Baltimore Memorials

A rainy day forced the Baltimore Orioles to cancel their game on May 6. I finally exchanged the tickets in mid-June, which meant a trip to the park. During the weekdays, parking is plentiful and free for the first half hour. I exchanged the tickets and had some extra time, so I checked out a memorial to fallen soldiers.

War memorial

The text underneath "Time will not dim the glory of their deeds" is "The citizens of the state of Maryland dedicate this memorial to all veterans who so valiantly fought and served in our nation's wars with eternal gratitude to those who made the supreme sacrifice to preserve equality and freedom throughout the world."

Part of the memorial is an urn containing earth from U.S. military cemeteries around the world.

Display about the urn

The urn itself

Less than a mile away is Westminster Burying Ground, part of Westminster Church. The most famous grave there is Edgar Allan Poe's.

Poe grave

Other side

The medallion

Baltimore's football team, the Ravens, is named after Poe's famous poem, The Raven. Their stadium is right next door to Orioles Park. The neighborhood is unofficially nicknamed "Birdland."

BSA--We Remember 2016

On Friday of Memorial Day Weekend, my son's scout pack participated in the local "We Remember" service at the Ivy Hill Cemetery in Laurel, Maryland. In tribute to those who served in our country's military, the scouts put new American flags on the graves of veterans.

At attention for the ceremony

Before we began our work, a representative from the local American Legion post introduced a currently serving member of the armed forces. She told us how her parents were immigrant and she wanted to help defend this country who helped them and so many others have a better life.

Listening

Hearing from a soldier

Her speech was short but touching. Then we were assigned different sections of the graveyard. We looked at the gravestones for ones that mentioned either a service the person was in or a conflict where they served. We also had maps that indicated graves of veterans where the headstones or monuments did not mention their service.

Making a hole for the flag

Planting another flag

A World War II vet

While at the graveyard, someone discovered a fawn taking a little snooze underneath one of the trees. No one got too close to scare the animal away. Even from a distance it looked very cute.

Fawn taking nap

Close up

It was heartening to look back on our work as we left.

New flags among old stones

Another section of the cemetery

Airborne and Special Operations Museum, Fayetteville, NC--Part II

Continuing our exploration of the Airborne and Special Operations Museum...

The permanent exhibits go through the history of the airborne units from World War II to the present. They show off the gear and even have a mocked up French street for visitors to walk down.

An early display

WWII map of airborne operations (click to enlarge)

War bonds guy

Iron Mike lookalike

L on the French street

J takes cover

Displays show various uniforms, equipment, and weapons they used.

Uniforms

Weapons and gear

A well-armed soldier

The CG-4A Waco Glider saw a lot of action in World War II, delivering soldiers, supplies, and even vehicles!

CG-4A glider with jeep

More of the glider

Not everything came by gliders, of course. This 105 mm howitzer is bundled up for a parachute drop. The platform includes special materials that will crush on landing, softening the impact.

Parachute-able howitzer

The UH-1 or Huey helicopter was developed in the early 1960s and was a standard transport for the airborne troops in Vietnam.

Huey

Another display shows various standard rifles, including an M79 grenade launcher, am M16 rifle, and an M60 machine gun.

Vietnam-era rifles

Black Tiger insignia from Vietnam on a helmet

Tanks and other defenses from the 1990s are also on display.

Tank from early 1990s

Weaponized jeep

Scouting intel

Spider hole

We enjoyed visiting the museum!

Daddy and N the airborne ranger

Airborne and Special Operations Museum, Fayetteville, NC--Part I

The Airborne and Special Operations Museum in Fayetteville, North Carolina, was a stop on our way home from Florida last Christmas. It's finally getting a blog post!

Airborne and Special Operations Museum

The building has a large statue out front called Iron Mike. Weighing over a ton and a half, he depicts a World War II paratrooper who has just landed. The statue was originally erected at Fort Bragg when the statue was built in the early 1960s. It was replaced with a bronze replica and eventually moved to this museum. Starting last year (2014), a "Mike to Mike" half marathon runs from the museum statue to the Fort's statue.

Iron Mike

The rocks underneath the statue are from the Curahee Mountain, part of the grounds at Camp Toccoa where the first paratroopers were trained. The soldiers ran "three miles up, three miles down" the mountain as part of their training. "Curahee," the Native American word for "stand alone," is now the motto of the 506th Infantry Regiment.

The lobby has two fully-deployed parachutes on display. The round one is a World War II-era T-5 chute; the square one is a modern MC-4 chute. They represent both the history and the continual modernization of the airborne forces.

The lobby

WWII T-5 chute

Modern MC-4 chute

When we visited, the temporary exhibit displayed information and items from the Battle of Mogadishu, a 1993 raid that was supposed to be a "smash and grab" but turned into a fourteen hour firefight. The center of the exhibit is the rotor from the Super 61 helicopter that was shot down during the mission, killing the two pilots and injuring other crew members.

Rotor from Super 61

Arms dealer

Two paratroopers

More of the museum in the next post!

The Queen's Royal Lancers and Nottinghamshire Yeomanry Museum, Nottinghamshire, England

The Queen's Royal Lancers and Nottinghamshire Yeomanry Museum is located in the Thoresby Courtyard. It's nestled into a corner and visitors might miss it when the courtyard is packed with other things going on (we visited because of the winter food fest going on in the Courtyard).

The modest door

The museum chronicles the history of cavalry in the English army from the horseback-charging days to the tanks of World War II to the current operations in the Middle East. The very first thing visitors are greeted by is the Omdurman Gun.

The Omdurman Gun

The gun is a brass seven-pounder rifled muzzle-loading field gun. It was used in the charge of the 21st Lancers at Omdurman in 1898. It was a decisive victory in the Sudanese war.

Upstairs is the main exhibit hall, which is not very long. It is the ideal amount for children, with a dress-up area (which our children did not use) and some other interactive exhibits.

In the early 1700s, the Duke of Marlborough fought against French forces. He had a victory in Blenheim that so impressed him he named his Oxfordshire home Blenheim Palace. Some mementos from that battle are on display.

Early 1700s display

Nearby is a case with a set of pistols which made me wonder if they were used for dueling.

Pistols and buttons

Another case has items from the American War for Independence. We read that the American army was so poorly equipped and disciplined that they had to use guerrilla war tactics in order to win. It made me think I should really go to the local British library and get a book about the war to read about it from the other side.

Circa 1770s and 1780s

Surely the prize item in the museum is one of the bugles used on the famous Charge of the Light Brigade in 1854 during the Crimean War.

Charge of the Light Brigade display with bugle at top

Saddle with two pistols!

The displays continue on into the twentieth century, where World War II had a bit of prominence. By this time, tanks and not horses were in vogue. A display shows some Nazi items and miniature tanks. The small tanks were fascinating for L.

World War II display

The museum is well worth a visit when visiting Sherwood Forest or Clumber Park, both of which are about ten minutes away.