National Military History Center

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Website: www.militaryhistorycenter.org
Phone: (260) 927-9144

The World War II Victory Museum was established in 1999 through the generosity of its founders, Dean and Kristin Kruse, and their sons, Dima and Devin, of Auburn, Indiana. The World War II Victory Museum contains one of the world’s most impressive collections of artifacts from the Second World War.

The collection includes approximately 150 vehicles and hundreds of uniforms, weapons and smaller artifacts. The majority of this collection comes from the former Victory Memorial Museum that was located in Messancy, Belgium. Due to the Victory Memorial Museum's location (it was located in the Ardennes Forest region, approximately 30 miles from Bastogne, and was near areas where heavy fighting occurred during the Battle of the Bulge) many of the pieces that are now in the collection of the World War II Victory Museum are survivors of the Battle of the Bulge.

The collection was transported from the Belgian facility of the Victory Memorial Museum to its current home in Auburn during the months of October 2001 until January 2002. This impressive collection of artifacts includes many rare and, sometimes, the only known surviving examples of certain pieces.

By obtaining such an outstanding collection of artifacts, the World War II Victory Museum has a solid base upon which to build. The museum celebrated its grand opening in May 2003. However, much planning, fund raising, investment, and hard work remain to be accomplished before the museum nears the realization of its long-term goals.

Kruse Automotive & Carriage Museum
Website: www.kccmuseum.org

The museum houses a variety of vehicles ranging from antique carriages to movie cars to race cars! The cars are on display in a 40,000 square foot display area.