Blenheim Military Museum

Blenheim Military Museum A Canadian war resource centre and museum. The Blenheim Military Museum is a facility dedicated to the preservation of Blenheim’s local military history.

We are home to many artifacts, biographies of local people who have served in the military, and an extensive collection of military books. All of our books and artifacts have been donated and information for the bios has mostly been supplied by newspaper clippings and families. We are run completely by volunteers and supported through donations. Blenheim has a rich military history that needs to b

e preserved. We must never forget the sacrifice our veterans made for our freedom. Admission is by donation. Chairman: Chris Timmerman
Vice-Chairman: Grant Wilson
Treasurer/Secretary: Cathy Lanman

05/21/2026

If you have been following the News lately, The Canadian Military has stated publicly, that 2026 will be the last year for our Beloved Canadian Snowbirds Demonstration team. They say the planes are outdated and we need to move away from them and they say they are looking at a new plane to switch to.

This will last for 5 years or so until the switch is made.

Also the final Snowbird show is in the United States this year, but they are reconsidering this decision as the pressure is on to have the last Demo show here in Canada.

So look at the schedule and see when the Snowbirds will be in the area.

The Cf 18 demo plane won't be flying at air shows either as the Canadian Military is switching to a different plane,

So get out there and take in one last show. After this year it's over, until years down the road.

05/21/2026

We trust everyone had a Happy Victoria Day. Eventually we'll get warmer, but as they say wait 5 minutes and check in again. Typical Spring weather. This coming week is suppose to be warmer days.

With warmer days coming from the South and cooler air from the North we know not so good things to happen.

I suspect every one who's old enough, has heard these two words, Those being Tornado Alley. That means Tornadoes coming from Texas, USA Oklahoma, USA and Kansas, USA meaning most Tornado's being from there. But for the Past few years that is changing, as you know I'm from Illinois USA, living here in Canada with my wife. Last year my home state led the U.S. with apx 149 Tornado's, It was tied with Oklahoma.

This year Illinois is leading the way again, with apx 110 Tornado's. and we could have Tornado's up thru The end of December, 2026. Now the Official count won't be decided until 2027, when the National Weather service looks at all the available data.

So what I'm trying to say, if a Tornado warning is issued, please take it seriously. A warning means a Tornado has been Identified thru Radar or a actual visual sighting.

In 2004, when I was active duty, I was told that a Tornado had hit the community my mom, was living in was struck by a EF 3 Tornado, at that time they used the Fujita Scale back than. In 2007 they upgraded to The Enhanced Fujita Scale and since 2007 thats how we rate them now.

I took emergency leave and drove back to Illinois from Maryland, They allowed me to pass thru all the State Police Check points as my mom lived there.

For a couple of days the town was pretty much vacant. Eventually I found they had moved my mom and others out of town to the lodge at Starved Rock state park.

8 people had perished in that single Tornado. So when a warning is issued take cover in a room away from windows, get to lowest level, like a basement, if no basement is not there, than get into a Bathroom, lie in tub if you have one and if possible pull a mattress over you. If to many people get into a hall way.

Be like us and purchase a weather radio, it will give warnings etc about weather, and it will active with a loud warning if you program it that way. These radios are different than regular radios,

So keep your self and family as safe as possible. Yes were still here as The Blenheim Military Museum, but we would be doing a disservice if we didn't talk about things that could effect you and your loved ones.

So as someone I follow on Youtube who knows a lot about the weather of all types, He says Don't be scared, but be prepared. So be like me and follow his advice.

Student Summer Job Position Available!!The position requires the student to be at least 15 years old (as of January 1, 2...
05/12/2026

Student Summer Job Position Available!!

The position requires the student to be at least 15 years old (as of January 1, 2026) and they must be a student enrolled in high school, university or college. Hours required to work are Tuesdays to Saturdays, 10am-5pm for a total of 30 hours per week for 9 weeks.

05/07/2026

It is now May 7th, 2026 and all is quiet at the Blenheim Military Museum. We wish it wasn't this way but it is. It would be better if more People would pass thru our doors and come and see the various displays we have in our collection.

We realize the cooler weather may play a part for the lack of visitors. Yet something tells us this isn't the only reason. But as always we'll keep pushing forward.

On May 6th, 2026 we held our monthly meeting and various things were discussed. This past weekend we had a guest speaker come in and was very instrumental in showing us better ways to access military records of our service men and women. you may not know but the Blenheim Military Museum has around 1600 records of Military Veterans and we our looking to improve it, these Veterans are from the Local Area of Blenheim, Erieaua, etc.

We also have a extensive library of books here at the Museum. We do not loan out the books, but research from patrons may be done onsite with them.

This brings me to our next subject, as you know we are open on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 1 to 4 pm. We are also open on days when there is special events going on in the community, like the Car show, etc. On those days we often open before 1 pm and later than 4 pm. We operate on a Volunteer basis, that is why when you stop by you see the same people.

I my self am here on Thursdays from 1 to 4 pm, if you come around 4 pm, I'm not going to ask you to come back later, I will stay until you leave. I'm sure our other volunteers feel the same way.

Somewhere in the future we hope to be open on other days as well. Please remember if you want to bring a group of people in we will work with you to schedule a date and time. We are flexible on dates and times. So please call ahead.

This leads us to this, during the summer months when schools are out usually late June and until schools go back into session we are thankful that the Federal Government works with various organizations and assists in allocating funds to help pay for summer help. The funding for this year is limited to 9 weeks in length. This is a paid position for those that are wondering.

The position requires the individual to be 15 years (as of January 1, 2026) or older and they must be a student enrolled in high school, university or college.

The student being hired will be required to work approximately 7 hours per day, Tuesdays to Saturdays, 30 hours a week. We understand that the student may have certain appointments they must go to, but we would ask they be kept to a minimum.

The student must have a strong work ethic, and who can work alone at times. This position is not of a physical nature, but one that requires attention to detail. The student must have a desire to work with files, records, displays and must be a people person. We would ask that the perspective student be dedicated to the people we serve and the preservation of the men and women that have served this community and this great country, some of whom gave their very lives to ensure we have ours. A knowledge of Canadian Military History will be a positive but not a requirement for students that are applying.

So if you know of a student who can meet these qualifications and has a strong desire to be a part of the team, please have them drop off a resume or email us at [email protected]

We are located on the opposite side of the street from the Blenheim Library and Police Station. Thank you in advance.

Updates to follow.

04/30/2026

It's Thursday, April 30th, 2026. Four months have now passed since 2026 has began. Month 5 begins tomorrow. On Tuesday April 28th, The Blenheim Military Museum, hosted members of The Canada Scouts.

Between the Scouts Leaders and the Scouts themselves, I would venture to say around 30 in total. The Young boys, were asked a series of questions to which they answered in the affirmative as they knew the answers. They were well versed in Military history.

One young boy asked a lot of questions and could talk your ear off, which was a good thing.

The Museum itself still has things it needs done, before it gets where we want it. In due time it will get there.

Its a work in progress. WE as a Museum has moved beyond the notion that it was founded to be a ww1 or ww2 Museum, We believe that all Veterans should be reconized, from the War of 1812 to the Military of today. There is a lot of history in our area.

If you have a group of people who would like to come and visit, than call us at our number as listed. These visits can be set up and than you and your group can schedule a time and a day, outside our normal days and hours.

Again we would like to Thank the Canada Scouts for coming to visit us, and keep up the good work your doing.

04/28/2026

A short little story about Captain Gustav Schröder of the SS St Louis that should make everyone reading reflect on how awful the human race truly is:

May 13, 1939. The SS St. Louis sailed out of Hamburg with 937 Jewish passengers. Most of them children. All of them running for their lives. There were children on the ship who tried to kill themselves. Not because they wanted to escape. Because they would rather drown in the Atlantic than go back to Germany.
The crew had to guard the rails 24 hours a day. Watch them in shifts. Make sure no one slipped over the side.
These were 9-year-olds. 12-year-olds. Kids who knew exactly what was waiting for them at home.
They sold everything. Houses. Businesses. Wedding rings. Bought Cuban landing certificates with the last money they had.
The certificates were worthless. Cuba had quietly canceled them.
Captain Gustav Schröder did not know that when he sailed.
He was a German sea captain. 53 years old. Not a hero. Not a N**i. Just a man with a job.
Two weeks at sea. He watched these people start to hope again. Families celebrating. Children playing on deck. He let them hold Jewish religious services on a German ship. Treated them like passengers, not cargo.
May 27, 1939. They reached Havana harbor.
The Cuban government would not let them off.
Only 28 passengers had valid paperwork. The other 909 were trapped on a ship in sight of land that they could not touch.
Schröder fought for six days. Sent telegrams. Begged. Bribed. Negotiated.
Cuba said no.
He sailed north. Tried Florida.
The U.S. Coast Guard met him. Followed his ship up the coast to make sure he did not try to land anyone. Officers with guns watching desperate refugees from the deck of a cutter.
Some passengers could see Miami Beach and could see people sunbathing. Children waved at the shore.
The shore waved back.
Schröder sent telegram after telegram to President Roosevelt.
Mr. President. I have 937 souls on this ship. They will die if you send us back. Please.
Roosevelt never answered. Not once.
The American immigration quota was full. No exceptions for children. No exceptions for Jews running from Hi**er. No exceptions for anyone.
Canada said no as well.
By mid-June 1939, the company that owned Schröder's ship gave him a direct order:
Sail back to Hamburg. Deliver the passengers to the N**is.
This is the moment everything changed.
Schröder was a German citizen. He had a wife. He had a career. He had every reason on earth to follow orders.
He could have walked these people off the ship in Hamburg. Watched them get loaded onto trains. Gone home for dinner.
Instead, he made an announcement that nearly got him killed.
He would not return them. If no country would take his passengers, he would deliberately run his ship aground on the English coast. Wreck it. Force Britain to deal with the survivors.
He told his crew. He told the passengers. He told his bosses.
This was 1939 Germany. You did not threaten to defy the Reich and survive.
But Schröder had watched a child try to climb over the railing.
He could not deliver children to be murdered. He just could not.
The threat worked.
Suddenly the world remembered the St. Louis existed. Phone calls were made. Negotiations that had been ignored for weeks became urgent overnight.
Four countries finally cracked: Britain. France. Belgium. The Netherlands.
June 17, 1939. The St. Louis docked in Antwerp. The 909 passengers were divided up and walked off into four different futures.
They cried as they said goodbye to Schröder. This man had fought for them when their own governments would not. Had treated them like human beings when the world had already decided they were not.
Schröder sailed home to Germany. Quietly. Said nothing. Continued working through the war.
Here is the part that breaks you.
Within a year, Hi**er invaded France. Belgium. The Netherlands.
Of the 620 St. Louis passengers who had been sent to those three countries, 254 were eventually rounded up and murdered in concentration camps.
The 288 who had gone to Britain all survived.
If America had said yes — if Roosevelt had answered a single telegram — almost all of them would have lived to grow old.
Schröder lost his ship in 1940. Lost his career. The Allies bombed his home in Hamburg. He spent the war in a bombed-out apartment with his wife. They had nothing.
After the war, the survivors he had saved found him. Sent him food. Sent him money. Wrote letters by the dozens.
A German captain. Saved by Jews he had refused to deliver to Hi**er.
He died in 1959. Quiet. Almost unknown. He had never written a memoir. Never given interviews. Never talked about what he had done.
He told someone once that he had just done his job. Protecting his passengers was what captains were supposed to do.
In 1993, Israel named him Righteous Among the Nations. Honored alongside Oskar Schindler. Alongside Raoul Wallenberg. Alongside the people who looked at the Holocaust and refused.
He had been dead for 34 years.
Here is what makes this unbearable.
Schröder was not a Jew. He was not a refugee. He had no skin in this game. He could have followed orders and lived a quiet life and nobody would have remembered his name.
Instead he risked everything for 937 strangers because he could not stomach the alternative.
The American government could have made the same choice. The Cuban government could have. The Canadian government could have.
They all chose easier.
Roosevelt's silence killed 254 people.
The Coast Guard cutters that escorted the St. Louis up the Florida coast killed 254 people.
The immigration quotas that made no exception for children killed 254 people.
One German sea captain saved everyone he was allowed to save.
The world did not deserve him.
We still do not.

Regards,
Chris

04/23/2026

Another day at the museum, all is quiet, If you are planning a move or know of someone that is, before you throw things out, check to see if anything is of military value, things like uniforms, books, medals, pictures, model planes, ships, etc.

We are always interested in Canadian Military items, if you have doubts, etc, just give us a call, send a photo etc and we have resources we can use to see if they are.

Our info is on the main page. Thank you.

04/18/2026

If you having nothing to do on this rainy day, why not come into the Blenheim Military Museum and browse around and see what is new here.

Maybe check out some family history. We are always looking to update our database and our books.

We are open.

04/16/2026

On April 12th, 1945 and concluding on April 16th, 1945. A combined military Operation with Forces from Canada and Great Britain Called Operation Anger defeated what was then N**i Germany and pushed them out of Arnhem in The Kingdom of the Netherlands. Precovid My wife and I was on a two week trip in Europe and traveled to various places in Europe. We spent a few days in Arnhem and we visited various areas there.

We talked with one former Military Veteran from there and he told us it was easier to raise funds for Canadian Veterans who was coming there for events that had liberated Arnhem and the surrounding areas than it was for Boy Scouts to fundraise.

We visited a few Military Cemeteries in The Netherlands and the people there for the most part is forever great full.

Remember the Museum here in Blenheim is now open on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, from 1 pm to 4 pm. Also contact us if you would like to bring a group in and arrangements can be made, from above posted times.

Have a great day.

01/19/2026

Seeing it's the New Year, I thought I would type a few lines, It's me Lewis and Yes were back from the Philippines, while we didn't accomplish everything we set out to do we managed to work a few things in.

First off we arrived in Country meaning the Philippines on Dec 12th 2025. We were going to spend a week in Manila the Capitol, but only managed to spend about 3 days,

We were notified that my wife's brother had passed away. So we had to make arrangements to leave there as we had to fly to the Southern most Island of Mindanao. Before we left we did work in a trip to Clark Military Cemetery, miles and Miles outside of Manila.

More about that in a later article. Our Hotel we stayed in was called Hotel 101, ( The Fort ) it was in BGC Bonafacio Global City a Westernized Business district in Manila.

Upon us arriving there, I opened the Curtain to our Motel room, the following morning as we arrived at night, below and straight out from us was the American Military Cemetery a sprawling U.S. Military Cemetery.

More about that and Clark and their, Canadian Military Connections Later.

On Tuesday afternoon we left Manila and flew to Mindanao, where my wife's brother awaited burial, that would come on Saturday Dec 20th. So it took time as it was the Holidays and the Priest was very busy.

Somewhere in there my wife and I was honored to become our Four year old nieces God Parents. That was a honor in it self.

We were there on the Saturday before we left to attend a 8 hr, seminar on it. Than on Sunday we were there to have her baptized etc.

On Monday the 12th of January 2026 we departed the Philippines and arrived back in Canada and home on the 13th, of January, 2026.

When we got back to Canada we both became Ill, We were noticing symptoms before we left the Philippines, I think it was the Constant hot weather there, followed by running the Air Con and breathing in the cool air in those motels and home we stayed in, Plus traveling in vehicles, experiencing the constant heat, and the rain and traveling back to the motels in Air Con vehicles.

Vehicles in the Philippines usually don't have heat systems as it's always hot there.

But when your at a water park and than it rains for hours on end and than a couple of hours back to the motel, you wish you did.

After we arrived home our four cats welcomed us home and than the early morning hours of of January 14th, 2026 our second oldest female cat, passed away.

Twilight was only around 6 years old, she waited until we got got home to pass away. She will be missed and yes we both cried, I probably took it the hardest as I was home with her on a regular basis.

Her last act was to set along side Corky under our bed, a few inches away as Twilight always defended her Sister Tabitha from Corky and Bently our newly our newly adopted 2 year old male cats.

Twilight always came to Tabithas rescue when the 2 male cats wanted to be the Alpha cats, but Twilight wasn't having it.

So here we are trying to get better as were both under the weather, but recovering slowly.

So we hope you all had a Blessed Christmas and a Happy New year.

I have pictures to download before I can write those articles I talked about earlier.

Thank you for your continual support of the Blenheim Military Museum.

We'll keep you informed as to where we stand at the Museum, As for now were closed until Late March or Mid April. But we still having meetings and working on future projects. Thank you again.

Address

27 George Street
Blenheim, ON
N0P1A0

Opening Hours

Thursday 1pm - 4pm
Friday 1pm - 4pm
Saturday 1pm - 4pm

Telephone

+15196764222

Website

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