National Museum of the Marine Corps

The National Museum of the Marine Corps in Triangle, Virginia, is south of Washington, D.C. We stopped in on our way back from Williamsburg, though we arrived late and it was only open for an hour. To maximize our enjoyment, we decided to focus on the World War II exhibit.

National Museum of the Marine Corps

The lobby features many vehicles (mostly aircraft) used by the Marines in their recent history. The lobby leads into the galleries along the perimeter of the museum. The exhibits run through the history of the Marine Corps starting with the War for Independence in the 1770s all the way to the 2000s.

The main lobby

More of the lobby

Before visitors get to the history, displays explain the experience of young men and women who join the Marine Corps today, including some interactive experiences of boot camp, where people learn the fundamentals. 

Marine hair cut

Getting chewed out by a drill instructor (not sure you get a choice in the real experience)

Sample of an obstacle course (not interactive)

We headed over to the World War II exhibit, called "Uncommon Valor." Most of the exhibit is focused on the Pacific Theater, where Marines were the first to storm many of the islands as the United States fought its way across the ocean towards the Japanese homeland.

Entrance to WWII exhibits

States of the nations going into the war

A bit on dancing back in the day!

This machine gun nest shows a M1917A1 Browning, a .30 caliber weapon that could fire between 400 to 520 rounds per minute. The effective range was 2,500 yards, just under a mile and a half. It was used for anti-aircraft fighting as well as ground fighting.

Gun nest

The Montford Point Marines exhibit talks about the training and deployment of African Americans as Marines during World War II. The 51st and 52nd Defense Battalions were, other than the white officers, manned entirely by African Americans. Segregation was still the status quo in World War II. A separate battalion allowed the men to serve. They fought in the Pacific theater, serving on Guam, the Marshall Islands, and various atolls.

Beginning of the exhibit

On a tank

Plenty of weapons from World War II were on display.

Various personal weapons

An artillery nest?

A jeep

The Marines expanded their recruitment to include women. During World War II, they did not fight on the front line but did take on other roles, especially in the United States, freeing up other Marines to be deployed. 

Recruitment poster

This Japanese flag was captured on one of the islands and many of the soldiers from the fight signed it.

Trophy of war

The flag raised on Iwo Jima is on display, along with some information about the event. Marines used a nearby water pipe as the flag post. Originally a small flag was put up, but then with a photographer nearby, a larger flag was raised and the iconic photograph was taken.

The famous Iwo Jima Flag

Another exhibit tells the story of the Navajo Code Talkers. These Native Americans were used for communication because the Navajo language was so hard for the enemy to decode.

The Navajo Code

Once islands within bombing range of the Japanese Islands were conquered, the end of the war was only a matter of time. To avoid a costly invasion of the Japanese main land, the United States dropped two atomic bombs, one on Hiroshima and one on Nagasaki, to convince the Japanese to surrender.

The ending

We still had some time left and look around some more. We visited the Korean War exhibit.

Helicopter used by Marines during the Korean conflict

Other weapons

Korean city simulation

Some of the winters were bitterly cold in Korea and one room is kept very cold to let visitors experience it. Since the museum was about to close, we assumed the air conditioning had been turned off because it was not that cold inside.

Experiencing frigid temperatures

At least my son put his hands in his pockets!

A landing vehicle, LVT-3, is on display and visitors can walk up into it. The vehicle is amphibious, allowing landings at different places and in different situations.

Boarding the vehicle

Ready to come off

As we were walking out, I saw this display of various insignia used by the Corps in the 1800s.

The museum has a lot more to see, including extensive outdoor displays. Maybe we will get back at an earlier time in the day, and in cooler weather, to enjoy more of the museum.

Movie Review: Oppenheimer (2023)

Oppenheimer (2023) co-written and directed by Christopher Nolan

J. Robert Oppenheimer is famous for leading the Manhattan Project, the American World War II effort to build an atomic bomb before the Nazis. This biography stars Cillian Murphy as Oppenheimer, who goes through a lot personally as he is drawn into the scientific community on the cutting edge of physics in the early 1900s. He met a great many famous physicists in his academic life and wound up at Berkeley. He also had some interest in unionizing teachers and scientists and in supporting communism, though he was more like a fellow traveler than a flag-waving leader. One day military officer Leslie Groves (Matt Damon) shows up at Berkeley and offers Oppenheimer the job of building the bomb. Groves is not fully committed to Oppenheimer but is impressed with his forthrightness and his connections. Oppenheimer accepts the job even though he has misgivings about compartmentalizing the project. He recognizes the value of keeping information secure. However, the need for collaboration between the scientists is more important to him than keeping key information separate. He has a hard time managing the expectations of the government, his fellow scientists (many of whom were sympathetic if not full supporters of communism), and the project. 

The main, practical part of the project is headquartered in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Oppenheimer chose it for its remoteness and for his fond childhood memories of the area. A whole town is built for the scientists and their families, making a tight social community focused on developing and testing an atomic bomb. There's some debate about sharing information with the Soviets among the scientists. They are also concerned with the impact the bomb would have though Oppenheimer has more of a "we produce and the government decides what to do with it" mindset. After the war, Oppenheimer becomes doubtful about the morality of using the bomb (and developing new, more powerful weapons) and expresses his doubts on the Atomic Energy Commission, making him less popular with politicians, especially Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey, Jr.) who was an advocate for Oppenheimer's involvement in developing the bomb.

The movie tells the story of Oppenheimer through flashbacks as he goes through a grueling review of his security clearance to remain on the Atomic Energy Commission. The review is more of a kangaroo court set up to remove him from the Commission. That framing device is paralleled with Strauss's congressional hearings to be approved as a cabinet secretary. Some senators are dubious about Strauss's judgment, especially his involvement with Oppenheimer. The structure creates the typical mixed-up time narrative of Nolan's films (except for his Batman trilogy) with information provided not in chronological order but in a way to make a dramatic crescendo by the film's end. This style works well here since the movie focuses more on the human relationships and Oppenheimer's enigmatic character than the atomic secrets and discovery. The narrative is well-structured and interesting.

Murphy delivers a great performance capturing the detachment and intelligence of Oppenheimer, making him a bit of a cipher to others, especially the women in his life. Downey also gives a great performance. Both characters are manipulative in their dealing with others though Oppenheimer has more sincerity and naivety, which causes him problems with other scientists, the government, and the few women in his life. His struggles with morality create a lot of drama and some ambiguity, another feature common in Nolan's films (especially his Batman trilogy). The rest of the cast give very good performances too.

The only drawbacks in the film for me were two. First, it feels longer than it needs to be though I am not sure how to tighten it up. Second, the sound design is too heavy-handed with a lot of deep basses and overly repeated motifs. I understand the narrative purpose but would have liked a more subtle touch. These are relatively minor quibbles, the movie is well worth watching.

Recommended.

Book Review: The Pope and the Holocaust by Michael Hesemann

The Pope and the Holocaust: Pius XII and the Vatican Secret Archives by Michael Hesemann

Gaining access to thousands of records released in the early 2000s in the Vatican Secret Archives (now renamed the Vatican Apostolic Archives), Michael Hesemann sets the record straight about Pope Pius XII and actions or seeming inactions during World War II. Just after the war, Pius was lionized by the Jewish community for his efforts to protect European Jews from the wrath of the Nazis. In 1963, the German play The Deputy accused Pius XII of indifference toward the genocide perpetrated by the Nazis. Even though the play was discredited, the myth grew up that the pope did nothing for Jews during the Holocaust.

This book is a meticulous reconstruction of what happened during World War II as the Vatican was under the lesser thumb of Mussolini, and then occupied by the Germans in the last year of the war. The records corroborate the initial post-war impression of what Pius did--he worked hard, but often behind the scenes, to keep Jews from being deported to Eastern Europe, even before the Final Solution became known outside of Nazi circles. Kristallnacht and other pogroms in various countries showed the Nazis were ready, willing, and able to oppress and remove Jews from society by any means they dared to use. While German troops were successful on the battlefield, Hitler had more or less carte blanche to do what he wanted in the homeland and the occupied territories. The Pope used delicate tactics to condemn their racist actions without increasing their furor and potentially making the situation worse. An outright denunciation could be depicted by the Nazis as wartime propaganda. The pope was in touch with several German military leaders who were interested in a coup if they could get support in ending the war. The pope was an ostensibly neutral figure who could communicate with both sides and help bring about peace. In the meantime, Pius asked various countries to provide asylum for Jews willing to leave. He also asked various religious houses (monasteries, convents, schools, etc.) to provide hiding places for Jews who could not escape. In addition to the 8000 Jews living in Rome, many refugees from other European countries had come to Italy where Mussolini did not enforce the "racial purity" laws that Hitler demanded. The overall situation was complicated, with many different facets that needed attention.

While scholarly, this book reads more like a narrative of what happened than an extended argument. The author provides photographs of many documents from the Archive along with translations and explanations of their impact on the situation. I learned a lot from the book and recommend it for a look at the Vatican's actions (and the Catholic Church in general) during World War II.

Highly recommended.

Naval Academy Tour

We took the official Naval Academy tour in Annapolis, Maryland. The tour starts at the Halsey Field House, which includes the visitor's center, the gift shop, a small museum, and an indoor field. 

Halsey Field House

Across the way from the field house is a statue of Bill the Goat. The story goes that in the first Army vs. Navy football game in 1890, the cadets had to go to West Point (the Army's institution of higher learning). On the way, the Navy team realized they did not have a mascot. They stopped in a field and captured a goat who became their mascot. The tradition continues today. I mean, having a goat as a mascot, not kidnapping livestock on the way to a game.

Bill the Goat

Since we visited in August, the full student body was not present. Some of the athletes had returned early to get ready for their season, e.g. the football team. Plebe Summer, the warm up for freshmen at the Naval Academy, was well under way. We saw a group of them in formation, learning some sort of drill.

Plebes in action!

Our tour took us into Lejeune Hall, a building dedicated to athletics. We saw the indoor pools, which include a deep pool where cadets have to dive in, fully clothed, from a very high platform (like 40 feet high!). It simulates having to abandon ship on modern vessels. I am not sure I could do it.

Pools

Maybe if I practiced on the lower platforms?

Our tour took us along a row of houses for the teachers and leaders of the Academy. The houses are free to the faculty but they have to forego their housing stipend, which could be as much as four thousand dollars a month. So the houses are not really free. They are very impressive, with high ceilings to accommodate for the lack of air conditioning when they were built in the 1800s. 

(Not really) public housing on campus

Dahlgren Hall was originally used to train cadet on the large guns mounted on battleships. The architecture was inspired by French train stations which, with our recent trip to Europe, we could confirm.

Dahlgren Hall

In the nearby plaza are several items from World War II. A pair of torpedoes like the ones the Japanese used in Pearl Harbor are on display as well as a memorial to submarine officers and enlisted men.

Japanese torpedo

Cool sub memorial

The cadets live in Bancroft Hall, a large, impressive construction that houses all 4,500 students. Also built in the 1800s, it has gone through many modernizations (and the addition of some wings). 

Bancroft Hall

The entrance hall used to be lit by gas lights. Now LEDs are all over the place.

Dome of the entrance

Visitors can see a sample of a cadet's room. The cadet has to climb up to the bed, that's why there's a space in between the two drawers on the right below. One foot between the drawers, another on the desk, and up you go! Text books and other materials are provided by donations. The government does not fund everything at the Naval Academy.

Typical student accommodations

Just across the plaza from Bancroft Hall is a replica of the masthead from the USS Delaware. It depicts Tamanend (c. 1628-1698), a chief of the Lenni-Lenape clan in the Delaware Valley. The USS Delaware was burned in 1861 to prevent it from falling into Confederate hands. The masthead was salvaged in 1866 and taken to the Naval Academy. After about thirty years, the weather had worn it down. The class of 1891 had the masthead cast in bronze. Students, during exam periods, try to toss pennies on the quiver to get good grades.

Tamanend

A random gazebo on the grounds

A star attraction at the Academy is the Naval Academy Chapel. It was originally completed in 1908. In 1940, additions were made that doubled the seating capacity to 2500. It is an impressive structure inside and out.

Naval Academy Chapel

Nave

One pew is set aside with a candle and flowers for those who died while serving our country.

Memorial

The chapel is non-denominational, with regular services for Catholics, Protestants, Jews, and Muslims. The stained glass is impressive.

Main altar

Great glass

More of the glass

The back balcony has the organ along with a ship hung from the ceiling. The tour guide said that it is a tradition in naval chapels to have a boat hanging in the back for good luck.

Back of the chapel

The crypt of the chapel has the tomb of John Paul Jones, the most famous American naval commander during the American War of Independence. He is called "the father of the American Navy."  

Tomb of John Paul Jones

Bust of Jones

Another view of the chapel

Our tour ended with the chapel, though we walked back to the visitor center (obviously to drop us off at the gift shop!). We passed Lejeune Hall again and I took a quick picture of the Lieutenant General John Lejeune.

Last memorial