Combined Military Services Museum facts for kids
| Established | July 5, 2004 |
|---|---|
| Location | Combined Military Services Museum Station Road Maldon Essex CM9 4LQ United Kingdom |
| Type | War museum |
The Combined Military Services Museum is a special place in Maldon, Essex, that opened its doors on 5 July 2004. It was started by Richard Wooldridge, who wanted to share his amazing collection of military items with everyone. He had spent many years gathering these pieces.
To help create the museum, a charity was set up in 1996. This charity helped raise money to find a building. In 2001, they found the perfect spot: an old warehouse in Maldon. This building was then changed a lot to become the museum you see today. As the museum was being set up, more items were added through gifts and new purchases. In 2007, the museum received a grant from the National Lottery, which helped them make the museum even bigger. This expansion was finished in November 2008, making space for the important Donnington Historic Weapons Collection.
Contents
Discovering Military History
The Combined Military Services Museum is a fantastic place to learn about military history. It shows how brave soldiers and secret agents worked. You can see many different items from various military services.
What You Can See
One of the most exciting items at the museum is a Cockle Mark II canoe. This type of canoe was used by a group of very brave soldiers called the "cockleshell heroes" during Operation Frankton. They went on a daring mission in these small canoes.
The museum also has a large collection of equipment from the Special Operations Executive (SOE). The SOE was a secret British organization during the Second World War. They carried out secret missions behind enemy lines. You can see many of the tools and gadgets they used.
The Donnington Collection
A very important part of the museum is the Donnington Historic Weapons Collection. This collection includes many different weapons from history. It also has a special replica of the Victoria Cross metal. The Victoria Cross is the highest award for bravery in the British military. All original Victoria Cross medals are made from bronze taken from a captured Russian cannon. The original piece of this cannon is still kept very safely at MoD Donnington.
The Riggal Papers
Among the rarest items at the museum are the Riggal Papers. These are the training records of Captain P M Riggal. He was an instructor for the SOE, teaching secret agents. These papers were found 50 years after the end of the Second World War. They give us a unique look into how these secret agents were trained.
Sharing History with the World
The museum also shares its amazing collections with other museums. On 7 September 2016, almost 100 items from the museum's SOE and Mason collections traveled to Paris, France. They were displayed at the Musée de l'Armée, a famous military museum. The exhibition was called "Guerres Secretes" which means "Secret Wars." It ran from 12 October 2016 to 29 January 2017. This shows how important the museum's collections are, even to other countries.
