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| US Army National Museum - rendition |
The archives of the military history of
the United States and museum support center is located at Fort
Belvoir, Virginia. The United States Army has a list of
16,000 art pieces that have been collected over the decades – and
that is just the artwork collected. There are firearms and uniforms
of famous generals, et cetera. Problem is that the place has high
security and not set up to receive public traffic like a museum.
Thus, as the Washington
Post reported, a museum is in the planning that will give
access to the wonderful archive and a plan is in the works to raise
millions of dollars to make that plan come true. It will be the
National United States Army Museum
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| Small Sample of Artwork in Archive Bldg |
Among the art collection are four
Norman Rockwell paintings and various organizations and people have
donated over the decades, including Life magazine 1,050
originals in 1960. Another famous artist is Tom Lea whose
works are archived safely in the support center vaults. One of the
most haunting and realistic of Lea's paintings is the one where a
shell-shocked Marine stands in the foreground against the background
of the fierce battle that took place at an island called Peleliu,
where Marines fought in 1944. Almost 1,800 Americans and 10,000
Japanese were killed there.
Other artwork is by Floyd Davis,
produced paintings like GIs in Paris, Coffins at Nazi
Execution Place, and GI
Perfume Shop.
So far, $76 million has been raised out
of the $175 million it will cost to build. The plan is to have it
open in 2018.
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| Design of World War I display, which will include sound effects. |
If you go the United
States Army National Museum website, there is more
information and several
options for ways to donate, like buying a brick to pave the
entrance to the museum with your name or the name of another veteran
you know. There is also a section for corporate donor programs.
This is definitely a worthwhile cause
and will become a national museum for Americans and foreign tourists
to visit in 2018. For people living in the area, there are employment opportunities, just visit the website to get that information.
As an afterthought, there really should be a "National Armed Forces of the United States Museum", for the history of our US Marine Corps, US Navy, US Air Force, and US Coast Guard surely have as rich a history. Of course, that would take up much real estate and cost even more than $175 million.
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