QUANTICO, Va.-
From the highway, the National Museum of the Marine Corps beckons to visitors, its 210-foot-tall steel spire cutting through the sky, evoking the historic flag-raising at Iwo Jima.
Inside, visitors can experience that iconic World War II moment, landing on the black sand beaches of Iwo Jima and viewing one of the flags raised atop Mount Suribachi and captured on film by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal.
The sensory display is one of three immersive exhibits in the 118,000 square-foot museum that use sound, lighting and even temperature changes to help viewers experience moments in Marine Corps history firsthand.
“We’re telling our stories not with just objects,” said Lin Ezell, the director of the museum about 25 miles south of Washington, D.C. “We’re using the cutting-edge technology of the museum business to help bring those stories alive.”
But the objects are there–more than 1,000 of them, including the UH-1E “Huey” helicopter that was piloted by then Capt. Stephen Pless, who received the Medal of Honor for rescuing Army soldiers during the Vietnam War. Fighter aircraft, including an AV-8 Harrier and the FG-1 and F4U Corsair, are suspended from the thatched glass and metal roof of the museum’s Leatherneck Gallery–a circular entryway surrounded by quotes about the Corps chiseled in marble.
The $90 million museum features a fast-track timeline on the Marines, exhibits on World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and an area dedicated to what it is like to ship off to boot camp to become a Marine.
The museum also features a temporary exhibit on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan told through the lenses of combat cameras. On view are photos of Marines handing out cotton candy to Iraqi children, a close-up of a Marine’s weathered fingers wrapped around the trigger of his weapon. Other pictures show the sun illuminating the body of a fallen Iraqi insurgent, his mouth agape and his weapon by his side.
The graphic pictures are among a short list of images and exhibits that show the nature of warfare–a topic from which museum officials don’t shy away.
“You can’t talk about fighting war and losing lives and sacrificing without some pain. It’s integral to the story,” Ezell said. “We don’t put it in your face, but we haven’t tried to hide it either.”
The museum’s two other immersive exhibits transport visitors to the heat of Vietnam and the frozen lands around the Chosin Reservoir in northeastern North Korea.
Visitors are briefed as they walk through the back half of a CH-46 helicopter before disembarking into the sandbagged, red clay combat zone of Hill 881 South at Khe Sanh. They can also join Marines in the 58-degree chill of a moonlit Toktong Pass, just as the Chinese are about to begin their attack.
“People may talk about when they were deployed … (but) you never can get the flavor of what’s going on,” said Chuck Girbovan, the museum’s gallery manager. “If you spend a few minutes hearing the weapons fire, feeling the cold, seeing the confusion, it makes a big difference. It really drives the point home.”
Girbovan and his staff also made sure to give visitors a hands-on experience.
The “Making Marines” exhibit, takes visitors through the bus ride to boot camp, the first buzz cut and puts them face to face with loudmouthed drill instructors–though some Marines touring the exhibit said it could use more foul language to achieve authenticity.
Visitors also can test their marksmanship on a laser-simulated M-16 A2 rifle range, or strap on a 90-pound standard combat pack. An interactive 360-degree motion simulator puts museum-goers in the pilot seat of an F-35 Joint Striker Fighter to shoot down enemy aircraft.
Officials said they need $70 million more to expand the museum to its 181,000 square-foot capacity to include the history of the Corps from its legendary start at Philadelphia’s stonewall and wooded Tun Tavern in 1775, through the American Revolution, the Civil War and World War I.
Just outside the gates of Quantico Marine Corps Base, the museum serves as centerpiece of the 135-acre Marine Corps Heritage Center, a complex that will include a conference center and hotel. The site also features the Semper Fidelis Memorial Park. The center is a public-private partnership between the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation and its military counterpart.
President Bush, John Glenn and several other notable figures are scheduled to attend the museum’s dedication on Friday, the 231st anniversary of the Corps. The museum, which opens to the public on Nov. 13, is expected to attract between 250,000 and 600,000 visitors each year.
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