SOUTHWEST FLORIDA MILITARY MUSEUM & LIBRARY INC

The Southwest Florida Military Museum Libraty began under the umbrella Invest in Americas Veterans Foundation Inc., which was formed and incorporated as an outreach to local veterans in February 2009. It first operated at a small storefront on Del Prado Blvd in Cape Coral, FL, before moving its headquarters into a 34,000-square foot facility on Leonard Street on Sept. 9, 2012. In November of 2020 the museum moved to the Edision Mall. The Museum was separately incorporated in 2015. The family-friendly, interactive enviroment features 60 fully dressed mannequins, allowing vistors to better understand the subject and period customs they are viewing. A number of the display stations have individual monitors and two stream videos are included. The history of Cape Corals Iwo Jima statue at Echo Park is presented in a 23 minute streaming video in the Michael Gemi Theater. The secon streaming video honors Capt. Daniel Eggers, a native of cape Coral and a Citadel graduate who was killed in Afghanistan. SW Florid Military Museum Library Inc. is dedicated to honoring our military, preserving and displaying military artifacts and memorabile while educating the public and future generations about our Nations military heritage. We strive to research and present as much United States military history as we can - with displays ranging from the revolutionary war through the Afghanistan conflict. All of our artifacts have been donated or loaned by the military government and very generous individuals. Our volunteers and directors have spent several thousands of hours over the last few years, collecting repairing and cleaning these military items to have them available for viewing to the general public. The southwest Florida Military Museum Library contains over four thousand eight hundred military nonfiction books, manuals, and yearbooks and an extensive collection of books on ships, airplanes, and vehicles and other military subjects. There is a special A1 Cook memorial book model airplan collection as well. A1 Cook was a veteran and author of many war books. There is a large collection of VHS tapes and DVDs pertaining to military history. A 37-star flag is displaed on the back wall of the library. Admission to the Museum is free.