The War Eagle Museum is a privately owned museum filled with historic aircraft and cars. It is located at the Dona Ana County airport at the border of New Mexico and Texas. We are only here because it popped up on the GPS as we were driving to El Paso.

I have zero expectations and only mild interest, but my husband loves military history and this place is chock full of WWII and Korean War Era planes. This may be a great stop. You never know.

We are the only people here other than the volunteers so we take our time as we wander along. I find I actually like getting up close and personal with aircraft. I am intrigued by the things pilots painted on their planes. Girlfriend’s names, pinup girls, kill tallies…and sometimes just random doodles like a boy relieving himself on the enemy’s flag. These personalizations make the objects more real. I have a strong sense of young men trying to survive a very bad situation with humor and thoughts of home.

There are large planes and small planes. Every variety of test planes sit all in a row. There are bombers and fighter planes. We walk through cargo planes and sit in helicopters. My husband is like a kid in a candy store.

I find my magic moment in the section of antique cars. They have my first car! I am in love with a 1960 VW bug. Manufactured before my birth, this model is a classic. It is exactly like the car I had to help rebuild before I could drive. My Dad spent hours getting it ready for me. I learned to fix the carburetor. We forgot to screw down the engine block and it fell as I was turning the corner at the courthouse. It took forever to heat up in the winter. My bass clarinet went in the trunk in front of the car. My little brother had me drive and drive and drive while he pretended to be Luke Skywalker and called me Princess Leia (a five year old imagination and a sister that would do anything to make him smile).

I am flooded with memories. This car was a big part of my young life. Still thinking about the happiness of being sixteen and learning to drive, I turned the corner and saw one of the first TWA planes. TWA was an iconic airline based out of St. Louis until they were taken over by American Airlines. It is another blast from my teenage past.

A volunteer invited us into the plane. It pays to be one of the only guests. We are getting VIP treatment. With permission, we sit down. As I look at the couches and China sets, I pretend I am part of an era when plane travel was sophisticated. It wasn’t always a cattle call.

After looking at a unique collection of airplanes made from kits, and I wonder who has enough confidence and courage to build their own plane. What made the early pioneers take to the skies in a plane they made of balsa wood and canvas? My feet would definitely stay on the ground.

I also wouldn’t have volunteered to be in the skies in a b52 bomber. The plane is large and the gun turrets are enough to give me nightmares. Sitting cramped in a glass turret while small fighter planes try to shoot you out of the sky and your fellow airmen push live bombs out of the bottom of the plane is not my idea of a good time. I’m look at holes in the bottom of the bomber and feel just a little more indebted to those that found the courage.

The War Eagle museum is full of planes and automobiles. In museums like this across the country we experience history. We can literally reach out and touch machines that helped win wars. And in each of these small and important spaces volunteers rebuild and maintain the artifacts. They understand the importance of remembering. War Eagle does it better than most.