Welcome Home - A Podcast for Veterans, About Veterans, By Veterans
Welcome Home is a Willing Warriors and the Warrior Retreat at Bull Run project. The program highlights activities at the Warrior Retreat and issues impacting all Veterans. For questions or feedback, please email us at podcast@willingwarriors.org.
Welcome Home - A Podcast for Veterans, About Veterans, By Veterans
The Marine Corps Legacy: Inside One of America's Premier Military Museums
Step into the living legacy of the United States Marine Corps through the eyes of Colonel Gentry, Director of the National Museum of the Marine Corps. What began as two modest facilities has transformed into an architectural marvel purposefully designed to evoke the iconic Iwo Jima flag raising - from its angled mast mirroring the famous flagpole to its floor transitioning from sea to shore, representing the Marines' amphibious heritage.
The museum's mission extends beyond preservation. It honors veterans' selfless service, revitalizes the spirits of active-duty personnel, inspires future generations, and bridges the crucial civil-military gap for civilian visitors. This isn't a static collection of artifacts but a dynamic storytelling experience spanning 250 years of Marine Corps evolution from the Continental Marines through Afghanistan and Iraq.
What truly distinguishes this museum is its commitment to immersive experiences. Walk through Marines attacking across Belleau Wood's wheat field, feel the bitter cold of Korea's Chosin Reservoir, or witness the conditions at Vietnam's Hill 881 South. Marvel at cast figures molded from actual Marines with realistic battle details, and see the actual flag from Rosenthal's iconic Iwo Jima photograph on daily display. Every element carries meaning, creating a powerful connection between visitors and Marine Corps history.
As the Corps celebrates its 250th anniversary, exciting new developments are underway, including galleries highlighting the Medal of Honor, interwar period innovations, and unique collection pieces. With free admission and parking just off I-95 in Triangle, Virginia, there's no reason to miss this national treasure. Whether you're a Marine veteran seeking reconnection, a history enthusiast, or simply curious about this storied military branch, the National Museum of the Marine Corps offers an unforgettable journey through America's military heritage. Visit usmcmuseum.com today to plan your visit and discover upcoming events!
Good morning. I'm Larry Zilliox, Director of Culinary Services here at the Warrior Retreat at Bull Run and for today's episode we have Colonel Gentry from the United States Marine Corps Museum. We're joined by co-host John Wall, retired Navy John. How are you? I'm pretty good. Larry, thanks for having me on again and Colonel Gentry, welcome to the podcast. We really appreciate you coming by the retreat and just telling us all about the Marine Corps Museum and, as I mentioned earlier, first museum I've ever been to military museum and it was just awesome. Tell us a little bit about your career. From what I understand, you, of course, started off in the 10th Marines 12th, actually 12th, actually 12th. Okay, did you ever make it to the 13th Marine? Is that the goal there? You just keep going higher and higher.
John Wall :Well, there are three active duty regiments, artillery regiments in the Marine Corps. There's 10th, 11th and 12th Marines, and then there's 14th Marines, which is the reserve regiment. 13th Marines hasn't been around for a long time. They were a World War II regiment.
Larry Zilliox:So 12th is the highest and the best, I'm assuming.
John Wall :My last fleet job was commanding the 12th Marines, so I'm biased there. But having said that, they're all. It's not a ranking of regiments.
Larry Zilliox:They're all very good regiments, oh well, that's how we would do it in the Air Force, but I understand Only the Air Force. Yeah, that's right, but if you would tell us about the mission of the museum and how it got started and where it's at today.
John Wall :So really we do four things at the National Museum of the Marine Corps we honor those who have served selflessly before us, we revitalize the spirit of those currently serving and we inspire young men and women to become the next generation of Marines. And to kind of put a fire point on it, we want to make sure that all Marine veterans, frankly all veterans, are honored through the exhibits and through the stories we tell. The revitalization part gets to every job, gets you down at some point, and the Marine Corps can be a grind just like any other service. But what I find is when Marines visit that they just become re-energized. And then, of course, we want to inspire those young men and women to, you know, seek a life of service, ideally service in the Marine Corps, if they have what it takes to be a US Marine. And then finally, back to bridging the civil-military gap. You know, we find that we have a lot of visitors that have no Marine Corps experience or not even military experience, and so it's a real opportunity to kind of explain what the Marine Corps does, its role in society, its roles in defense, but also the importance of service service to the nation, to the society and whatnot. We really are a living museum, which I think makes us a little bit different than some of the other museums.
John Wall :There's almost always something going on. If you're there on the 1st, there's guaranteed to be a slew of promotions, but we are truly cradle to grave when it comes to the different events. So we have commissionings, promotions, reenlistments, retirements, weddings and funerals openings, promotions, reenlistments, retirements, weddings and funerals, and so, especially for those who don't have a connection with the military, those are opportunities for a civics lesson. I remember one time somebody, a group, came in. They were doing a promotion and the person asked me well, are we allowed to watch? I'm like, absolutely. They're like, well, what's going on? Well, it's a promotion. And it gave me an opportunity to say well, that officer they're going to read, in this case, his commission. That's where he gets his authority to give orders and oh, by the way, he's going to reaffirm his oath of office to the Constitution of the United States. Here's what that means. We're not talking about, you know, a piece of parchment. We're talking about the idea of the United States and to support and defend that constitution, that idea, against all enemies, foreign and domestic. Your other part of the question, where you know where did we come from that sort of thing?
John Wall :There were really two parts to the museum before 2006. There was a small museum up in the Navy Yard, kind of hard to get to, dark, dingy. It was an okay museum but it wasn't large, it didn't have a lot of pizzazz to it. And then down at Quantico we had the Air Ground Museum, which consisted really of old hangars, old buildings down there with a lot of stuff, airplanes and vehicles and whatnot, and frankly the museum was not professional at that point. I'm not throwing shade on predecessors, but it was a lot of well-meaning folks collecting things and often without a very disciplined collections rationale. So we got a lot of stuff without a very disciplined collections rationale. So we haven't got a lot of stuff In 2006,.
John Wall :Well, we opened the new museum on 10 November 2006. Starting a little bit before, that is when the real professionalization of the museum occurred, and lots of credit to Lynn Azell, who's the first director of the new museum. We poached her from the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and she brought that set of professional standards to what was now the National Museum of the Marine Corps, to the point where we actually became accredited by the American Alliance of Museums and recently reaccredited. So that's that outside measure of yes, we are truly meeting that professional mark.
Larry Zilliox:So the exhibits I remember visiting very vividly. One is the design of the museum is fascinating and you get that on full view because there's a bit of a walk up to the museum, which I've got to believe was done on purpose, because you then get to take in the entire building in itself, which is the first thing that you get to think about when you say, well, I don't know what's inside, but it's already pretty cool. And then you get inside and you have that atrium in there and various levels and the staff and the volunteers that are there for the tours and directing you are wonderful and it's really a fascinating walk through the history of the Marine Corps. But it also really highlights the heroic actions of many Marines and or people who aren't familiar with the Marine Corps. Their familiarity really comes from watching old John Wayne movies that were set in, you know, like San Diego or someplace.
Larry Zilliox:This is a real amazing glimpse of what the Marine Corps is really all about and its heart and the one thing, the theme that you get through the entire thing is that it's selfless service, it's dedication to the country and to the core, from start to finish. Tell us a little bit about what the exhibits are and how do you decide what's going to go on exhibit? Because once it opened, I'm sure you were just flooded with all sorts of hey, here's my mess kit from when I was in Vietnam, and you know, of course they think that's a treasure, but you probably have 40 mess kits from Vietnam. But how do you decide on what you want to put on display?
John Wall :That's a really good question. There's several facets to it. Part of it is we use our artifacts to tell stories, and so, unlike some museums that are a building filled with things, we purposely pick artifacts to tell a story. So it might be, you know, we've got an H-34 Delta on one of the tableaus when you first come in. That represents the first battalion-sized helicopter-borne operation in the Marine Corps, operation Starlight in 1965. And so each one of those has a story behind it. But you have to have an artifact to tell a story, and so part of the challenge is is what do we have in the collection? And there's kind of a little bit of a wave of when we get different sets of artifacts. So when the veteran is still alive and kicking, they typically don't donate their stuff. I mean, some do, but a lot of it's. Hey, this is my thing.
John Wall :This is my mesquite, this is my whatever, and it's part of their story, and so they typically, you know, they keep hold of it, but when that veteran passes away, then you know it falls to the children, and then later, sometimes, the grandchildren. There's a point where it's like you're like ah yeah, this it's old, it seems kind of important, but maybe the, maybe the National Museum of the Marine Corps is a better place for it, and so you start seeing kind of bulges of collections or of donations, based on kind of where that conflict is in its life cycle or how far back it goes. So that's one challenge. The other challenge is there's a lot of stories to tell. So that's one challenge. The other challenge is there's a lot of stories to tell, and it's not uncommon for me to get a visitor comment that's like hey, can you tell the story of this? It's like well, one, I don't have anything to tell that story with, and two, that is so niche that I don't have room to tell the story. So that's certainly a challenge.
John Wall :The way we've organized, though, is we really want to. You know, we're a warfighting organization, and so we start off by telling people here's how we make Marines, and we think that's very important and the things that we concentrate on. And then we talk about the early era, so the Continental Marines through the Civil War, and then that period late 1800s up to World War I, and then it's basically then the next three galleries, four galleries, are war, world War I, world War II, korea, vietnam. Then we have kind of that period of time where there was a lot going on the Beirut bombing, invasion of Grenada, desert Storm, plus a myriad of other named operations going on. Then we have that bridging event, 9-11, and then our last gallery that talks about war is Afghanistan and Iraq, and that had its own unique challenge because, once again, not a lot of artifacts early on.
John Wall :So the challenge to tell the story. But we also, whereas everywhere else, challenge to tell the story. But we also, whereas everywhere else we can tell the story chronologically, because Afghanistan and Iraq overlap. You know, afghanistan, iraq, back to Afghanistan, iraq and then back to Afghanistan. We chose to tell, basically talk about Afghanistan and then shift to Iraq, and so that's kind of how we're formed, we're building it around, and so if you come in the entrance, go to the left and just keep going clockwise, then you'll catch about 250 years of Marine Corps history.
Larry Zilliox:Wow, wow. Do you have an exhibit about the Marines who defended the embassy and were last to leave in Vietnam?
John Wall :So not a full-blown exhibit on that, but we do have pictures that show that and frankly, there's a little talking to Vietnam veterans. There's some frustration because the Marine Corps basically was out of their 72, 73, maybe the last advisors. There were still Marines in country, you know with the embassy and whatnot, but the war for the Marine Corps was already over. And then that last piece, the evacuation of the embassy in Saigon. Marines participated in that but that's really kind of post the war and that's a nuance I didn't, I wasn't really appreciative of until talking to one of the docents who's a Vietnam veteran.
Col. Keil Gentry:So thanks, Colonel, for being here Now. Are you still active or retired in this position, or how does that work? I'm retired, You're retired, Colonel, so I appreciate your service and I remember as a young man I was telling you earlier off mic here that I grew up in Triangle, Virginia.
Col. Keil Gentry:And the museum is located in triangle, virginia. For our listeners that want to go and check this place out, and I remember, um, vaguely remember, this building go up. And it started going up and it got to a point where you're like what is this thing? Cause when you're a young man you're like this thing looks like a spaceship, right, like this is not a normal building and the way they designed it is just it's impeccable. And you talked about in 2006, when you really kind of pulled two locations together and then started this process. How did that come about? Was that, is that someone in the military that thought of that, or civilians, or both people? How did that come about? And then, can you talk a little bit about the architectural of the building?
John Wall :So it's really a two-parter on how that all came about. So there was the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, which is a nonprofit foundation that supports the Museum History Division, the band and whatnot. They, in the 90s, started raising money with this vision of creating a National Museum of the Marine Corps and, frankly, if it had been left to the Marine Corps' devices it would not be such a magnificent building. And so they raised the money, had it designed, built the building with, of course, marine Corps input into the process. The land itself is actually part of Marine Corps Base Quantico.
John Wall :There was a land swap years ago between the county. The land itself is actually part of Marine Corps Base Quantico. There was a land swap years ago between the county, so Marine Corps took part of Locust. Shade Park became Marine Corps property, so the land belongs to the Marine Corps. The building actually still belongs to the foundation. Once they pay off the loan by law it will transfer to the Marine Corps. And so they were very thoughtful in the design and they had several pitches from different architectural firms and as soon as they saw the one from Fentress they were like, yeah, that's what we want. And there were a few two weeks after that. But the design is supposed to evoke the second flag raising on Mount Suribachi.
Col. Keil Gentry:That's what I thought it was.
John Wall :Exactly and so specifically say the second flag raising, because that's the one that Joe Rosenthal captured in his iconic photo, and I don't think there's an American that's 10 years old or more that doesn't recognize that image. They oriented it such that it, you know it pokes through the tree line there, and so the first folks that notice it are the folks going up and down 95. In fact, it's not uncommon for people to stop by and go. You know, I've always wondered what that thing was. So that's the first thing that attracts you. And then you're absolutely right, it is by design. As you come up, you just kind of soak in the magnificence of the architecture, and one of my favorite things is to watch folks who visit the first time, because they come into the building and as they enter Leatherneck Gallery, which is the large central gallery, I watched their heads go up and their mouths open and they just paused there for a moment in awe.
John Wall :And everything in the building has meaning, To include the floor that is the mezzanine there, or the floor in the Leatherneck Gallery, specifically designed. It goes from dark blue to light blue, to tan, to brown and green, because Marines traditionally come from the sea. We fight ashore and we return to the sea. And the mast, which is the large metal angled architectural feature in the middle which you can see from the outside as well, that is at the same angle, or nearly the same angle as the flagpole in the photograph. So other details that really make things special are throughout the museum.
John Wall :We have what we call cast figures, and I specifically don't call them mannequins or dummies or something like that, because all the adults are no kidding live cast of either Marines or somebody associated with the Marine Corps. So what we do is we put them in their action pose. We take four molds legs, torso, arms and head. It's about a four-hour process to include a couple straws up the nose so they can breathe. And once the molds are made, then they're poured and then the artists really go to work. So you'll see the sheen of sweat, the grime of battle, and you can see how they become more and more realistic looking, and it's not uncommon for somebody to say, well, that cast figure looks kind of familiar, but it may well be somebody they know. And then we get the occasional ham that comes and goes hey, check me out. But, like I say, there's meaning in everything To include. As an old Navy guy, you would appreciate the superstructure, the haze, gray paint scheme, because we are naval, that's right. And so we've been on ships since 1775. Still there today.
Col. Keil Gentry:Yeah, wow, that's great. I didn't know you guys went to that level of detail and that's's very impressive and kind of a little shame to say I haven't visited. So now I think my wife and I are going to take a trip real soon. Go check this place out. Are you still in the process of that to bring in more storytelling so we can honor the Marines? And you know, and I think you said earlier, there's other service members storytelling in there as well.
John Wall :So, to go back a little bit further in time, the initial amount that the foundation had was enough to build about half the building and then in 2017, that's when they kind of finished the rest of it. So now it's a completely round building. The galleries themselves we tell the story through if you want to be technical 2021 with the withdrawal from Afghanistan, but we have three galleries in the works that we want to continue to tell the Marine Corps stories. So there's one that we call the Hall of Valor, which will highlight the Medal of Honor and other you know Navy Cross and awards like that, because we want to really showcase the valor associated with those awards. Great idea an actual gallery that talks about it. And that's the time period between World War I and World War II, which is really a touchstone for the Marine Corps because there's a lot of innovation going on.
John Wall :Marine Corps was really doing a lot of small unit stuff prior to World War I. Now was our first experience with larger formations. So you had the 5th Marine, 6th Marines and the 5th Machine Gun Battalion, all part of the 2nd Division, which was an Army division later commanded by General Lejeune, the United States Marine Corps. And so after World War I there was kind of a decision point whether, hey, do we go back to being ships, detachments and just small unit stuff, constabulary units, actions and whatnot. And we did do some of that.
John Wall :But we also looked at forming the Fleet Marine Force and just small unit stuff, constabulary unit, actions and whatnot, and we did do some of that. But we also looked at forming the Fleet Marine Force and how would we be able to support naval operations, advanced base operations, things like that? And so we then started experimenting with aerial gunnery, mostly in support of ground forces. We started refining amphibious doctrine, amphibious assault doctrine, the equipment required to implement that, and so that was a very vibrant time intellectually and doctrinally for the Marine Corps, and we often refer back to it because we go through those periods time by time. In fact, arguably we're in that period right now, and so we really want to highlight that so that we can really draw those lessons and make them come alive for this generation of Marines.
Larry Zilliox:Listeners, I want to direct your attention to the webpage. It's usmcmuseumcom. I'd like everybody to head over to the webpage, find the address, go visit. I'm hoping that there's a donate button on that webpage. If there is bang on it, give what you can. Um, this is a pretty massive endeavor. It takes a lot of money to run. You got to just see electrical bill alone. I can't even imagine what that's like. So donate if you can and check it out. I want everybody to go in the Northern Virginia area.
Larry Zilliox:There's no excuse for not going. It's been there long enough. I think it's a lot like the Empire State Building. People who live in New York City don't visit it until relatives come. So do yourself a favor, go see it. Don't wait for your Marine Corps veteran Uncle Bob to come visit you. You can go and see it, experience it. Then call Uncle Bob, and now he has a reason to come visit you because you're going to tell him how amazing this museum is. But again, it's usmcmuseumcom and it's free to get in. There's charge. There's no charge for parking. You're not it's. It's not like udvar hazy out here where, hey, yeah, the museum's free, but it's 20 bucks to park. You know it's ridiculous. Um so, really check out the web page. And, colonel, do you put up special events on the web page, so do you can? Can they they see from the webpage that there's going to be a promotion ceremony, or is that stuff just kind of the word?
John Wall :spread internally. Well, they won't see things like a promotion ceremony, but what they will see is, for instance, our summer concert series, where we have had the President's Own Southern Marine Corps Band. This next one coming up is, I think, the President's Own Big Band, and the end of the summer will be the President's Own again. So in between we have a Navy Band, I think the Air Force Band as well. So there's a lot of those events going on. We had a car show last Sunday which was pretty well attended over 80 entrants Wow, Hundreds of folks visited.
John Wall :We currently have a 250th art show that we just opened earlier this month, and even if you're not an art person, you will like this show. It is just eye-wateringly well put together and it does two things put together and it does two things. There's one alcove that has 19th century paintings that have Marines in older uniforms, but on the outside and flowing through it is 250 years of Marine Corps history. So starting with Continental Marines all the way up to Special Operations Marines operating today. So that is a really good exhibit. In September we're going to open another exhibit and this was an opportunity for the curators to go through the collection, pick out things that we normally wouldn't exhibit but are really interesting, and so that's going to be on display. We've been really kind of celebrating the Marine Corps' 250th since 11 November last year. Right.
John Wall :And of course it will culminate this year on 10 November, and so we've decorated it in kind of a 250th theme and people often talk well, what are you doing for the 250th? It's like every day is a 250th in this building, but the art show and this other collection also kind of are special as far as that goes.
Larry Zilliox:Well, listeners, again, it's usmcmuseumcom. Check it out, plan a visit. It's not far. It's at the south end of the county for Prince William County, down right along 95 and Route 1. There, you don't want to miss it. Take the family, take everybody. Everybody's going to enjoy it and have a good time. So, colonel, thank you so much for coming out and joining us. This has been great.
Col. Keil Gentry:Oh, thank you for inviting me. Yeah, we appreciate it. Is there one last thought? You have to let our listeners know about the place that you'd like to share.
John Wall :Please come visit. It is truly an honor to be able to tell the Marine Corps story and I think that the way we've done it will engage you. Something we didn't talk about earlier, but quick. Mention is throughout the museum. We have different, what we call immersive exhibits. Mention is throughout the museum. We have different, what we call immersive exhibits, and so some of the must not miss ones are we've got Marines attacking across the wheat field in Belleau Wood and you feel like you're there and there are a lot of good lessons learned there.
John Wall :In the World War II gallery you can see the actual flag that is in Rosenthal's iconic photo Wow, we have that on display every day. And then on the anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima, we bring out the first flag, so you can see both of them. In Korea you can feel the cold of Tak-Tong Pass, as Fox 27 held the pass to allow the 1st Marine Division to fight their way south out of the Chosin Reservoir. In Vietnam, you can experience Hill 881 South as part of the Khe Sanh campaign, and in our other forward deploy gallery you can see how Marines live aboard ship, and that's an interesting experience. And then in the Afghanistan-Iraq exhibit you can see how Marines live in a forward operating base, but you can also experience kind of what it's like to fight in a village or a town in Iraq.
Col. Keil Gentry:Wow, Well, we appreciate that and we've got to make sure you know, larry, that we keep doing this, keep honoring our service members and the history of them as well.
Larry Zilliox:Yeah, it's an amazing experience Marine Corps Museum experience, marine Corps Museum or we're going to do an episode coming up with the Americans in wartime museum. That's brand new. It used to be the old tank farm and we're excited about that. So we're sort of doing this series here again. Colonel, thank you so much for coming out and joining us. Oh, thank you. So for our listeners, we'll have another episode next Monday morning. So for our listeners, we'll have another episode next Monday morning. You can find us on all the major podcast platforms. We're on YouTube and Wreaths Across America Radio. So thanks for listening.
