New memorial and museum in Ohio honors all veterans
“Ever since I was a kid, I was dead set on getting into West Point. I was in the class of 2005. We are considered to be the class of 9/11 because 9/11 happened our freshman year. It got very real when classmates started dying. Every once in a while, they’d make an announcement at lunch that we lost another classmate in combat.”
That poignant recollection is just part of the story of former U.S. Army 1st Lt. Joshua Mantz of San Jose, California, a Purple Heart recipient. It’s one of many personal stories that visitors will experience at the new National Veterans Memorial and Museum in Columbus, Ohio, which opened Oct. 27.
They’ll also find out about Deborah Sampson, a teenage girl who disguised herself as a boy to fight in the Revolutionary War. When injured, she dug the musket ball out of her flesh rather than let a doctor discover her secret. And they’ll learn about Army Sgt. Wendell Wiley Wolfenbarger, whose lucky rabbit’s foot and wishbone couldn’t protect him from being killed in action during World War II, and Army Sgt. Don Jakeway, who survived even after confronting nearby German snipers. War and peace.
Life and death.
Honor and survival. History and homecoming. Those fundamental themes of human experience are on display, mostly in the form of first-person accounts, at the nation’s first museum dedicated to veterans from all conflicts and all branches of the U.S. military.
“We have museums across the country that focus on branches and conflicts, but our museum houses universal stories of patriotism and service from all branches and all conflicts under one roof,” said retired Army Lt. Gen. Michael Ferriter, the institution’s president and CEO. “The emotional core of the experience lies within the individual stories of each and every one of the people featured throughout the exhibition program.”
The stories represent the more than 40 million veterans — about half of them still alive — from throughout U.S. history, from all five branches of the military, in all conflicts, including those that happened before the 13 colonies became the United States of America.
It’s not just a memorial and museum about the military, it’s about the United States and its place in the world.
More than $82 million was raised through public and private philanthropy for the 53,000-square-foot museum and 2.5-acre memorial grove that sits on 7 acres in downtown Columbus. It uses interactive exhibits and displays with large photographs and numerous video clips to tell its stories.
The museum, designed by Allied Works Architecture, was named one of the 12 mostanticipated buildings of 2018 by Architectural Digest, which described the building as understated and dignified.