General Patton Memorial

Our grant application is focused on enhancing the learning experience for all students who visit the museum and enable us to provide displays in offsite locations such as schools. The grant would enable the museum to purchase multiple portable displays/ exhibits and development graphics and artifacts for them. This would enable us to have more educational General Patton Memorial Museum displays at schools or libraries and to have temporary and rotating displays at the museum. One of the displays that we would like to do would focus on the role that the Coachella Valley played in the Allies’ victory. We would also create a display about how Gen. Patton overcame obstacles, like his learning disabilities to become one of the America's great Generals. Also Gen. Patton was prolific at generating quotes and principles and these would be woven into the exhibits. Education has always been the primary mission of the museum as reflected in our mission statement of "Preserving the Peace Through Lessons of the Past".

Contact: Margit Chiriaco Rusche

Email: mchiriacor@aol.com

Contact: Leslie M Cone

Email: LCone13343@aol.com

The General Patton Memorial Museum (GPMM), which has been open since November 1988, tripled its size in 2018 and has been working on enhancing educational opportunities, especially for children. Currently, very little history of World War II (WWII) is taught in elementary schools, and we will use this grant to expand our ability and resources so that we can fulfill our mission of "Peace Through Lessons of the Past". For several years, we have had a "Patton Cadets Program" which included tours for school groups. We are hoping to continue this program in 2021 when schools resume in person learning. However, we also want to enhance/expand our resources. Our grant application is focused on enhancing the museum experience for all children who visit the museum, not just those who are on school tours. We have recently developed a scavenger hunt for children which highlights important aspects of the history of Gen. Patton, the Desert Training Center, WWII and the development of the Coachella Valley. We will be developing some hands-on exhibits for children and will be editing the existing historical videos to be more children focused. Furthermore, we plan to develop a "Welcome Package" especially for children that can be given upon entering. This package would contain a wrist band, color book, pencil and the scavenger hunt. We also be able to give out stickers to all children who successfully complete the scavenger hunt. We now have a Library which contains approximately 4,000 books, many of which tell the personal accounts of WWII soldiers/sailors and units. Additionally, we have an extensive collection of pictures and letters that could make WWII more personal to children/students and enhance their learning. We will be developing a "teachers lesson plan" for local teachers so that they know the resources that are available to them at the GPMM. We will include our "Welcome Package" for use in the classroom, with a video aimed at teaching students about the unique role in history that the Coachella Valley played in winning WWII. We currently have a video of our museum exhibits and would like to develop one especially for children. Another highlight of our hands-on children's exhibits would be the enormous changes in technology from WWII to current. We have a large collection of military vehicles, radios, field equipment etc. that provides first-hand experience with WWII technology. We believe that these enhancements will enable us to improve and enhance ALL children's experience.

The General Patton Memorial Museum's mission is to "Promote peace by honoring the service and sacrifice of America's veterans while educating the public on modern US Military history through the preservation and interpretation of artifacts from the major conflicts of the 20th and 21st Centuries."

"Preserving the Peace through the lessons of the past."

Located in Chiriaco Summit, the Museum is devoted to educating students about the history of Patton, his principles, and how they continue to impact the Military today. As a national destination, the Museum strives to inspire and educate all lives within the stories of our brave men and women who protect our freedom.

Over the next year, the Museum will bring over 1800 students to the Museum and educate them about General Patton, the Desert Training Center, and the men and women who serve our country. As the Museum grows and expands, we will offer the public an opportunity to visit the museum with an interest and leave with passion, pride, and patriotism. Offering the public, especially students, an opportunity to hear the stories of our brave men and women throughout the exhibits, creates more than memories. It provides an experience that changes the lives of these students forever.

The Project the Anderson Children's Foundation grant will be helping is the creation of a new Library-Research-Center within the General Patton Memorial Museum. Presently the GPMM has thousands of books, biographies and other military documents no one get to see. The new Library-Research-Center will allow high school and college students from nearby communities to come and learn from all the historical information available at the GPMM. 

The Scanner/Printer/copiers will allow the museum to first scan into our computer every old fragile documents, photographs and maps. Once they have been scanned and saved, the original can be properly stored away. Then when students or professional researchers want to print out one or more of these vital documents they can do so.