhibits they have seen, and to contrast them to the peaceful setting of the garden. Visitors may stop and rest on benches under the cool shade, looking out on the stream and the timeless beauty of the Japanese garden.

"By the beauty of this garden, the Japanese and Americans who worked together to build it hope to transform this spiritual attachment between Admiral Chester Nimitz and Heihachiro Togo, their friendship and respect for one another into a friendly relationship between the people of Japan and the United States," wrote Taketora Saita, designer of the Garden of Peace. "The wishes of the two working committees have turned into success as you see the beautiful garden, a living memorial to this friendship."

Leaving the serenity of the garden, it's a three block stroll down to the Pacific History Walk. Here, in a park-like setting, the artifacts of war are preserved--everything from Quonset huts to torpedoes.

Visitors enter the History Walk under two enormous guns raised as if to shoot down some invisible enemy. Ahead lies a metal building filled with Pearl Harbor artifacts such as "Val," a Japanese bomber used in the attack. A notebook located in this building gives veterans who served under Admiral Nimitz the opportunity to comment of their experiences and sign up for a newsletter.
Much of the war in the Pacific was fought on the sea, and below the surface as well. The submarine fleet was not destroyed at Pearl Harbor, and it became an integral part of the Allied Pacific defense. Exhibited on the Pacific History Walk is the fairwater of the USS Pintado, the submarine which sunk the largest Japanese merchant ship of the war, the Tonan Maru.

Past the Pintado stands a massive aircraft hangar, now home of "Kyofu" or "Mighty Wind," the Japanese float plane designed for landing when there was no available airfield. Also exhibited in the hangar are various engines, a 20-mm machine cannon, and a "fat man" atomic bomb case like the one dropped on Nagasaki with a force of 21,000 tons of TNT.

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