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The Armed Forces History Museum is a 501(c) (3), not-for-profit Charitable Foundation dedicated to preserving our military history and educating our current and future generations as to the sacrifices made by so many to preserve our freedom.
The museum was founded in 1996 by John J. Piazza, Sr, a local businessman and history buff. Housed in a 35,000 sq. ft. building, The Armed Forces History Museum is one of the largest, non-government funded, museums in the State of Florida.
Between 1996 and 2006 the museum and its dedicated staff operated a large mobile unit housing 16 displays. With the ever growing amount of memorabilia, vehicles and specialized military pieces, the Board of Directors determined that the development of a permanent site would be beneficial to the general public and enable the museum to fulfill its mission objectives. A non-salaried Board of Directors governs the organization.
In accordance with Department of IRS requirements, the current and most recent federal form 990 is available for inspection at the museum's general office weekdays between 10:30 am to 3:30 pm. The museum's contact personnel is Nadine Piazza, Director of Operations who may be reached at 727-539-8371 ext 104. The address of the museum general office is 2050 34th Way North, Largo, FL 33771
Posted by:
John J. Piazza, Sr.
Founder and President
Phone and Mailing Address
2050 34th Way North
Largo, Florida 33771
Phone: (727) 539-8371
Fax: (727) 524-4967
Email: info@armedforcesmuseum.com
Museum Staff Members
John J. Piazza, Sr.
Founder and President
Vicky Giesy
Administrative Assistant to John J. Piazza, Sr.
Enos Burks
Director of Plant Operations
Dave Marino
Director of Creative Services
Tammy Shorter
Director of Group Sales & Events
William Puckett
Museum Store Manager
Frank Correa
Museum Historian and Sr. Docent
Kathy Weed
Internet Manager
Cindy Bosselman
Director of Marketing and Promotional Events
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
Goodmorning,
I am in the process of hosting a benefit car show in February for the organization Treats for Troops.
Tampa Jax Wax & South East Mopars Proudly Presents:
“Until they ALL come home” Benefit Car,Truck Show
Sunday, February 26, 2012 · 11:00am – 3:00pm
Live DJ – Mr. Ed Cullins
Special Guests:
Glen Launey with his Dragster
Kelsey Lay with her Dragster
Joseph Trioli with his Dragster
Would you be interested in hosting this event at your location, and how would this work? I have a venue set right now, but I am still open to options. Thank you very much
Jessica Cianfrocca
Hi Jessica- That sounds like a great idea. Please contact Tammy Perez at tammy@armedforcesmuseum.com. Thank you.
Dear Museum members:
Really enjoyed my visit to your museum on Saturday. You have put together a really high quality museum. Congratulations!
One comment on the text associated with U. S. Merchant Marine Capt. Betts and his ship in the uniforms sections in the front of the museum. As a former Navy man, I noticed you referred to his ship as the “USS Muskogee.” Actually, it was a civilian steamer the “SS Muscogee.” Some old salts may mention this when they visit!
Keep up the good work.
PG
Hello…I had time to enjoy your display at Tampa Int’l Airport recently, and was not aware of your museum until then. I will now try and see the full museum in the near future. I wanted to bring to your attention 2 apparent errors in your airport display, not to be critical, but to better an already great exhibit!! The U.S. Army WW II “Master Sergeant” uniform on display has the “gray-green” colored shirt underneath the blouse, but this color did not appear until the 1970′s. During WWII, it was a light kahki colored. Also, I’m not sure the Reserve Component Achivement Ribbon was in existence then, but this I am not sure of as much as the wrong-colored shirt underneath the blouse..perhaps a review of both would be good..thanks for your endeavors at preserving our nation’s military history….
good Morning Cpt. Hickman,
Thank you for the information, I will have our staff look into this. Thank you for your service and come see us soon.
Wolfgang, those were very good comments you left concerning your observations of details on the exhibit you saw at the airport. I also noted some small detail flaws when visiting the museum in Largo. This is an exciting project, and with input from those of us who really care about accuracy, it can become a truly prized location for preserving military history. I’m hoping the museum welcomes our comments and invites comments of others so the museum improves with the support and caring of the visitors.
Thank you for offering such a high quality museum to salute our nation’s armed forces history. It was realy superb. I took my 90 year old father, a WWII Army Air Corps veteran, and he was very impressed. My son, the cub scout, was equally excited. Keep up the good work!
Can Hillsborough County schools and their teachers access the duffle bag program? Thank you.
Hi Jerry,
Yes please send a duffle bag reservation form to us so we can get you set up. I will send you a personal email with the form
Thank you,
Education Coordinator
I just printed out a $1 off coupon, but it says present it to receive $1 off. I was going to pay by email ($9.95), but I don’t see anyway to take off the $1 this way. Should I just wait and pay at the door? Do I need a reservation, or can I just show up anytime?
Thank you.
Hi Barb,
At this time, there is no way for us to have coupons on the website purchase. If you would like to use the coupon, I would suggest to pay at the door. No reservations are required. We hope to see you soon.
AFMM staff
I visited the museum today with a retired Marine Lt.Col. and a professional military uniform collector. As a former Marine, I inquired concerning donating some Women Marine uniform items I have from my time in service. The two men that I was with, noted, that the museum was quite a surprise and very well done. We also enjoyed the simulator as it was fun, and not too bumpy. HOWEVER, there were a few details that were incorrect. The uniform expert noted several small details in the WWII German and Japanese items (his speciality) and the retired Marine pointed out things concerning medal mounting etc. that weren’t accurate. For example, the Marine commandant would not have had a good conduct ribbon (there has never been a commandant that was prior enlisted) and that the purple heart ribbon was incorrectly positioned. I noted (I was in 14 years) that one male officer model had a shoulder Captains bars on his cover (hat) and also wore an enlisted Marine emblem. A Naval woman officer model wore oxfords with a mess dress uniform and should have been in pumps. All small things, but easily correctable with comment cards and encouragement for feedback. I’m sure that with the effort that has been put in the museum, accuracy is of the upmost importance. These are not to be taken as faults, as we enjoyed our time there. It is just in an effort to help. If anything I have said is at all useful, please contact me as we would love to return and give any hints you would deem welcome. Captain Shirley Corley USMC retired reserve
Capt. Corley,
Thank you for your email, I will send your email over to our displays manager. Thank you for taking the time to point out this information.
The AFMM staff
Can anyone tell me how I can locate a 1945-34th Fighter Squadron yearbook? My father
would be so very excited with this surprise.
Waiting for your response with fingers crossed…
Sincerely from a daughter wanting to make her dad happy,
Dana Barrow
Hi Dana,
I would contact MacDill AFB and see if public affairs can put you in touch with someone or perhaps a company who published that yearbook.
Good Luck!
i don’t doubt that the museum is a nice place to visit, but is there any way someone could check the commercial advertiseing it? i don’t think a child “bossing” his parent around as if the parent was the child, portrays the integrity of a soldier very well-
We appreciate your input regarding our comercial Laura and will pass this along to our production crew. Thank you!
My father served in the Army during World War II. At 86 his health is decling fast. My brothers and I would like to donate his uniform to your museum. It is his full uniform and is in mint cond.I also have other items he brought back from Europe. We have seen your display at Tampa airport and thought this would be a great way to honor our father. Any help you can give us on how to go about this will be greatly appericated.
Looking forward to hearing from you
Peter Broers
P.S. If it is any help to your,Dad’s dog tag number was 42084949. We can also provide a copy of his discharge papers
Peter: Thank you so much. I’ll get your information to the correct people here at the museum and have them contact you. Please let him know we here at the museum are all very grateful for his service.
Hello again Peter: Yes, we would delighted to be the recipient of any items you would like to donate to the museum. A copy of your dad’s discharge papers would not be necessary, but would be a nice addition to a display. We make every effort to use donated items in our current or rotating displays. We also identify the donor(s). You can bring them to the museum during our operating hours and the front desk will handle the receipt and have you fill out a donation form. Thank you so much.