The Veterans Museum at Balboa Park honors the men and women who served in the United States Armed Forces, Coast Guard and Wartime Merchant Marine. Located in Balboa Park in the former WWII era Navy Chapel adjacent to the Veterans Memorial Garden with its B-24 Memorial and on the east side of the museum is the San Diego Vietnam Peace memorial listing all the San Diegans who were killed or listed as MIA during Vietnam.
The museum houses exhibits and displays honoring the contributions of American Service men and women are surrounded by artwork, murals, and multimedia displays throughout the museum. Seven murals by renowned painter Richard DeRosset adorn the walls of the museum and WWII era stained glass windows by Fred Wyland highlight the contributions of the Naval Hospital Staff, Patients, Navy Personnel and Commands and Veterans Organizations.
The museum has a Military History Research Library with over 7, 000 volumes, periodicals and multimedia in the collection and maintains an active veterns oral history project in partnership with the Library of Congress.
Docent led tours are available for groups and the museum also hosts book signings, historical seminars and programs, ceremonies and public events celebrating the contributions of Veterans including the annual San Diego Veterans Day Parade.
The museum hosts a monthly veterans memorial serivce on the 4th Saturday of each month at 12:30 PM reading the names of those veterans who passed away, active military who died in combat, and performs full honors military service for deceased homeless veterans. The public is invited.
