Since I am still in America for the holidays, I decided to go to Quantico, Virginia today and check out the National Museum of the Marine Corps. The museum, which opened last month, is a multi-million dollar project which was largely funded by private donations, and they definately didn’t throw the money away: this museum is one of the most impressive I have ever visited.

The museum’s strange shape is meant to invoke the famous image of marines raising a flag on Iwo JIma. While it might be somewhat hard to notice this from the parking lot, when viewed at an angle from a nearby road, it looks much more like the shape of the flagraisers.

A variety of aircraft used by the US Marines hang from the ceiling in the main hall. Famous quote about the marine corps are carved into the wall, such as Admiral Nimitz’s famous statement: ”
Of the Marines on Iwo Jima, uncommon valor was a common virtue.” On the ground level visitors can see life size mock-ups of marines exiting a helicopter in Vietnam and marines landing on Tarawa, both created with life-like detail.

Most of the musem focuses on the three biggest conflicts the marines fought in: World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. Each section has interesting displays of the weapons used by each side in the conflict, such as the Japanese small arms seen above.

For the Iwo Jima portion of the World War II area, visitors are ushered into a immersion room in which they “ride” in a landing craft approaching the island. Panoramic video of the battle around is shown on the walls while sounds of explosions and bullets whizzing by fill the room. They might want to put an age advisory on it, since a few toddlers present seemed very frightened.

After the landing craft reaches Iwo Jima, a door opens and visitors can view the most precious artifact housed at the museum: the American flag which was raised over Mt. Suribachi in the famous photo. It is the only area of the museum in which flash photography is forbidden. Strangely enough, flash photography is permitted when it comes to captured Japanese flags such as the one below.

I’ve sometimes read stories about former marines seeking out the descendants of some of the Japanese men who wrote their names on such flags and returning the flags to Japan. However, I guess this flag, which was captured on Saipan, will spend its days on display in the Marine Corps museum instead…

While the World War II exhibits are interesting, the Korea and Vietnam exhibits are where the true immersion begins. The Chosin Reservoir room was simply amazing. To simulate the frigid conditions in which marines fought, the temperature of the room is set to a winter level. Marines are taking cover behind some rocks while tracer fire, which is projected along the wall, flashes by. To their right is a snow-covered pile of corpses. While it didn’t have panoramic videos, it was definately more impressive than the Iwo Jima immersion area.

The Korea exihibit also has a section in which a film on MacArthur’s Incheon landing plan was shown. When the moment describing the battle begins, sounds of artillery bombardment play and the metal floor rumbles! A very nice touch.

Similarly, the Khe Sanh exihibit featured tropical temperatures and a variety of sound effects. Such exihibits sound expensive, and they probably cost a lot of money to maintain. However, the museum is free! If you’re in Virginia and you’re interested in history, I definately recommend you check it out. And, if you’re hungry after visiting the museum, be sure to have lunch or dinner at The Globe & Laurel, a restaurant with enough Marine Corps memorabilia on its walls that it should be considered a museum in itself. If you’re lucky, as I was today, the restaurant’s owner, Major Richard Spooner might be present to engage in you in friendly conversation about Marine Corps history (he even speaks some Japanese!).