KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Dozens of brown wool jackets worn by United States soldiers hang in rows in a glass case. Beneath each one is a card that identifies the man who wore it during World War I.
The display at the National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial in Kansas City is one of many that personalizes the war that ended 91 years ago on Wednesday.
"It almost looks like they are marching," said Denise Rendina, a museum spokeswoman. "This is one of the brilliant parts to this collection -- it is how much is told through the eyes of the people who experienced it."
Photographs, personal mementos and weapons that soldiers from the U.S., Europe and Asia carried into battle are included in the $102 million museum. The structure opened in 2006 beneath Liberty Memorial, a monument built to honor the country's World War I soldiers.
Work to create Liberty Memorial started shortly after Armistice Day, Nov. 11, 1918. Kansas City residents raised $2.5 million in 10 days in 1919. The site dedication ceremony in 1921 has the distinction of being the only place were the five commanders of the Allied armies met, according to the museum.
The memorial -- which was originally two exhibit halls, a 217-foot tower with an observation deck and two stone sphinxes --was completed in 1926. But by 1998 it had deteriorated to the point it had to be closed to the public.
The effort to restore Liberty Memorial propelled it to become the national WWI monument and museum, a designation Congress approved in 2004.
The museum is divided primarily into two sides: 1914 to 1917, when the war raged across Europe, and 1917 to 1919, when the U.S. joined the war.
Visitors entering the museum cross a glass bridge over a field of 9,000 red poppies, with each poppy representing 1,000 combat deaths. Rendina said the bridge provides a transition for visitors to focus on the gravity and scope of the war.
Movies and timelines give people an overview as to why and how the world was at war within one month of the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife on June 28, 1914.
Examples of artillery, airplanes, trenches and a battle-damaged French tank highlight the first half of the display.
The side of the museum that focuses on America's involvement tells the story of the battles fought in foreign lands, but it also tells the story of the home front and how America was transformed by war, Rendina said.
The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission to the museum is $8 for adults, $7 for seniors and $4 for children. Tickets for the museum and the tower are $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and $5 for children.
On the Web: www.theworldwar.org.