By Jim Lamb
The buildings stand upright and tall,
substantial and strong, spit-shined
and shimmering, like soldiers ready for
inspection, exactly the kind of stance
you’d expect from a design team tasked
with preserving the history and heritage of
America’s Army – an institution older than
the nation itself.
Officials christened it the “National
Museum of the United States Army” but
NMUSA could be called the house that
service and sacrifice built. These sturdy
structures of steel, glass, and concrete
aren’t the result of academic deliberations
about abstract theories and lofty
sentiments. Blood was spilled to get this
built. Bodies broken. Lives lost. Families
and hometowns changed forever.
The state-of-the-art facility (less than
thirty minutes south of Washington,
DC, on 1775 Liberty Drive, Fort Belvoir,
Virginia) contains 185,000 square feet of
memories represented by 15,000 pieces
from the Army Art Collection as well as
30,000 artifacts, documents, and images;
the majority of which have never been
displayed in public.
Some artifacts are big, like the “Cobra
King” Sherman tank that broke through
German lines surrounding Bastogne,
Belgium, during the Battle of the Bulge.
Many items are smaller, like an American
Long Rifle hand-made in 1773 by
gunsmith Thomas Tileston of Dorchester,
Massachusetts; a handful of coins fused
together when Flight 77 hit the Pentagon
on 9-11; a World War II Medic armband
taken into outer space by US Army
astronaut Colonel Andrew Morgan.
"It's a great honor to take this with me to
the International Space Station,” Colonel
Morgan said prior to lift-off. "I'm a medical
corps officer in the Army and deployed in
combat so there is that connection, along
with having two grandparents and a great
uncle who fought in World War II."
OTHER ARTIFACTS INCLUDE:
Brass-shelled snare drum – Bears
the inscription “Henry Galloway,” field
musician with Company H, 55th Regiment
of Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, an
African-American regiment.
Code Talkers Congressional Medal
– Awarded in recognition of the
contributions made by Native Americans
(representing thirty-three tribes) who
served in both World Wars.
Sikorsky R4B – Recognized as the first
large-scale, mass-produced helicopter to
be used by the United States Army, it went
into service in 1942 and engaged in its first
combat mission in 1944.
The National Museum of the United States Army will be the first and only museum to tell the 245-year history of the US Army
in its entirety. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the opening has been delayed. Photo Credit: All photos by the US Army. ARMY 245: Call to Duty 31