Museum of American Armor
In
a move designed to further strengthen Nassau
County’s destination tourism industry, while
simultaneously providing a new source of revenue for
the county’s park system, the 25,000-square-foot
Museum of American Armor was born, just inside the
grounds of the Old Bethpage Village Restoration.
The ability of the museum to create a military armored column among vintage farm houses and country roads, accurately replicating the sights and sounds of American forces during World War II, stands as one of the most compelling educational tools our region has at its disposal, in telling the seminal story of American courage, valor, and sacrifice—a virtual time machine, if you will.
Once visitors walk through the museum’s camouflaged front doors—which have been heavily sandbagged, similar to the way important bunkers were protected some 70 years ago—they are greeted by a stunning display of some 30 vehicles. Half a dozen times a year, in coordination with Old Bethpage Village Restoration programming, these vehicles are presented in the field, or on the village’s country roads, as living historians offer skilled demonstrations of WWII tactics.
Operational vehicles on public display include an iconic Sherman tank, a Stuart light tank used extensively by the Marines during their Pacific campaigns, a potent 155 mm howitzer, reconnaissance vehicles that acted as armored scouts for American forces, anti-aircraft guns, and similar weapons that broke the back of the Axis powers during World War II.
Other vehicles range from a classic LaSalle staff car in the markings of a Fleet Admiral, to jeeps, weapons carriers, and half-tracks. Multimedia displays augment this exhibition, as visitors young and old have the unique opportunity to view tanks under repair and restoration.
