A Marine's Museum
A look a the National Museum of the Marine Corps by its resident Marine
Story by Lt. Col. Tom Yost,
HEADQUARTERS MARINE CORPS, Washington
In the woods outside of Quantico, Virginia, the Marine Corps completed the finishing touches on the new home of the National Museum of the Marine Corps.
After more than two years of construction, the Museum was dedicated on Nov. 10. It is a striking structure of stainless steel and glass, easily visible
from the highway. The central spire, evocative of the
silhouette of the Iwo Jima flag-raising, is 210 feet tall. The steel mast is surrounded by a quarter-acre cone
of glass skylights.
terial history of the Marine Corps, honor the commitment, accomplishments, and sacrifices of Marines; support recruitment, training, education, and retention of Marines; and provide the public with a venue for the exploration of Marine Corps history.
era exhibit within the museum displays a model of a Marine peering around
the corner in the Hue City exhibit.
An Ontos anti-tank vehicle lurks in
the background.
First and foremost the Museum is a celebration of all the men and women who have earned the title “Marine” since 1775. The Museum not only highlights the legends of the Corps like Daly, Butler, Basilone, and Puller, but also the honor, courage and commitment of all Marines.
But this Museum is unlike most museums you may have visited. This is not a “curio cabinet” museum. The key word emphasized throughout
the design planning and construction was “immersive.” At this Museum, you actually walk
into and become part of Marine Corps life.
Many large artifacts have been placed into dioramas, with hand painted murals on the surrounding walls, textured ground forms underneath, complete with shell casings, sticks, rocks, and sand. Life-size cast figures of Marines add reality to the scenery. Multi-media technology helps create very specific environments.
The cast figures are unique because they are much more than mannequins. Each cast figure was created by encasing a real Marine, sailor, or civilian Marine in plaster and rubber over the course of about four hours. The end result is that each cast figure is modeled after a real person, and each will have its own personality. Traditional museum cases house smaller historical items, as well. Nearly 1,000 artifacts will be on display from all periods of our Corps’ history. The Museum opened with five permanent galleries, two temporary exhibits, one traveling show, a theater, and a classroom.
and cold beer on tap.
Leatherneck Gallery, the central atrium (under the steel and glass cone) is a monumental public space. It is sheathed in Travertine marble, etched around the top with 10 famous quotes by or about Marines. The floor is terrazzo, in six shades of green, blue, and brown. Four aircraft (two Corsairs, a Harrier, and a Jenny) are suspended from overhead, and an LVT-1 is positioned in a Tarawa tableau, while a Sikorsky CH-34 helicopter is in a Vietnam tableau on the deck. At Scuttlebutt Theater, visitors will watch a short film on the history and ethos of the Marine Corps to help prepare them for what they will see throughout the rest of the Museum.
The first of the main galleries is called “Making Marines.” This gallery takes visitors from the recruiting station to graduation. On the bus to the recruit depot, you will meet recruits and follow them to the yellow footprints, go along for the first haircut, meet their drill instructors, and eventually watch as they pass final uniform inspection. Within this gallery will be several interactive exhibits including a pack-lifting demonstration, an audio “introduction” by the drill instructors and a “find the discrepancies” uniform inspection. For a fee, visitors can try their own skill at a laser rifle range simulator, which replicates firing an M-16 from the 300-yard line on the KD course. After leaving this gallery, visitors can experience a full-range-of-movement flight simulator located nearby.
Along the “Legacy Walk, a timeline through Marine Corps history, visitors will encounter a “fighting top” from the Revolutionary War and the Tartar Wall from Dan Daly’s action during the Boxer Rebellion. Artifacts, alcove theaters, large-scale photo murals, and aircraft flying overhead take you along a fast track from 1775 to the present, a timeline highlighting events from Marine Corps and world history. Many of these events are punctuated with artifacts imbedded in the timeline display.
Two temporary galleries premiered on opening day: “Global War on Terrorism: the Marine Corps in Today’s Fight” and “Combat Art.” The GWOT gallery is a photo-based exhibit dedicated to 9/11, Afghanistan, and Iraq. A children’s area helps explain the war to younger visitors. The Combat Art gallery will display approximately 96 works of art, only a small fraction of the original artwork held in the Museum’s collection. Among the items on display will be works by John Thomason, John Clymer, Tom Lovell, Tom Lea, Col. Donna Neary and Col. Charles Waterhouse. Both of these galleries will be replaced by larger, permanent galleries dedicated to these subjects when Phase II of the Museum is completed.
The largest of the three “era galleries” is “Uncommon Valor.” A typical American living room on December 7, 1941, helps set the scene. Mother and daughter are sitting around a radio, listening to the news reports of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The wallpaper disappears, to be replaced by images from the attack. Wake Island and Guadalcanal are featured in the gallery, along with the every day Marine “junk-on-the-bunk.” At Marine Theater visitors can take a break to watch home front World War II newsreels and cartoons in a replica art deco movie theater. A Sherman tank blasts a very realistic cave entrance on Pelielu. Visitors walk through the cave and find themselves in a ship’s briefing room, preparing for the landing on Iwo Jima, complete with a 3-D map of the island. When you receive the call to “board the landing craft” you move into a Higgins boat. Landing footage projected on a 180° screen, complete with sound and motion, will leave you ready to charge the beach when the ramp opens. Nearby, protected in a special case is the actual Mount Suribachi flag from the famous flag-raising, captured in Joe Rosenthal’s photograph.
“Send in the Marines” Gallery begins with a little background, but quickly puts you on the Pusan Perimeter. And then you take a “ride on a landing craft” and see MacArthur’s End Run for yourself. 1stLt Baldomero Lopez goes over the Inchon sea wall right in front of you. Around the corner is a street scene of the fighting in Seoul, complete with a Pershing tank crashing over a barricade. One of the most moving experiences of the gallery is a recreation of Chosin Reservoir’s Toktong Pass. Capt William Barber, who earned the Medal of Honor here, and Fox Company are keeping the Chinese at bay while the remainder of the American forces are evacuating to the coast. This self-contained environment contains several sets of cast figures, including one representing Capt. Barber. In order to help mentally transport you to the Chosin Reservoir, the temperature is kept 10° cooler in here. At the DMZ, a sandbagged LVT-3 is used as an observation post bunker with an F9 Panther flying overhead. The gallery ends with a small, quiet scene to illustrate some of the horrors endured by American prisoners of war.
At the entrance to the Air, Land, and Sea Gallery, Maj Stephen Pless’ UH-1 helicopter hangs from the ceiling. This is the actual aircraft flown by him during the action for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor. This gallery is arranged geographically rather than chronologically. The first part is a tribute to Marine aviation with an A4 Skyhawk overhead. At the village of Quang Nam you find a representative bamboo and thatch hut. Nearby are a “find-the-sniper” exercise and a Marine “tunnel rat” team searching for Viet Cong. In Hue City an Ontos is patrolling the streets near the Citadel. Visitors board a CH46 as they listen to the pilot talk with a radio operator on the ground. You have just landed as part of a “supergaggle” on Hill 881 South at Khe Sanh. As you leave through the back ramp of the helicopter, you get hit with the wind from the rotors and the heat. A Marine casualty and his buddy are trying to get onboard the helicopter. Supplies and replacements have just come off the helicopter. The sounds of artillery fire from the 105 mm howitzer, gunfire, radio chatter, and the whine of the helicopter’s engines all come at you. You become part of the battle for Hill 881 South. After leaving the battle, you are transported back to main street America, where contemporary news footage is playing on a variety of vintage TV sets in the window of a furniture store. A captured Soviet 122 mm artillery piece helps tell the story of Operation Dewey Canyon.
Other special exhibits include a Medal of Honor showcase, which includes a Civil War medal and a kiosk where you can get more information on every Marine and Sailor who has been awarded this prestigious medal. The Color Sergeant of the Marine Corps along with the Marine Corps Battle Colors, is prominently featured. And a unique “weapons tower” displays a wide variety of weapons used by or captured by Marines.
Public amenities include the Mess Hall, a 100-seat cafeteria style restaurant, Tun Tavern, a replica 18th century neighborhood pub which will seat approximately 30 people, and the Museum’s store, run by the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation. The store will have 3,500 square feet of retail space and will stock a wide variety of Marine Corps-themed items, books, and merchandise linked to the exhibitions.
This is but a very brief overview of the highlights of what the National Museum of the Marine Corps will have to offer its visitors. For the full experience, you have to see it in person.
The Museum is located just off of Marine Corps Base Quantico at 18900 Jefferson Davis Highway/VA Route 1 and can be easily accessed via Exit 150A off I-95. It will be open from 0900 to 1700 every day of the year, except Christmas. Admission to the Museum and parking is free.
