DATE: Friday, November 21, 1997             TAG: 9711210652

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY PAUL CLANCY 

        STAFF WRITER  

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   66 lines

SINKING A PIECE OF NAVAL HISTORY LOW TURNOUT, LACK OF FUNDS PROMPTS AUCTIONING OF NAVAL MUSEUM'S CONTENTS

At some point, Tom Imeson says, when old sailors go through his naval museum at the Oceanfront, their eyes glisten as they remember how it was.

``They don't break down and bawl, but sometimes their eyes get a little misty when they reminisce and remember shipmates that were lost.

``We took a bomb hit at Taroa in 1942 and a torpedo off Guadalcanal and lost some people, and I'll tell you, you never forget,'' says the former boatswain's mate on board the Chester.

The museum is a grab bag of memories that an auctioneer's gavel will take off Imeson's hands.

Saturday at 10 a.m., Phoebus Auction Gallery will sell off the vast collection of memorabilia in Imeson's Tiki Tai Naval Museum at 14th Street and Atlantic Ave.

Imeson feels he has no choice. Since the the museum's opening in May 1996, turnout has been disappointing. So has the lack of financial support from the city of Virginia Beach and word-of-mouth advertising by Oceanfront hotels.

The eclectic collection of several hundred items is an outgrowth of photos and other mementos that Imeson displayed at his former restaurants near Janaf Plaza and on Holland Road.

Imeson's preference would be to have the collection remain intact, rather than be sold piece by piece. He approached Norfolk officials about buying the items for display at Nauticus or in the above-deck rooms of the Battleship Wisconsin, if the city and the Navy agree to park the ship next to Nauticus. But officials were cool to the idea.

The museum is packed with history, from period uniforms to a deep water diver's suit; from warship photos to hundred-year-old cruise books; from engraved Zippo lighters to wardroom silver and blue-bordered china; from ceremonial shells to a tattered kamikaze pilot's flag.

If you're not watching them, videos of historic naval engagements lend background sound and music to the experience.

A library of naval lore and laminated newspaper pages of turning points in several wars tell another part of the story. ``Japanese Bomb Pearl Harbor!'' screams a headline in the Sept. 7, 1941, edition of the Honolulu Advertiser.

Imeson, 72, joined the Navy in Seattle in 1942, fought in the Pacific until war's end and retired in 1963. Next to the display of a deep dive suit, there's a 1961 photo of him wearing similar gear as he prepared to help change a propeller on a destroyer.

Like his visitors, he relives his story as he roams his collection.

``Schools don't teach World War II history anymore,'' he says, beside a diorama of ships anchored at Pearl Harbor. ``They need to come out and see what kept this country together and brought it to where it is today.

``Whether it's kids or adults, it's something you can't take away from them. Wars aren't the best thing in the world, but they're part of history. People need to remember what their parents and grandparents did for them.''

Just then, in walks Tom Hise, 70, who admits he lied about his age, 15, when he joined the Navy in 1942. He's an old friend and supporter of Imeson's.

The two one-time sailors lean against partitions near a photo of the Battleship Arizona exploding into flames.

``It's a piece of history we're losing,'' Hise says.

``World War II vets, they come in here and see it and touch it and remember.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

D. KEVIN ELLIOTT/The Virginian-Pilot

Tom Imeson, founder of the Tiki Tai Naval Museum in Virginia Beach,

adjusts the hat of a late 1880s uniform Monday.

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