USA Travel Guide

Walking through an art museum – let’s say the Fresno Met – you’ll inevitably run into a gallery or two that you just don’t get. Maybe it’s a random jumble of black and red squiggles, maybe it’s a post-modern sculpture of a teddy bear wearing a sombrero eating a giant chicken, maybe you’re positive that you’re kid could do that.

Whatever it is, you can’t fight the feeling that this is only art because someone somewhere said it was art. That can be a fun intellectual challenge, but today I thought we’d look at something genuine. Here’s a museum that you can really get a feel for.

The Legion of Valor Museum is Fresno, California is like a hall of fame you never want to have to get in to. It represents the efforts of men and women driven beyond their limits, beyond what any country can reasonably ask of its citizens, beyond, as they say, the call of duty. The museum celebrates the lives and sacrifices of U.S. Armed Forces Medal of Honor and Cross recipients.

As they say on their Web site, “Membership is not achieved by birth, social position, political appointment, wealth [or] academic achievement…” Only extraordinary heroism in the line of duty, or “gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her life … against an enemy of the United States,” can earn a soldier, sailor, airman or marine a spot in this illustrious legion.

Well, when you put it like that, it’s no wonder the Legion of Valor Museum carries such an absorbing sense of reverence. The museum displays are donated largely by the medal recipients themselves. Framed citations, historic plaques, official letters, newspaper articles, stunning murals and one-of-a-kind photographs place you inside the stories of the heroes.

These pieces are joined by hundreds of authentic military artifacts – cannons, vintage rifles, a naval searchlight, uniforms from several eras, commissioned statues and munitions among them. It’s a provocative military museum and honorable celebration of some of the nation’s finest patriots all in one.

It’s also completely free to visit. The Legion of Valor Museum is open Monday – Saturday, 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m., no admission required (though donations certainly go to a good cause). Learn more.

Less than half a mile from the museum, the Holiday Inn Fresno Downtown Hotel offers a choice downtown location and sublime accommodations to go with. We almost always stay here when traveling through Fresno.

Have fun!

Note: One thing I forgot to mention is how gorgeous the building is. Some of the galleries feel a little cluttered, but in the grand expanses (like the lobby pictured above), there’s a soaring, magnanimous quality to it.