Continuing my visit to Northern Virginia Museums, next on the list was the USMC Museum in Triangle Virginia. I have been to this museum a number of times and think it is one of the better US military museums. The museum is not artifact heavy, but displays their items well and uses life sized dioramas to show off a lot of the heavy equipment.
It is set out as a partial circle, that starts with the founding of the U.S. Marine Corps and ending in the modern day. the reason for the visit was that neither me or my buddy had seen the newest section (War of Terror Period) or the temporary U.S. 250 celebrations.
We headed to the museum and got there about two, which gave us two and a half hours to check out the new stuff and get a refresher of the rest of the museum. Because time was short, we started at the end and moved our way back to the beginning.
The 250 display was quite simple. It basically highlights different marines that served at various conflicts that the Marine’s were involved with. It was a tasteful display. They even included the 1873 Korea acton!
The most somber for me was the story of Sergeant Nicole Gee, who died at Abby Gate. I never served, so cannot truly understand what many of my friends had to go through. However, I cannot help but respect them and all those that gave up everything that they were or would ever be, to serve their country.
The next section was the War on Terror. Lots of artifacts of equipment and other artifacts. There was a diorama of an actual IED damaged JLTV and another of a LAV. They had a large display showing an F/A-18 and common loaded ordinance also.
We finished up with a review of the rest of the museum and a stop in the gift shop. Unfortunately, it started raining while we were in the museum, so we could not walk the outside trail and catch all the monuments. That will just have to wait for the next time!
- Manteuffel