BOALSBURG — The Pennsylvania Military Museum will celebrate Veterans Day with three days of events for all ages.
On Veterans Day, Friday, Nov. 11, the museum will offer free admission to veterans and their families. Visitors can attend a free workshop, “Fundamentals of Military History: Genealogy and Research,” at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
The museum and the Centre County Library in Bellefonte are partnering to present the workshop.
Museum administrator Tyler Gum will discuss what military history is and how to perform military history research. Robbin Zirkle, the information services librarian for the Pennsylvania Room and the Centre County Library, will talk about how to use military service records for genealogical inquiries.
Kids of all ages are invited to attend “Kids Day: Dress Up and Discover” from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 12. Museum admission is required for this event.
“Kids Day is an effort to engage youth and make history fun instead of drudgery,” said museum educator Joe Horvath. “They get to hold the collections, play dress-up and experience history in a new way.”
During Kids Day, attendees will have the opportunity to visit education stations, wear uniforms, head gear and field gear from the museum education collections, and take photographs of themselves dressed as a soldier, sailor, airman or marine.
Former Marine Jim Snyder will show kids and their parents how to put on uniforms and equipment properly, and give them information about what they are wearing. Kids Day education stations in the museum galleries provide additional hands-on experiences.
Visitors can handle and compare military rifles from the for-use collection, including an M1 carbine, Mausers from World War I and WWII, and WWI machine guns from Germany and Austria.
At another education station, visitors can talk with master model builder Mike Siggins, of State College, and see examples of his work. Siggins creates historically accurate dioramas, primarily from World War II, featuring tanks, trucks and other military vehicles. His work has been published in Fine Scale Modeler Magazine, and some of his models are on display at the Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Va.
Siggins likes to evoke certain feelings with his work. “If it’s a winter diorama, I want viewers to sense that the people in the scene are cold.”
“A diorama should tell a story,” he said. “That story could be as simple as showing the historical context. I’m drawn to the gritty, in-the-mud reality of combat scenes.”
He said his dioramas are 1/35 scale. “To put that in context, a person at 1/35 scale would have a head the size of a pea.”
Siggins uses information from his research to modify commercially available kits, or build models from scratch, using styrene plastic and acrylic paints. He colors the heads of figures with artist’s oil paints, using a cat’s whisker to apply the eyes.
On Sunday, Nov. 13 at 1 p.m., the Eight Air Force Historical Society is partnering with the Pennsylvania Military Museum to show a documentary film, “In the Footsteps of Bud Owens.” The film follows a group of young French and Americans who hike the route taken by Frances “Bud” Owens, of Pittsburgh. He bailed out of his crippled B-17 over Normandy in 1943, evaded capture, and attempted to cross the Pyrenees Mountains into Spain and freedom.
The Pennsylvania Military Museum and Gift Shop, 51 Boal Ave., Boalsburg, is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily through Wednesday, Nov. 23.
For more information, call (814) 466-6263.
Karen Dabney is a volunteer at the Pennsylvania Military Museum.
