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 the soaring structure evokes the image of the flag raising atop a wajima 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 sights and sounds and even smells of combat coming through a helicopter in the Vietnam gallery and you can smell maybe smell hydraulic fluid and 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 1 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 Mordor anything else age it just makes it to 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 that thing up sticking up near in fact I've had truck drivers come in here a lot of times when I'm talking to people I ask them where they're from I says what's your business here are you marine whatever one of them told me a doctor said I just wanted with that thing sticking out the ground was so you went to come here and see what it was he was overwhelmed when you got here to 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 they 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 one to set foot on Japanese soil first American troops to do that so you better believe the enemy is going to be fighting us with everything they you just want to fight well done Oh cute or maybe the damn thing will blow up and sink into the earth more days after the Marines hit the beach they set a 40-man patrol up Mount Suribachi I the 28th Marine Regiment of the 5th Marine Division led by lieutenant Schrier 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 inside he wants to replace it with a bigger flag he also heard the secretary Navy first all wound up for souvenir he says no way he's getting that flag of belongs to the Marines we're gonna keep it so he's gonna get it down right away this is Joe Rosenthal being target for he sees him 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 Mount Suribachi which is the highest point on the island he can get some great pictures up there if he went with them the five Marines they found an old water pipe that's how the japanese got their fresh water they collected rainwater distributed all throughout the caves they tied the flag to it they started putting it up there kind of struggling a little bit holds heavy the wind 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 at he action would be open the shutter and caught that picture going up he had absolutely no idea what he had seemed right here he signed that picture for us in July of 2006 he died in August 2006 of 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 and Joe Vova calls famous photograph you all see allow the people's faces when I tell them that's the actual flag and that thing's photograph people just go yeah 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 margins by John Philip Sousa you can see instruments that were used by the band in the nineteenth century and you could even see John Philip Sousa's miniature violin Oh a child-sized violin which Sousa played when he was just a little kid the United States Marine Band is the oldest 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 the Marine Corps so our history is as interesting and broad as American history and they took the bells away from us because they was used as weapons they wrap them around the hand and hit it with the belt buckle so that would by the wayside then come up cloth belts so that's how uniform policy changes really have it after a bar fight 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 tongue 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 demuccio 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 were fighting to die an ideology and it's a little bit different but the troops are the same the men of the same same dedication same loyalty as what we had before now it's funny because when you were in China you er 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 to the aroma carried me over at the bacon and there's a good way to smell another career I know with all the exhibits here and it's going to constantly be evolving as as the Marine Corps does as well do you have a favorite section of the museum yes all China obviously because that was my first overseas experience and then of course the Korean and the that down experience is really breathtaking lugged 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 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 untapping for a beer how's that sound it sounds like a winner all right let's do it I know the uniforms have changed a little bit but I'm sure no that's pretty authentic there as well 45 we used to wear the the leather belt but now the black leather unfortunately it was a few fisticuffs with Navy brethren and they took the belts away from us because they was used as weapons wrap them around the hand and hit him with the belt so that would by the way side and then come up cloth belt so that's how uniform policy changes really happen after a bar fighter - did you guys do this - did you has to do repellant no no they didn't have that at the time but you probably have the cargo nets right yeah see we had Coghlan today oh and then we ran and ran and ran we ran some more nice to see somebody walking around with one of these again one day the old Leathernecks will well that protects you from shaver cups yeah exactly let's say you know it's getting bad if we go back to issue in those see this is where I was at here he was Pusan uh-huh South Korea okay that was the over aviation of us we call kata-kata a king drink atmosphere and what year what year is that you were was in 55 oh right before you guys moved over to heal Cooney yeah you look really well should go through yeah a little a little further the east there yeah well I don't know about that so no one on me aren't 1909 this is very impressive care this you follow that right on up the line oh just the timeline other timeline goes right on up now here you go oh this is yeah we're trying to remember right there yeah you got this guy to write those not world war ii victory medal yeah if he was at Iwakuni was you anyway yeah yeah do you go up to Hiroshima dead ahead 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 that's what you are yep and you didn't have Shepherds on a got a stencil uh-huh and then the print your name when'd you get over there I'm going 45 20th points 46 46 I was in China oh there you have up and 21 May yeah there you go that's good truce - Paris - eh when they clash up in tension one Marine was killed now how far was Tencent from where you have about 60 miles okay so that was kind of the first volley for everything started unraveling huh well there's your stencil kit that's right you think he's good daddy I'm just looking up my cigarette lighter I got see the one back here uh-huh Oh the very back on the right that camp lejeune one simple you got one just like it here oh I'm gonna have to come back this way yeah this is nice you're gonna fight the IEDs yeah oh here to see this what the puncher you hungie stakes purple boxes one hot we got the heat turned up in here huh it's pretty loud every birthday cakes okay no chesty for Helen he was my regimental commander down on campus you're out in 45 yep 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 core vegan Robert thank you cheers sir and as always semper fide thank you right now we're restoring an SBD World War two 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 branches 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 Iselle after years of careful coordination the expansion will add another 80,000 square feet of exhibits classrooms and art gallery and more the final phase of 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 drawing crowds and keep them coming back 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 were two aircraft and we've been working on that for four years and we're not done yet so it's 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 don't let's dive bomber its World War 2 airplane it played a major role in Wake Island because it suffered virtually 360 degrees of Rosen from having been lost in Lake Michigan back in 44 and not being recovered until 1991 we're having to go in and disassemble this entire airplane so that we can expect every piece before reassembling it and making sure that it is safe to be suspended for display from the museum I like to stress the people when they come in here that the airplane was less than two years old with them 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 need nur and V Bowles V 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 are 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 this 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 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 I want things to go faster than they could normally go so that to me is has is the daunting thing but patience is a virtue and 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 has 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 I mean 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 in having been involved in some of the other significant things that we did for the phase one 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 themed that 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 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 homes 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 right 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 United States Marine Corps history of both yesterday and tomorrow you

Channel: Marines

Views: 321,406

Keywords: Marines, Marine Corps, usmc, united states marines, united states marine corps, marine corps, military, armed forces, jarhead, leatherneck, devil dog, first to fight, the few, the proud, Marine (military), US Marines (Organization), history, museum

Id: XrTLdHeh2NY

Length: 23min 30sec (1410 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 03 2013