Military history runs deep in area

* Vancouver Barracks Post Cemetery — The oldest military burial ground in the Northwest was established here, just north of Fourth Plain Boulevard and east of Interstate 5, in 1849. Among the remains of hundreds of soldiers are nearly 200 who are unknown, Soviet comrades who were stationed here during World War II and four other winners of the Medal of Honor, the highest American award given for valor against an enemy force: William Wallace McCammon, James Madison Hill, Herman Pfisterer and Moses Williams.

* Pearson Air Museum — Pearson Field, 1115 E. Fifth St., one of the nation’s oldest operating airfields, started attracting aviators to Vancouver in 1905, and it was intricably linked to a nearby spruce mill during World War I. Spruce, ideal at the time for aircraft frames, was abundant in this area, and the mill quickly became the world’s largest of its kind. The Army Air Corps a few years later turned one of those spruce mill buildings into a hanger, to host fire patrol and training flights. That wood hangar now is the second oldest of its kind in the country.

* Clark County Historical Museum — Inside the 1909 Carnegie Library building, at 1511 Main St., this Vancouver institution maintains a variety of military memorabilia, including photographs, documents, letters and books related to the wars and local involvement in them.