Speak to almost anyone associated with the soon-to-be-opened National Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington and you’ll notice something interesting: There’s little talk of bravery, valor or heroism.
What you’ll hear instead are words like duty, sacrifice and commitment.
The museum, which is throwing a big celebration Saturday ahead of opening to the public Tuesday , represents those ideals above all others — they are what the curators want visitors to take with them when they leave, along with the stories of some of the 3,528 Medal of Honor recipients.
Located at 1861 AT&T Way in Arlington, tucked between Choctaw Stadium and the Arlington Museum of Art, the National Medal of Honor Museum offers a poignant reminder of the promises our military men and women make to our nation and to each other.
The very structure of the museum is symbolic of this. The massive steel block that houses the exhibits sits atop five pillars, one each for the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard. The pillars represent the weight that service members bear — what Marine Corps Medal of Honor recipient Kyle Carpenter calls “the beautiful burden.” A pillar of light shining from the atop the museum signifies the U.S. Space Force, our newest branch.
Outside is a rotunda that will be open to visitors 24 hours a day. Inside on the ground floor is a ring of honor with the names of all the recipients going back to the first soldiers to receive the Medal of Honor, in 1863 during the Civil War.
Upstairs are approximately 200 exhibits, which will rotate in the years to come, highlighting recipients’ stories. There you’ll find things like Sgt. Alvin York’s pistol and Bible from World War I. There is a jacket, guitar and other personal effects that belonged to Texan Audie Murphy, one of the most decorated soldiers in World War II.
A Bell UH-1 Iroquois “Huey” medevac helicopter , modeled after the one flown by Army recipient Patrick Brady in Vietnam, dominates one corner of the museum. Not far from it are mementos from men who fought more recently in places like Afghanistan and Iraq during the Global War on Terror. In one case is Army recipient Clinton Romesha’s high school FFA jacket, a reminder of the humanity behind the medal…