National museum for Army debuts
FORT BELVOIR, Va. — A sword from the defense of Fort Mchenry in the War of 1812. A stopped wristwatch recovered from the wrecked E-ring of the Pentagon on the Sept. 11 attacks. The Sherman tank that first broke through enemy lines at the Battle of the Bulge in World War II.
Those are just a few of the artifacts that tell the 245-year story of the nation’s largest and oldest military branch at the National Museum of the United States Army.
Planning for the museum has been in the works for more than a decade, andconstruction began in 2017. Early plans called for an opening in late 2019, but delays pushed it back to 2020, and then the pandemic hit. Those delays, though, provided an opportunity for a debut that coincides with Veterans Day.
“We can see the relics and hear the stories through the eyes and ears” of the soldiers who served, said Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday.
Paul Morando, chief of exhibits at the museum, said the goal is to tell the stories of soldiers who served, and some of the stories that may not be as well known to the general public.
“We didn’t want to make a hallway of heroes,” he said.
Morando said the museumdoes not shy away fromdiscussing painful aspects of Army history.
“We mention My Lai. We mention Abu Ghraib. We mention Wounded Knee,” he said. “These events are put out in a factual way for the public to interpret or learn more about, but we do not ignore those subjects.”
Original projections estimated 750,000 people would visit the museum annually. For now, though, pandemic-related attendance restrictions are in place that will limit attendance. Tickets are free, but are time-stamped and must be obtained in advance to regulate capacity.