No Day But Today: Marine Corps Museum

On Sunday, my friends Heather, Kristin and I went to the National Museum of the Marine Corps. in Triangle, Virginia. This was on Kristin's Day Zero list and it also happened to be her birthday. Since her husband, a marine, was deployed earlier this month, I figured this would be a great thing to cross off her list. It was a very cool museum and I learned A LOT. They are adding 80,000 square feet on to the museum, so I am sure that we will be returning.

Kristin and Her John Bear outside of the museum

We started off in the section called "Making Marines". This section takes you through the entire 13 weeks spent on Parris Island, starting with the arrival of the new recruits. It all begins with the Sergent getting on the bus and yelling "Get your asses off my bus and stand on the yellow footprints on the pavement - NOW!

We got to try on this backpack which is the average weight of one a marine has to carry. I had to use the poles to get up!!!

This is the first flag that was raised over Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by the Marines on June 10, 1898.

This was one of my favorite areas. In this area, we learned about the battle at Belleau Wood. This battle was the birth of the modern US Marine Corps. This was a three week battle in which the US Marines were triumphant. This was also where Marines suffered more casualties then in any other battle in US Marine history.

This is a de Havilland DH-4. This was designed Specifically for day bombing.

1917A1 Browning Machine Gun.

M3A1 Stuart Light Tank. This tank was actually first tested at Aberdeen Proving Ground! This is about 10 minutes from my house! This tank is manned by four people and is equipped with a 37mm gun and three .30 caliber machine guns!

This is an M4 Sherman Tank. This is manned by a crew of 5 and is equipped with a 75mm gun, a .50 caliber machine gun and two .30 caliber light machine guns! (P.S. I am completely fascinated by tanks!!)