Everybody's War

Please take the time to enjoy a small selection of the artifacts that we have on display at the Museum of World War II. Every artifact in our collection has its own history, and ties to human lives. Each artifact has a small section of its story told here.

You can use this map to jump to any section of the Museum of World War 2 to view a selection of the artifacts displayed there.

You can click any image for a larger view.

This section contains artifacts specifically about how World War 2 was Everybody's War. This section has documents and artifacts from famous people, and how the war affected their lives. From Queen Elizabeth and Harry Truman, to Babe Ruth and George Bernard Shaw, the titanic events of World War II affected everyone on the planet. These documents give an intimate look at how the war affected all people, regardless of their rank or walk of life.

PLEASE NOTE: All firearms displayed at the Museum of World War II have been rendered inoperable.

Map of the Museum

King George VI & Queen Elizabeth. Christmas card showing bomb damage to Buckingham Palace.

Queen Elizabeth to Alfred Duff Cooper, May 14, 1940: “We are an inarticulate people and we need men who can speak for us and put into words the fiery resolution that is burning in our hearts. I have no doubt that we shall be tested almost beyond endurance but I have utter confidence in our people.”

Alfred Einstein, March 9, 1945: “…Is the age in life after which one sees, remarkably clearly and unsparingly, man as he really is….the abominable [regime]…if falling to dust….it would not be entirely illogical to erect a statue of the miserable Hitler in the foyer of the future world government, to the might promoter of the conviction of the need for a supernational organization….”

Edward VIII

Babe Ruth

T. S. Eliot

Walt Disney

Gene Autrey

Harry S. Truman

Richard M. Nixon

Lyndon B. Johnson

Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall

Clark Gable & Ronald Reagan

Charles Lindbergh

Frank Lloyd Wright

Joe Louis

John F. Kennedy: “It is requested that I be reassigned to a motor torpedo boat squadron now operating in the South Pacific.”

Ronald Reagan, June 7 [1942]: “Having held a reserve officer’s commission for several years, the party of Dec. 7th soon resulted in a change of jobs for me. Well, one of these days we’ll finish the job and then maybe, who knows, we’ll meet again….”

Somerset Maugham

Thomas Mann

Robert Stroud, The Bird Man of Alcatraz

Judy Garland

J. Edgar Hoover

Irving Berlin

Herbert Hoover

H. G. Wells

Gypsy Rose Lee

Ernie Pylea

Ezra Pound

Dorothy Sayers

Albert Einstein

Mario Lanza, April 20, 1943, complains bitterly of being stationed in the desert and the effects on his singing: “Away from this boring army life and back to Grand Opera where I really belong.”

Ernest Hemingway, letter, July 26, 1946: “…Into Paris…ahead of anybody. Was a fine day. Best of my life….you would have enjoyed chasing the Krauts from then on too.”

Hemingway's press pass to the front line in the Spanish Civil War.

George Bernard Shaw: "Churchill has lost his temper."