Followed up my Plaza de Panama Project tour by visiting the Veterans Museum and Memorial Center, also in Balboa Park. They were getting ready for an afternoon function and told me I have about half an hour to walk around and check out the displays. Got taken on a personal tour by docent Terry Truitt that lasted almost two hours because the function started much later than they thought. Along the tour I also met with and talked to Richard Derosset, the artist who painted all the memorial murals inside the museum. The museum was a little oddly laid out, mainly because up until about twenty years ago it was the San Diego Naval Hospital Chapel. The main entrance had two full-size dioramas that will be torn down in about a month for some remodeling. Past those was the main hall with the wall murals and display cases. A hallway which made a u-turn around the back the building showed many paintings, diagrams and photographs. The whole museum came across as a little cluttered but then they really don’t have the room or proper building layout to be able to display the pieces much better. All in all it was a very interesting tour with Terry. He had many good stories to pass along.
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