Iwo Jima Memorial and Museum, Harlingen, Texas

While in the Rio Grande Valley, a must see for military historians is the Iwo Jima Memorial and Museum. The museum is small but packed with interesting artifacts and stories from Iwo Jima. On certain days, you can converse with USMC veterans of the battle of Iwo Jima who volunteer at the museum. I had an opportunity to speak for a couple of hours with a Marine veteran of Iwo Jima. He was a BAR (Browning Automatic Rifle) man in a Marine infantry unit charged with taking the island. It was a real honor meeting him. As with most combat veterans, he was friendly and would talk a little about the battle, but there is no bragging and you can tell that the combat memories are not necessarily good memories. What a great generation these World War II veterans are. We would be in a totally different America without them and their sacrifices.