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.

Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit at Reagan Library

While at the Reagan Library, we went to a special exhibit on the Dead Sea Scrolls. A traveling exhibit from the Israel Antiquities Authority is at the Library until September 2, 2025. 

Reagan Library entrance

The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of ancient writing discovered in 1947 in caves near the Dead Sea. A Bedouin shepherd made the discovery when he threw a rock into a cave and heard pottery shatter. Going in to investigate, he found jars that contained parchments that date back 2000 years and more. The find became an archeological sensation as many of the texts are from the Old Testament. Also, the other texts provide valuable insights into the thought and culture of Israel in the Second Temple Period (from 516 BC to AD 70). 

In addition to showing eight of the scrolls, the exhibit presents the larger context of the ancient world in the time of Christ. Artifacts from the Mediterranean area are exhibited.

Jewelry and household items on display

Floor mosaic quoting Psalm 118

A sample of the jars where the texts were found

The Sea of Galilee boat was discovered in 1986 during a drought. Fisherman spotted a boat shape in the bottom of the sea's northwest shore. It was excavated carefully and reconstituted with much of the original wood. It is twenty-seven feet long and seven and a half feet wide and is like the boats used by Jesus's disciples (at least the ones who were fishermen).

Boat from the Sea of Galilee

Some of the original wood

The Magdala Stone shows intricate temple carvings dating from the Second Temple Period.

Magdala Stone

More stones from the Temple

As a crossroads of the ancient world, a lot of wealth passed through the area and some of the more affluent locals would decorate their homes.

Decorative plaster and tiles from the period

Ossuaries are small boxes where the bones of the deceased would be kept. Once the flesh had rotted away to nothing, bones were stored in special decorative boxes so that individuals could be remembered. The boxes were placed in a family burial site.

A bone box--burial in the old days

Some of the displays have more mundane items, like this set of dice from antiquity. Playing games, even board games, has a long history!

Ancient dice

One room shows Masada, one of the Jewish holdouts during their war with Rome in the first century AD. The landscape provided natural defenses and it was one of the last places to fall.

Masada geography

Linen wrapper

Tyrian shekels are on display, the same coins describe in the Gospels where Jewish men would pay their yearly Temple tax.

Coins and jar

The stars of the exhibit are the various original scrolls preserved under glass. Scientists carefully pieced together many of the findings since the scrolls are so delicate and easily harmed. Computer imaging has helped manipulate pieces without harming them, trying to put together full documents from what was discovered.

Image of a restored scroll

Dead Sea Scroll

More bits of the scrolls

The last part of the exhibit is a history of the discovery and examination of the scrolls, along with a recreation of the Western Wall, the only remaining part of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. Known as the Wailing Wall, people come there to pray. A tradition has sprung up where people write prayers on small pieces of paper and insert them into cracks in the Western Wall. 

Discovery timeline

Recreated Western Wall

Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum

Located in Simi Valley just outside of Los Angeles, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum preserves the life story of America's fortieth president. Ronald Reagan held office from 1981 to 1989, succeeded by his vice president, George H. W. Bush. The library and museum was opened in 1991. The views of the surrounding valleys and mountains are majestic and the location was chosen to echo the "shining city on a hill" that Reagan often referred to in his political speeches. His career from college athlete and performer to Hollywood actor to politician is chronicled. When we visited, it was also hosting a traveling exhibit on The Dead Sea Scrolls.

The entrance has some bronze statues of the president and his First Lady, Nancy Reagan.

Ronald Reagan at the entrance

Blogger, President, First Lady

The museum begins with his early family life in Illinois where he was born.

Early life

He played football in high school and was involved in the drama department. He went on to Eureka College, continuing both pursuits along with being active in campus politics. His first jobs after college were in radio broadcasting. He eventually moved to Hollywood to try acting, becoming a star after appearing in Knute Rockne, All-American. He played George Gipp, a Notre Dame football player who famously asked Coach Knute Rockne to "win just one more for the Gipper." "The Gipper" became a knick-name later on in life.

High school memorabilia

First starring role as "The Gipper"

An interactive exhibit lets visitors try out color-commentating a football game or starring in one of Reagan's movie scenes.

Trying out his radio persona

The museum briefly reviews his decade as Governor of California. Inheriting a debt from the previous administration, Reagan instituted both additional taxes and budget cuts to create a surplus. He also dealt with social unrest at California universities.

As California's govenor

Energy policy

The exhibits on his presidential years are extensive. They start with the 1980 campaign against Jimmy Carter which wound up as a landslide victory for Reagan.

Famous quote from the 1980s campaign

Inauguration outfits

I am Secret Service for my presidential offspring's inaugural address

On March 30, 1981, John Hinkley tried to assassinate President Reagan on the streets of Washington, DC. Reagan was rushed to George Washington University Hospital where he recovered from a punctured lung, cracked rib, and internal bleeding. When he first went under for surgery, he told the doctor, "I hope you are a Republican." So he kept a sense of humor. Afterward, he credited God with sparing his life and assumed he had a mission to fulfill.

Items from the assassination attempt

The museum has a full-size recreation of the Oval Office, decorated as it was during Reagan's presidency. 

Oval office desk

Oval office sitting area

Life at the White House was busy. Reagan took to writing diaries, which are preserved in the library part of the museum.

Reagan's diary on display

Nancy Reagan made some aesthetic changes though she did not use tax money to make the changes. The Reagans also did a lot of hosting of both domestic and foreign visitors. 

Interactive exhibit about entertaining foreign dignitaries

Reagan china

John Travolta and Princess Diana dance at the White House!

Nancy Reagan's sense of style and extravagant spending were noticed and mocked by the media. Being a good sport, she dressed up in a crazy outfit and sang a little ditty about excessive style. She won over the press by her sense of humor.

Extravagant outfit?

Some pictures show the changes in various White House rooms.

Reagan-era updates

Nancy Reagan also advocated against under-age drug use, starting a "Just Say No!" campaign that used stuff like sports and board games to get the youth on board.

Not the most successful campaign

One of the highlights of the museum is Air Force One, one of the Boeing 707s used by presidents to travel around the country and the world. This particular plane (tail number 27000) was used from Richard Nixon's presidency to George W. Bush's, so seven presidents. It was decommissioned in 2001 and given to the museum. 

Air Force One!

Other side of the plane

In an interesting twist of fate, one of the Secret Service men who helped during the assassination attempt had seen Reagan's film Code of the Secret Service and was inspired to join the agency! 

A bit of a circle

Visitors can go on the plane and see this flying White House from the inside.

Cockpit

Not-so-oval office

Briefing room

Seems like every seat is first class

A mural outside the plane shows the various aircraft that served as Air Force One through the years. Any time a president rides in an aircraft, it becomes Air Force One.

Lots of presidential transportation

Reagan's limousine is on display underneath the plane.

Presidential limo

Also in the Air Force One Pavilion is The Ronald Reagan Pub and Snack Bar. While visiting Ireland in 1984, Ronald and Nancy visited O'Farrell's Pub in Ballyporeen. The pub was disassembled and moved to California in 2005.

We did not get a snack or drink, alas!

Reagan's favorite candy was jelly beans. He always had a jar on his desk (even on Air Force One). The company donated a picture of Reagan made entirely of jelly beans. 

Not sure about this

Back in the exhibits, several interactive tables explained the economic revival under Reagan.

Having fun and learning

More economic learning

During his presidency, the space program grew as the space shuttles took center stage. A great disaster for the country was the explosion of the Challenger shuttle in 1986.

Remembering astronauts who died 

Reagan's reelection in 1984 against Democratic candidate Walter Mondale was an even bigger landslide.

Mondale won his home state and DC, the rest was for Reagan

The next exhibit explained the Cold War and how it came to an end partly through Reagan's efforts. In addition to speaking out against nuclear proliferation and human rights violations under Communist rule, Reagan expanded military spending to provide a viable threat to Soviet expansion. Reagan's work was only a part of a larger whole, with Pope John Paul II inspiring Polish Catholics to organize and protest against their communist government which was little more than a client state of the U.S.S.R.

Berlin Wall recreation

Meeting JPII in 1982

Reagan met with Premier Gorbachev, the Soviet leader, in a series of negotiations to limit nuclear weapons and curtail expansionism.

Negotiations

Geneva Summit

Stuff from Camp David, a retreat for the president from DC

The final exhibits are about Reagan's post-presidential life. He developed Alzheimer's Disease and died quietly in 2004. Reagan and Nancy are both buried on the grounds of the musem though we did not visit their graves. The kids were "museumed out" by that point, so we headed on to our next destination.

Normal Rockwell painting of Reagan

Reagan's body lying in state at the Capitol

Unbeknownst to me, my wife and daughter took some pictures that are too fun not to share...

Riding at Camp David

Less enthusiasm