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.

Book Review: Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: Cold War Correspondent by Nathan Hale

Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: Cold War Correspondent written and drawn by Nathan Hale

Marguerite Higgins, a reporter for the New York Herald Tribune, covered the outbreak of the Korean War. She was a correspondent in World War II and witnessed the liberation of some of the concentration camps. Stationed in Tokyo, she and other correspondents flew over to Seoul as the North Korean army came pouring south. Many of her personal experiences are told, e.g. dealing with supportive and unsupportive military leadership (some didn't want her anywhere near combat). The battle scenes are exciting and frequent. This book only covers the first year of the war (1950), with the South Korean and American/UN forces pushed all the way back to the southern shore of the Korean Peninsula. General Douglas MacArthur executed a bold plan to retake the capital, launching an amphibious assault at Inchon, eighteen miles west of the capital.

As with all the Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales books, this is introduced with a little comedy by American patriot (and narrator of the series) Nathan Hale and his executioners. Ms. Higgins takes over narrating duty since she is a reporter and it's a natural fit for her. Her real-life account is riveting. I learned a lot about the Korean War from this book even though it only covers a third of the war. As usual, there's a bibliography and some pictures of the real Higgins. The inside cover gives a map of Korea and explains the language changes by the South Korean Ministry of Culture and Tourism that happened in 2000, when spellings changed, e.g. Inchon to Incheon and Pusan to Busan, among others. This book is a better text than a lot of textbooks!

Highly recommended.

Korean War Veterans Memorial, Washington D.C.

Washington, D. C., has a myriad of memorials. We finally got to see one of the lesser-known ones, the Korean War Veterans Memorial. The memorial was authorized by Congress in 1986. In 1992 they broke ground on the site, just south of the Reflecting Pool and just southeast of the Lincoln Memorial. The memorial was dedicated in 1995. It was built under the guidance of the Korean War Veterans Memorial Advisory Board (appointed by President Ronald Reagan) and turned over to the National Parks Service for ongoing care and maintenance.

The most striking part of the memorial is the set of nineteen statues representing American soldiers. The statues represent fourteen Army soldiers, three Marines, one Navy Corpsman, and one Air Force Forward Air Observer. They stand in the midst of juniper bushes with some granite strips interspersed, representing the rugged Korean terrain. They wear ponchos over their weapons and equipment, protection from the rainy and cold weather.

Korean War Veterans Memorial

A side view

Another side

The United Nations Wall lists the various countries that were part of the armed forces in Korea, along with the casualties. The Pool of Remembrance is right nearby, with the "Freedom is not free" wall as part of the pool. The pool did not have water in it when we visited.

UN Wall and dry Pool of Remembrance

Freedom is not free wall

The Mural Wall parallels the statues and is 164 feet long. The pictures in the wall are from the National Archives and depict various soldiers, equipment, and places from the war.

Statues and Mural Wall

A picture of the wall

The polished black granite of the wall makes a reflection of the soldiers, represent the number thirty-eight. The war lasted thirty-eight months and the dividing line between North Korea and South Korea is the thirty-eighth parallel.

The memorial isn't very big but it is very striking and well worth visiting.

Watching out for us