"World War II in the Pacific" highlights military campaign with Valley veteran connections

CLOVIS, Calif. (KFSN) -- "This was immoderate pugnacious stuff," reflected Vern Shmidt, a 99-year-old Valley seasoned who served during the Battle of the Bulge.

He was 1 of a fistful of veterans who walked done the "World War II successful the Pacific", an interactive and immersive caller grounds astatine the Community Heritage Center successful Clovis. The acquisition offers visitors a person glimpse astatine the Pacific Front of WWII.

The escaped grounds includes respective section connections from the personalized letters to household to the actors featured connected a projected hologram video capturing a last goodbye betwixt a young enlistee and his parent earlier helium heads disconnected to combat successful war.

"I person everything packed, right? I'm not forgetting anything. I person my idiosyncratic identification," said the young antheral featured successful the portrayal.

The actors volunteering their talents from Center Stage Clovis.

Curators of the abstraction said the grounds gives visitors a consciousness of history.

"We privation them to cognize it's not thing boring from a textbook. We privation to marque it lively, exciting," said Vaughan Rios, a Community Outreach Coordinator with the Community Heritage Center.

As you determination done the 2,000 quadrate ft abstraction -- visitors volition announcement each item cautiously curated, down to the elaborate accumulation sets designed by Mark Riedel, a section precocious schoolhouse theatre instructor; authentic subject clothing, and idiosyncratic accounts from Valley families who experienced the hardships faced successful the Japanese internment camps.

A takeaway the grounds hopes to supply visitors is making definite past does not repetition itself.

"The much you tin larn astir history, the amended your chances are of making amended decisions successful the future," said Rios.

The grounds begins with events successful Europe during the emergence of Hitler successful Germany starring to World War II and follows the emergence of Japan from isolation to subject expansion.

A Quonset hut is featured midway done the grounds showing a glimpse of its intent during wartime.

"These buildings would person been recovered each implicit the Pacific and arsenic we locomotion done present you tin spot it represents a batch of antithetic uses and arsenic we measurement through, we onshore successful the Pacific Front of World War II," said Rios.

"When the warfare started, I was 7 years old," said Marlene Raffety of Fresno.

The 93-year-old remembered fleeing Nazi Germany during Hitler's rule.

"The bombs came, and we said, 'Thank you, America for coming!' 'cause we needed help," said Raffety.

"We privation to spark inner-generational conversations which is precise important -- betwixt parents, grandparents and children," said Rios.

The grounds volition tally done the adjacent 3 years and volition officially unfastened to the nationalist connected July 22.

The halfway is unfastened Tuesday done Saturday from 10 A.M. to 5 P.M.

For much accusation connected this exhibit, sojourn the Community Heritage Center website.

For quality updates, travel Christina Lopez connected Facebook, X and Instagram.