Tour the Marine Corps Museum

This is the Marine House. This is where we tell the Marine story. Our history is as interesting and broad as American history. The Marines look at this museum as their haven, their home. We want to make Marines proud of what they do, but we want to reinforce to the American public that the Marine Corps story is the American story, and you can learn about it here. The National Museum of the Marine Corps honors all Marines past, present, and future. Located just outside of Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, as you can see behind me, this soaring structure evokes the image of the flag raising atop Iwo Jima's Mount Suribachi, the most iconic image of Marine Corps history. More than a thousand artifacts are on display here, ranging in size from tactical attack aircraft to service medals. The museum includes interactive exhibits with innovative technology to immerse visitors in the sights and sounds and even smells of combat. Coming through a helicopter in the Vietnam gallery and you can smell, maybe smell, hydraulic fluid. Things like that. Our exhibits team, some of them worked for the Disney Corporation, and so they have a lot of experience in this kind of stuff, bringing the realism. Phase one of the exhibition galleries takes visitors from the birth of the Marine Corps in 1775 through the Vietnam War, with expanding exhibits on Iraq and Afghanistan. We want to try to document Marine Corps history as accurately as we can. I don't think I've ever seen a museum like this before, where you have cast figures that look so lifelike. So I think that's what does more than anything else. It just makes it look more real. The National Museum of the Marine Corps sits on 135 acres, with walking trails and Semper Fidelis Memorial Park and a beautiful stone, timber and glass walled chapel. The museum is under the command of the Marine Corps University. It was built as the cornerstone of a campus intended to preserve and present the history of the Corps. The inspiration for the design of the museum came from the famous image of the raising of the American flag on Iwo Jima. Well, it's based on that photograph. With the flag raising, you see the thing sticking up in the air. In fact, I've had truck drivers come in here, and a lot of times when I'm talking to people, I ask them where they're from, and I say, what's your business here? Are you a Marine, whatever? And one of them told me, I just wonder where that thing sticking out of the ground was. So he wanted to come in here and see what it was. He was overwhelmed when he got here and saw what it was. Former Marine Jack Stewart is a volunteer docent at the museum and loves to share the Marine Corps story with visitors. I've been doing this for six years, and I still find things that, where did that come from? You get to see things new all the time, you know, temporary exhibits, as well as the permanent exhibits that exist here today. Exhibits like the battle for Iwo Jima, which would be a defining campaign for the Corps. When you hit the beach, you'll be the first Marines you set to put on Japanese soil, first American troops to do that. So you better believe the enemy's going to be fighting us with everything they've got. If those nymphs want to fight, well then, we'll give it to them. The damn thing will blow up and sink into the ocean, and we can all go home. Four days after the Marines hit the beach, they sent a 40-man patrol up Mount Suribachi out of the 48th Marine Regiment of the 5th Marine Division, led by Lieutenant Shryer and Sergeant Thomas here. They went up the mountain, they secured the mountain, and put that flag up. Now that flag was only up a couple hours, and the battalion commander decided he wants to replace it with a bigger flag. He also heard the Secretary of Navy Forrestal wanted that for a souvenir, and he says, no way. He's getting that flag. It belongs to the Marines, and we're going to keep it. So he's going to get it down right away. And this is Joe Rosenthal, civilian photographer. He sees them going up. He says, you know what? I'm going with them. They have weapons, and I don't have one. He figures he gets on top of Mount Suribachi, which is the highest point on the island. He can get some great pictures up there. So he went with them. The five Marines, they found an old water pipe. That's how the Japanese got their fresh water. They collected rain water all throughout the caves. They tied the flag to it. They started putting it up. They're kind of struggling a little bit. The pole's heavy. The wind's blowing real hard. He sees this getting ready to happen. He really gets excited. He runs over as close as he can that's going up. He holds the camera up. He tries to figure out where the peak of the action would be, open the shutter, and caught that picture going up. He had absolutely no idea what he had. See him right here? He signed that picture for us in July of 2006. He died in August 2006. He was 94 years old. This big flag you see on the wall is the second flag they put up on Mount Suribachi. This is the actual flag in Joe Roedestal's famous photograph. You always see a lot of people's faces when I tell them that's the actual flag in that famous photograph. People just go, you know, they're just overwhelmed, most of them. It's incredible how they react to that. At the museum, you can see a full-scale model or replica of our current drum major. You can hear performances by the band of four different marches by John Philip Sousa. You can see instruments that were used by the band in the 19th century, and you could even see John Philip Sousa's miniature violin. It was a child-sized violin which Sousa played when he was just a little kid. The United States Marine Band is the professional musical organization in America. Founded in 1798 by an act of Congress, the band has performed for every presidential inaugural since Thomas Jefferson's, earning its name the President's Own. Our primary mission is to provide music for the President of the United States and the Commodore of the Marine Corps. So our history is as interesting and broad as American history. And they took the belts away from us because they were used as weapons. They wrapped them around the hand and hit them with the belt buckle. So that went by the wayside and then come up cloth belts. So that's how uniform policy changes really happen. Many of the museum's exhibits are designed to immerse visitors in the sights, sounds, and experience of Marines in action. In fact, I'm sitting in Tunn Tavern, the museum's reproduction of the 18th century Philadelphia brew house known as the birthplace of our beloved Corps. And I'm joined by retired Marine First Lieutenant Tony D'Amuzio, who is no stranger to the museum. You've been here multiple times. Sir, what keeps you coming back? An opportunity to reminisce and see old folks and see things that we used to have in our old Corps. Now, you know, it's funny because we've been sitting talking about old Corps, new Corps, and just how many similarities there actually are as far as Marine Corps tradition goes. And I can tell by your many photos, you were a China Marine as they were known. Tell us a little bit about your photos and what the experience was like for you in your year in China. Of course, in those days we knew who the enemy was. Today we're fighting an ideology and it's a little bit different. But the troops are the same, the men are the same, same dedication, same loyalty as what we had before. Now, it's funny because when you were in China, you were a machine gunner who all of a sudden got caught up in and turned over to the bakery duties. Tell us a little bit about that transition. It was an opportunity. The aroma carried me over at the bacon and it was a good way to start another career. I know with all the exhibits here and it's going to constantly be evolving as the Marine Corps does as well. Do you have a favorite section of the museum? Yes, all of China, obviously, because that was my first overseas experience. And then, of course, the Korean and the Vietnam experience is really breathtaking, along with the aviation units that I served all three mags with. Now, I know service members in general share a very common bond, a very special bond, but Marines in particular. What's unique about the Marine Corps that that brotherhood is so strong? You and I just met today, but we could probably BS all day long. Yeah, well, that's what we enjoy amongst each other. We have commonality. We appreciate each other and and we just fit. All right. Well, sir, I'm looking forward to diving into the museum further with you. We could kind of take old core, new core shots at each other and then hopefully we'll just wind up back at Ton Tavern for a beer. How's that sound? That sounds like a winner. All right. Let's do it, sir. I know the uniforms have changed a little bit, but I'm sure. No, that's pretty authentic there. Yeah. Because, well, in 45, we used to wear the leather belt, but the black leather. Unfortunately, there was a few fisticuffs with the Navy brethren and they took the belts away from us because they were used as weapons. They wrapped them around the hand and hit them with the belt buckles. So that went by the wayside and then come up cloth belts. So that's how uniform policy changes really happen. After a bar fight or two. Did you guys do this too? Did you guys do repellent? No. No, they didn't have that at the time. But you probably had the cargo nets, right? Yeah. And then we ran and ran and ran. Ran some more. Nice to see somebody walking around with one of these again one day, the old Leathernecks. Well, that protects you from saber cuts. Yeah, exactly. I was going to say, you know, it's getting bad if we go back to issuing those. See, this is where I was at here. In Pusan, South Korea. That was the aviation. That was K3. And what year was that? That was in 55. Oh, right before you guys moved over to Iwakuni. Yeah, Iwakuni is just a little further. Yeah, a little further to the east there. I don't know. That's a new one on me. 1909. This is very impressive here. You follow that right on up the line. Oh, just the timeline of it. Timeline goes right on up. Now here you go. Oh, this is a China medal right there. Yeah. You got this guy too, right? World War Two victory medal. If you was at Iwakuni, did you go up to Hiroshima? I did. Well, they still have the coke bottle that the blast had melted the coke bottle into the cement step of that one building. That's still a memorial. Oh, yeah. That's what you wore? Yeah. And you didn't have chevrons on it. You got to stencil them and then print your name. When did you get over there? Well, I was only 45. 46. I was in China. Oh, there you go. Up in 21 May. Yeah, there you go. See where they clash up in Tencent. One Marine was killed. Now, how far was Tencent from where you were at? It was about 60 miles. Okay. So that was kind of the first volley before everything started unraveling, huh? Oh, there's your stencil kit. That's right. Get that ink. I'm just looking at my cigarette lighter. See the one back here? Uh-huh. Oh, the very back on the right, that Camp Lejeune one? Oh, Zippo. You got one just like it? Yeah. Oh, I'm going to have to come back this way. Yeah, this is my section. Now you're going to fight the IEDs. Yeah. Oh, here, did you see this? Oh, the pungies. Yeah, pungy steaks. They even got the heat turned up in here, huh? That's pretty wild. They bring her birthday cakes, okay? Old trusty pull-up. He was my regimental commander down on Camp Lejeune. Oh, okay. 45, yeah. Tony, it was great walking through our beloved museum together today and learning a lot about your experiences and sharing a lot of that history. Perhaps the best thing about the museum is you can always come back to Tun Tavern and share a beer right here where the birthplace of our Corps began. Robert, thank you. Thank you, Robert. Cheers, sir, and as always Semper Fi. Thank you. Right now we're restoring an SBD, World War II aircraft, and we've been working on that for four years, and we're not done yet. So far, the National Museum of the Marine Corps has exhibits that span our branch's beginnings through the Vietnam War. There's also an area dedicated to the Global War on Terror, and a major expansion is in the works. You've been through our existing galleries. You know, they're very immersive. We try to recreate the ground upon which Marines fought from the beginning up through Vietnam, and we'll continue that strategy for the new galleries as well. Phase one of the museum opened in 2006 under the leadership of museum director Lynn Izell. After years of careful coordination, the expansion will add another 80,000 square feet of exhibits, classrooms, an art gallery, and more. The final phase of our building project will also include a giant screen theater, nearly 400 seats, a very, very large screen, and this will allow us to envelop the visitor with the sights and sounds of what it's like to be a Marine today. There are constant additions to existing exhibits to draw in crowds and keep Hours and hours of work go into planning the exhibitions, designing them, finding just the right artifacts that tell the story. First and foremost, we are storytellers, and that's what we do with our exhibitions, and it looks so clean and easy when you're walking through the galleries, but it can literally take years of planning and restoration. Right now, we're restoring an SBD, World War II aircraft, and we've been working on that for four years, and we're not done yet, and it's a piece of Marine Corps history that we'll be able to save, so it's not just cosmetic, it's a full-blown restoration with a lot of work going into it. The painstaking restoration work takes place in this nearby hangar at Quantico. This is an SBD-3 Dauntless Dive Bomber. It's a World War II airplane. It played a major role in Wake Island because it suffered virtually 360 degrees of corrosion from having been lost in Lake Michigan back in 1944 and not being recovered until 1991. We're having to go in and disassemble this entire airplane so that we can inspect every piece before reassembling it and making sure that it is safe to be suspended for display from the museum. I like to stress to people when they come in here that the airplane was less than two years old when it went into the water, and it helps explain why we've got what we've got, why there's so much of it left. Rich Kneidner and Vybuls Vy both worked in aviation during their military careers and now lead a small dedicated team tasked with restoring this and other aircraft to their original condition. The main difficulty with working on an obsolete airplane such as this one is that sometimes there aren't any manuals. There aren't any blueprints. Something this complex has to be broken down into various milestones. The primary milestone here is to have that airframe assembled, and then there's going to be wings that will have to be assembled. There's flight controls. The ailerons, rudder, and things like that have to be attached at a later date. There's the hydraulic system. There's the electrical system. So the first milestone is to get this airframe assembled because it serves as a foundation for everything else. The detail with which this machine was taken apart to the last rivet and then examined, treated, and then put back together has really, I guess, been the only daunting thing. I want things to go faster than they could normally go, so that to me is the daunting thing, but patience is a virtue and that's really what it takes because to do the job that we do with the standards that we have set for ourselves, it can only be done one way, and if it takes time, it takes time. It's very frustrating, but our goal here is to create the most accurate representation as we possibly can. Between the five of us here that work on this airplane and volunteers, we just had to find a way to push on, and eventually you reach the result you want. After all of the ups and downs that we've had, it's great to finally be seeing a light at the end of the tunnel for this initial milestone, which is to have this airframe all riveted together. Once completed, this aircraft will join several others from various periods on display in the museum. This is my favorite, naturally, but I take great pride in having been involved in some of the other significant things that we did for the Phase I Alpha, the latest gallery openings, and I think if you were or if anybody was to look at those artifacts, even though they've been themed out, and by themed out I mean they've had mud put on them, they've had grease splatters put on them, cosmetic adaptations to fit the scenarios that they're being displayed in. If they look at any of the things that we've done, they'll know what this will look like quality-wise when we're done with it. We don't call them restorations, we call them 200-year preservations. We expect what we're doing to not have to be redone or inspected or looked at for 200 years. I'm very proud of what we do here. I take pride in making sure that we go the extra mile to keep it as original as possible. I hope that it makes Marines proud. The Marines look at this museum as their haven, their home, and for some of them it can be a little difficult. It can bring a tear to their eye, but is that necessarily a bad thing? We don't think it is. We want to make Marines proud of what they do, but we want to reinforce to the American public that the Marine Corps story is the American story, and you can learn about it here. The expansion will include galleries of Beirut, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Now the staff here say the museum is never a finished product, rather constantly evolving and continually collecting and preserving the United States Marine Corps history of both yesterday and tomorrow.