Bin Laden's Death Boosts Navy SEAL Museum in Fla.

Matt Sedensky -

The biggest attraction at the Navy SEALs' national museum isn't memorialized in any artifact or mentioned in any display. But that doesn't keep visitors from asking.

 The May 2 killing of Osama bin Laden at the hands of SEALs has brought a spike in visitors to the National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum, seeking a behind-the-scenes glimpse of how the mission was pulled off. Attendance has roughly tripled since the raid, visitors are pummeling docents with questions and people wanting to express their gratitude have flooded the museum with letters of thanks.

 "They're hoping to get ground truth here," said Michael Howard, the museum's executive director and a former SEAL.

 Visitors hankering for an in-depth look at the raid likely won't get what they're looking for — not yet at least. But the museum's history of the SEALs and their predecessors gives a glimpse into their secretive world, and the type of men called to conduct such a mission.

 The museum is built at the birthplace of the SEALs. From 1943 to 1946, Fort Pierce was home to a makeshift training encampment for Naval Combat Demolition Teams and Underwater Demolition Teams, the forerunners to the SEALs. The 26-year-old museum chronicles that history from the start.

Mannequins are dressed in uniforms worn by the elite squads through the years, cases memorialize their most notable members, and weapons and equipment from the past 60 years are contained throughout. Outside, there is a Huey helicopter, mini submarines and even the lifeboat from the SEALs' daring rescue of a cargo ship captain from the hands of pirates two years ago.

Cases are filled with antiquated life jackets, gauges and breathing devices, and other items, including a tattered Japanese flag and a surrender document signed by the head of the Imperial Army at the end of World War II.

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