Sunday, December 28, 2014

The Marine Corps Museum at Quantico Virginia

The Marine Corps Museum, located in Quantico, Virginia, chronicles the history of this distinguished US military unit from its origins as a naval infantry detachment aboard colonial era ships charged with defending against or acting as a boarding party, as well as defending the captain against mutiny from sailors to its modern day deployments. The Museum is nicely done with many impressive and very well made life size dioramas, vehicles & weapons displays, videos, and lots of material to read as you go along. I recently visited it for a third time, and it was just as interesting as the first. This time I did take the opportunity to document some of its displays, namely those depicting the conflicts of the 20th century. Let's take a look. 

Marine Corps Museum Harrier fighter jet
Harrier fighter jet hanging at the main lobby. Note that the Marines have their own air units. 

Marine Corps Museum Helicopter Landing
Life-size diorama of a helicopter landing, something which became quite useful during the Vietnam War. 

Marine Corps Museum Helicopter Landing
Close up of the landing crew. Note the high level of detail on the figures. 

Marine Corps Museum Corsair
A WWII era Corsair.

Marine Corps Museum Amtrak Landng
A WWII diorama depicting an apmphibious landing. Could very likely be at Tarawa.

Marine Corps Museum Tarawa Wall
A wounded man taking cover against the sea wall. Hard to say that he is not real!

Marine Corps Museum Beach Landing
The men jumping off the Amtrak and charging off the beach.

Marine Corps Museum Beach Landing
Overcoming the seawall.

Marine Corps Museum Diorama
Urging the men to follow, despite the flying lead!

Marine Corps Museum Amtrak Landing
The Amtrak MG providing some covering fire. 

Marine Corps Museum Mexico City
A marine unit charging up a street in Mexico City during the war of 1847.

Marine Corps Museum
A rifled artillery piece. 

Marine Corps Museum
An early armored vehicle, of the WWI era.

Marine Corps Museum
Hand to hand fighting at Belleau Woods. 

Marine Corps Museum
Some German casualties at Belleau Woods. 

Marine Corps Museum
A WWI German MG08 Machine Gun.

Marine Corps Museum
WWII era medic tending to the wounded. 

Marine Corps Museum
An updated Browning MG -to be water cooled- being used in the Pacific as AA defense. 

Marine Corps Museum
A WWII Stuart tank.

Marine Corps Museum
WWII era US weapons.

Marine Corps Museum
Some more WWII era weapons. Note the flamethrower, which came in quite handy to deal with caves and bunkers in the Pacific. 

Marine Corps Museum
WWII era Japanese weapons.

Marine Corps Museum
Some more WWII Japanese weapons, including their portable MG and a light mortar. 

Marine Corps Museum
WWII Japanese Pistols.

Marine Corps Museum
WWII Anti Tank Gun.

Marine Corps Museum
A 1/16 scale (my estimate) diorama of the Tarawa landing. 

Marine Corps Museum Sherman Tank
WWII Sherman in action.

Marine Corps Museum Iwo Jima Flag
One of the famous flags flown over Iwo Jima.

Marine Corps Museum Garand
The standard issue M1 Garand.

Marine Corps Museum Pershing Tank
A Korean War Pershing Tank.

Marine Corps Museum
A landing craft such as the ones used at the Incheon landings during the Korean War

Marine Corps Museum
A Vietnam era artillery base.

Marine Corps Museum
A man evacuating a comrade.

Marine Corps Museum
A helicopter unloading cargo at the Vietnam era artillery base.

Marine Corps Museum
A more recent howitzer.

3 comments:

  1. That WW1 Browning machine gun is actually a German MG08. I wasn't sure if you were aware of it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Fixed it. Thanks a lot for pointing it out! Would not like to spread misinformation...

      Delete
  2. Happy to help. great blog by the way!!

    ReplyDelete