Cannon Falls Military History Museum

10/19/2025

Save the date! Come join us at the Grand O2 Event Center in Cannon Falls on Saturday and Sunday! This Fall show has more than 100 tables featuring one-of-a-kind militaria and weaponry! You dont want to miss this! 🇺🇸

04/07/2025

It’s going to be a beautiful weekend! Come join us at the Grand O2 Event Center in Cannon Falls on Saturday and Sunday! This Spring show has more than 100 tables featuring one-of-a-kind militaria and weaponry! You dont want to miss this! 🇺🇸

04/30/2024

On this day in 1945 the U.S. Army liberated Dachau.

The U.S. Seventh Army’s 42nd Rainbow Division and the 45th Thunderbird Division liberate Dachau, the first and one of the most notorious concentration camps established by Germany’s N**i regime. Soldiers of the 3rd Battalion, 157th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Felix L. Sparks, at the sight of naked, emaciated bodies experienced vomiting, crying, disbelief, and rage.

Dachau was surrendered to Brigadier General Henning Linden of the 42nd Infantry Division of the U.S. Army by Untersturmführer (2nd Lt.) Heinrich Wicker who was left in charge as the commanding officer and the regular guards escaped the camp prior to the arrival of the American troops.

Estimates say at least 160,000 prisoners passed through the main camp, and 90,000 through the sub camps. Incomplete records indicate that at least 32,000 of the inmates perished at Dachau and its sub camps, but countless more were shipped to extermination camps elsewhere.

11/10/2023

Come see us this Saturday and Sunday at the Grand O2 Event Center as we celebrate Veteran’s Day and display and sell tons of one of a kind military items🇺🇸

04/14/2023

11/11/2022

The Cannon Falls Military History Museum will be open this VETERANS DAY with an extensive display of Spanish American War, Mexican Border War and World War One historic military items. Displays include: The Weapons of War, Pioneer Infantry, Cavalry, Air Service, Navy, Marine Corps, Spanish American War and Mexican Border War items. All items are from the associated era with no reproductions of remakes, making every item at least 100 years old.

This years display features the largest known private collection of WW1 militaria in Minnesota. Because this collection is so extensive, it is anticipated that the museum will be displaying this era indefinitely, bringing in different artifacts on a regular basis. For all of you history buffs, this is a display that you won't want to miss. It will include items from the Civil War through the Occupation Of Germany after WW1.

New Displays for this year are:

Civil War display with historic photos, weapons, ammunition, uniform items, field gear and era ephemera.

Vietnam War era American Field Gear Display and artifacts.

Vietnam display depicting the uniforms, awards, citations and personal items belonging to Richard Stock an Army First Sergeant from Cannon Falls who served for 23 years. During those years Richard served in Vietnam, Alaska, Europe and numerous bases in the continental U.S.

There has also been many new war era items added to all displays since last year. Come take a look!!!

AS ALWAYS, free appraisals are available for your military items that are brought to the museum.

There is NO CHARGE for admission to the museum. Please follow the museum signs that will be posted along County Road #24 west of the new highway overpass on Highway #52 and County Road #24 (about 2.5 miles). The address is: 33504 Warsaw Trail. Museum hours are: FRIDAY, VETERANS DAY ONLY from 10am until 2 pm. The museum will be closing after Veterans Day.

*** For all of the people that supported the museum for the last 10 years, our family is very appreciative. Your support was essential to the museums regional success. We will miss your friendly faces. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. ❤️🤍💙🇺🇸 ***

10/15/2022

Judy, a purebred pointer, was the mascot of several ships in the Pacific, and was captured by the Japanese in 1942 and taken to a prison camp. There she met Aircraftsman Frank Williams, who shared his small portion of rice with her.

Judy raised morale in the POW camp, and also barked when poisonous snakes, crocodiles or even tigers approached the prisoners. When the prisoners were shipped back to Singapore, she was smuggled out in a rice sack, never whimpering or betraying her presence to the guards.

The next day, that ship was torpedoed. Williams pushed Judy out of a porthole in an attempt to save her life, even though there was a 15-foot drop to the sea. He made his own escape from the ship, but was then recaptured and sent to a new POW camp.

He didn't know if Judy had survived, but soon he began hearing stories about a dog helping drowning men reach pieces of debris after the shipwreck. And when Williams arrived at the new camp, he said: "I couldn’t believe my eyes! As I walked through the gate, a scraggly dog hit me square between the shoulders and knocked me over. I’d never been so glad to see the old girl!"

They spent a year together at that camp in Sumatra. "Judy saved my life in so many ways," said Williams. "But the greatest of all was giving me a reason to live. All I had to do was look into those weary, bloodshot eyes and ask myself: 'What would happen to her if I died?' I had to keep going."

Once hostilities ceased, Judy was then smuggled aboard a troopship heading back to Liverpool. In England, she was awarded the Dickin Medal (the "Victoria Cross" for animals) in May 1946. Her citation reads: "For magnificent courage and endurance in Japanese prison camps, which helped to maintain morale among her fellow prisoners, and also for saving many lives through her intelligence and watchfulness".

At the same time, Frank Williams was awarded the PDSA's White Cross of St. Giles for his devotion to Judy. Frank and Judy spent a year after the war visiting the relatives of English POWs who had not survived, and Frank said that Judy "always provided a comforting presence to the families."

When Judy finally died at the age of 13, Frank spent two months building a granite and marble memorial in her memory, which included a plaque describing her life story.🎖️❤️🤍💙

08/07/2022

Thank you for serving. No matter the cost.

In honor of National Purple Heart Day, the Cannon Falls Military Museum would like to give a giant shout out and thank you to our friend Chad Sheridan.
We are so proud to know you🇺🇸💜

07/02/2022

The Cannon Falls Military History Museum will be open this weekend with an extensive display of Spanish American War, Mexican Border War and World War One historic military items. Displays include: The Weapons of War, Pioneer Infantry, Cavalry, Air Service, Navy, Marine Corps, Spanish American War and Mexican Border War items. All items are from the associated era with no reproductions of remakes, making every item at least 100 years old.

This years display features the largest known private collection of WW1 militaria in Minnesota. Because this collection is so extensive, it is anticipated that the museum will be displaying this era indefinitely, bringing in different artifacts on a regular basis. For all of you history buffs, this is a display that you won't want to miss. It will include items from the Civil War through the Occupation Of Germany after WW1.

New Displays for this year are:

Civil War display with historic photos, weapons, ammunition, uniform items, field gear and era ephemera.

Indian Wars display with historic photos, weapons, ammunition, uniform items, field gear and era ephemera.

Vietnam display depicting the uniforms, awards, citations and personal items belonging to Richard Stock an Army First Sergeant from Cannon Falls who served for 23 years. During those years Richard served in Vietnam, Alaska, Europe and numerous bases in the continental U.S.

There has also been many new war era items added to all displays since last year. Come take a look!!!

AS ALWAYS, free appraisals are available for your military items that are brought to the museum.



There is NO CHARGE for admission to the museum. Please follow the museum signs that will be posted along County Road #24 west of the new highway overpass on Highway #52 and County Road #24 (about 2.5 miles). The address is: 33504 Warsaw Trail. Museum hours are: Saturday,2nd from 10:00AM- 2:00PM, Sunday, July3rd from 10:00AM- 2:00PM and Monday July 4th from 10:00AM- 2:00PM or open on other days by appointment only.



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06/27/2022

June is recognized as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Month and today is National .

There are currently 8 million people in the United States living with PTSD. People can develop PTSD at any age, often after experiencing or witnessing a life-threatening event.

THE SOLDIER,
ABOVE ALL OTHER PEOPLE, PRAYS FOR PEACE,
FOR HE MUST SUFFER,
AND BEAR THE DEEPEST WOUNDS
OF WAR

For resources visit militaryonesource.mil/health-wellnes… or for immediate assistance call the Military Crisis Line at (800) 273-8255 – press 1, or access the online chat by texting to 838255.

04/09/2022