Marine Corps Museum: Blood, guts and history
It is near Quantico, Virginia, off Interstate 95, on the right if you are northbound and left if you are southbound. But don’t keep driving -- stop. The museum is worth seeing, even if you have no plans to become a Marine.
It is relatively new -- opened in 2006. The building itself, the work of architect Curtis Worth Fentress, evokes the silhouette of Marines raising the flag at Iwo Jima on Feb. 23, 1945. (That flag is on exhibit inside, by the way.) The rolling campus features memorials to the Marines' contributions -- and notably, a statue of the famous Lt. Gen. Lewis Burwell “Chesty” Puller, who received the Navy Cross five times.
The museum also presents a marvelous overview of American history through the prism of the Marine Corps. Not only that, it is free.
Before you go, here is some Marine Corps trivia:
- The Marines formed during the American Revolution. Where did they first meet?
- Why do they call Marines leathernecks?
- Why do Marine uniform trousers have a red stripe?
- The first two lines of the Marine Corps Hymn note two famous missions. What are they?
1. From the Halls of Montezuma: This is a reference to the Mexican War, when Mexico clung to territories it inherited from Spain, while the U.S. pushed westward. During the Battle of Chapultepec, Sept. 13, 1847, Marines and soldiers stormed and captured the castle known as the Halls of Montezuma, but 90 percent of the commissioned and noncommissioned Marine officers were killed, according to the Marine Corps website.
2. To the shores of Tripoli: In the early 1800s, President Thomas Jefferson sent the Marines to fight Barbary pirates off the northern coast of Africa, which is where we get the line, "to the shores of Tripoli."
- What is the Marine Corps motto?
Semper Fidelis: Always Faithful.
If you go: Hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. For directions, see the website.
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