Fascinated by Military History?
Did you know that the largest escape by German prisoners of war from an American POW camp occurred right here in Phoenix, Arizona? Did you know that a total of six flags have flown over the state? Did you know that a Civil War battle was fought less than 75 miles from Phoenix? The details of these incidents and many more, plus rare artifacts and fascinating displays are all ready to be discovered at the Arizona Military Museum.

The Arizona Military Museum in Phoenix, Arizona, has recently repainted, renovated our history library, added new displays, and updated previous displays. If you haven't visited the Museum in awhile, you'll want to stop by again. The museum is an official activity of the Arizona National Guard operated by the Arizona National Guard Historical Society, Inc. The purpose of the society is to collect, preserve and display the military history of Arizona. The period of military history covers the arrival of the Spanish Conquistadors to the present. The museum strives to be of service to scholars, students, past and present servicemen and women and to the general public.

The museum building itself is a part of Arizona’s military history. The 1936 raw adobe building housing the museum was built under the USA Work Program as a National Guard Arsenal and was used as WWII maintenance shops for German prisoners at the Papago Park Prisoner of War Camp.

The Arizona Military Museum has displays of uniforms, vehicles, artillery and miscellaneous mementos from military encounters dating all the way back to the Spanish Conquistadors. As you walk by these displays, progressing from the Civil War to the Indian and Spanish-American Wars, both World Wars, Korea, Vietnam and, finally, Desert Storm, the scope of Arizona's extensive military history takes shape. In a newly expanded room dedicated to POWs and MIAs, you can look down on a complex diorama showing how the 25 German Navy officers and enlisted men escaped from Papago Park Prisoner of War Camp through a tunnel dug under a fence-sort of "The Great Escape" in reverse. (All the Germans were re-captured, however.) 

In a large room, housing the updated Vietnam display, sits a UH-1M Army Helicopter looking much, as it must have thirty years ago, ready for combat over the jungles of southeast Asia. Kids and adults both love to climb into the cockpit, take the controls and let their imaginations fly. Another new display focuses on the Arizona National Guard. It demonstrates how members of our state's Guard participated as support or in actual combat in national and world conflicts from 1865 to the present. (see: Inside the Museum)

The museum shares the building with the Arizona Regional Training Institute on Papago Military Reservation at 52^nd Street and East McDowell Road. The Museum theme is "Lest We Forget", to remind visitors of those in uniformed military service who served their country or lost their lives in combat.