College Park, MD - Semper Fi

Yep, it’s a Marine kind of day: breakfast my cousin-in-law, Andy, a Marine, and a visit to the Marine Museum.

A bit of background here. My mother was 7 years older than her siblings when they lived in Iowa back in the 30’s. . When she was ready to go to college, she chose Iowa State, married my father who was also an Iowan and they raised their family in Iowa. Meanwhile my grandparents moved to California after my mother graduated from college and raised their other two children out there. Thus, I have not had much contact with my aunts, uncles and cousins until Gary and I started to RV. And, what fun it has been getting to know them now.

I have met Pam, my cousin, who grew up in California once and have never met her husband, Andy - until today. Today he and Gary and I met for breakfast. Oh, yeah, Pam is on a business trip to Australia and couldn’t be here. Wouldn’t you know? The one person who has seen all of us was gone. And, we were left saying things like: we’ll be in a tan Jeep and I’ll be wearing a bright red shirt. But, there we were and we knew that it was Andy walking up to the restaurant - with his Marine cap on. Had to be him.

A delightful breakfast and we all got to sum up 50 years of our lives. Whew. Now, Gary and I, not knowing how breakfast would go, had planned to visit Bull Run National Battlefield after breakfast but Andy intimated that he was open for anything and we all decided to visit the Marine Museum, where, by chance, Andy is a docent. He asked us if we would like a highlight tour or a full tour and, since he asked, we told him the full tour. And, what a tour it was. We entered the Museum into what they call the Leatherneck Gallery. I can’t even begin to give you a picture of this huge space. But it was amazing. It was designed to resemble the flag raising at Iwo Jima. Planes are hanging throughout the gallery.

The next gallery was called Making Marines and they gave us a real feel of what it was like to step off the bus in Marine Boot Camp and have a Drill Instructor yell at you. ‘Yes, Sir!!’ with your feet at a 45 Degree angle. Here’s Andy giving Gary the look.

Then the Museum takes you through a history of the Marines in American wars. Each gallery begins with an explanation of why we got into that particular war. Then there are timelines, there are examples of weapons, aircraft, tanks and machine guns used in each of the wars, there are artifacts from the war, like the long winter coat with a bullet hole in the lower right side - right where the bullet hit the Marine in the knee or the flag raised over Iwo Jima or a tank used in WWII. All authentic and all used the war being described.

But what makes the museum so real are the life-sized ‘people’ in the exhibits, each one modeled after a real live Marine. Andy told us that the models were chosen, they got into the position they would take in the diorama and had to hold that position for the 3 hours that it took to get some gel that was put on them to harden. Every face you see here is different, because every Marine who was a model is different. I stood in front of one of the ‘Marines’ and looked right into his eyes. WOW. So real. I could see the intensity in his eyes as he peered around a corner to see if anyone was coming.

Do the two marines below look real? Well, they should, they are real. They posed in these positions for the gel to set.

As we moved through the museum, Andy kept a running commentary on the display: facts, figures, people, dates, and the stories behind the actual scene portrayed in this room. He even knew most of the Marines who had been the models and could tell us a bit about them. Then as we moved from the Revolutionary War room into the next room, a couple who had been standing near us asked if this was a private tour or if anyone could join. We looked at Andy and he looked at us. ‘Sure’ we all said. So Andy led on. About 3 rooms later another couple joined us. And, Andy included us all and his running commentary and didn’t miss a beat.

The scenes are real also - here is the view that new Marines to this base see as they exit the helicopter. It is one of the forward bases in Viet Nam.

Actually, the additions to our group added to it with their stories. One guy had been in Viet Nam and could tell us about being picked up by a helicopter after being in battle. He was sitting in the doorway, and trying to put his feet down on the runners with his heavy pack on and almost falling out of the chopper. He looked down and could only see the mountains below when another guy pulled him back in.

Here’s one of the flags raised at Iwo Jima.

You know how I like history museums and this had it in spades. But, Andy’s commentary and stories, the displays themselves and the artifacts made this a wonderful experience. If you ever get to the DC area, be sure to stop into the National Museum of the Marine Corps - and ask if Andy is working. Tell him Nancy and Gary sent you.

But, wouldn’t you know it? I had my camera with me all day, Andy gave us a marvelous tour and I didn’t get one single picture of him except this one butt shot. What was I thinking?

‘Ooh, rah.’