The Wheels of Liberation museum, located at 1045 Barlow Two Taverns Rd., is planning its 3rd annual open house on June 27 and 28. The event will feature military vehicles, demonstrations (including Cromwell, Sherman, and T-34 tanks in working condition), living history displays, and other events.
The museum has an enormous collection of military vehicles, including Allied WW2 tanks and tank destroyers, self-propelled guns, halftracks, armored cars, personnel carriers, field/anti-tank/anti-aircraft artillery, gun tractors, trucks, jeeps, staff cars, motorcycles, small arms, and uniforms. The special emphasis is on the contribution of Polish armed forces from 1939-1945, including the 1940 fight in France; Tobruk, North Africa (1941); Monte Cassino in Italy; the Normandy breakout; and Operation Market Garden.
The museum is organized into galleries which feature the equipment of the original 1939 war in Poland; the 1940 battle of Narvik, France; the operations of the Polish Independent Carpathian Brigade in North Africa; the Polish 2nd Corps in Italy; and the Polish Armored Division in the ETO. “We want people to be aware of the contributions Polish fighter made,” said museum director Miroslaw Hrycak. “But we also want to show the vast arrangements of vehicles the Allies used at various times of the war.”
Many vehicles will be outdoors and in running order. The museum has a large workshop in New Oxford where a corps of volunteers works to get vehicles into working condition.
Ticket prices are $20 for a one day ticket, $30 for 2-days, with discounts for seniors, youth under 18, and active-duty military, veterans, or first responders.
The museum isn’t yet open to the public but the crew maintains an active schedule of demonstrations at events like the recently completed Mid-Atlantic Air Museum show in Reading and Gettysburg’s Memorial Day parade.
