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.
Harrier fighter jet hanging at the main lobby. Note that the Marines have their own air units.
Life-size diorama of a helicopter landing, something which became quite useful during the Vietnam War.
Close up of the landing crew. Note the high level of detail on the figures.
A WWII era Corsair.
A WWII diorama depicting an apmphibious landing. Could very likely be at Tarawa.
A wounded man taking cover against the sea wall. Hard to say that he is not real!
The men jumping off the Amtrak and charging off the beach.
Overcoming the seawall.
Urging the men to follow, despite the flying lead!
The Amtrak MG providing some covering fire.
A marine unit charging up a street in Mexico City during the war of 1847.
A rifled artillery piece.
An early armored vehicle, of the WWI era.
Hand to hand fighting at Belleau Woods.
Some German casualties at Belleau Woods.
A WWI German MG08 Machine Gun.
WWII era medic tending to the wounded.
An updated Browning MG -to be water cooled- being used in the Pacific as AA defense.
A WWII Stuart tank.
WWII era US weapons.
Some more WWII era weapons. Note the flamethrower, which came in quite handy to deal with caves and bunkers in the Pacific.
WWII era Japanese weapons.
Some more WWII Japanese weapons, including their portable MG and a light mortar.
WWII Japanese Pistols.
WWII Anti Tank Gun.
A 1/16 scale (my estimate) diorama of the Tarawa landing.
WWII Sherman in action.
One of the famous flags flown over Iwo Jima.
The standard issue M1 Garand.
A Korean War Pershing Tank.
A landing craft such as the ones used at the Incheon landings during the Korean War
A Vietnam era artillery base.
A man evacuating a comrade.
A helicopter unloading cargo at the Vietnam era artillery base.
A more recent howitzer.
.JPG "Japanese Kawanishi NIK2-Ja Shiden Kai \"George\"")
.JPG "US Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay")
.JPG "US Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay")
