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Work progressing on three new galleries to open this spring at the Marine Corps museum Date published: 2/5/2010
By RUSTY DENNEN Khe Sanh in Vietnam. Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War. Only those who were there know what the epic battles were truly like. But in the immersion galleries of the National Museum of the Marine Corps, it's possible to get an idea of what Marines endured--the wretched cold and carnage on a barren Korean landscape, the heat of the jungle, the sights, the sounds. More of those vicarious experiences are coming to the museum in Triangle when its three newest venues open in June. They cover the period from the founding of the Marine Corps in 1775 to the Civil War, the U.S. expansion during the 19th century, and World War I. "You'll walk in first gallery in the belly of a ship where they would have spent a lot of time" in those days, with "long, arduous voyages," said museum spokeswoman Gwenn Adams. From there, "you go into the age of expansion" when Marines were first dispatched to spots around the globe. One of the highlights is an exhibit on Marine Corps music. "There will be a kiosk where you'd push buttons with different [John Philip] Sousa marches. A screen comes up and the director of the Marine Corps band gives you a brief history of that march, and he conducts the band through a portion of the march," she said. Construction of the new galleries began last year. Some of the larger artifacts--one is an aircraft suspended from the ceiling--have been installed. Exhibits, displays and dioramas that will surround them are being created in studios across the country, along with audio and video components. The World War I gallery will have an immersion experience likely to rival those of Chosin and Khe Sanh, a place, Adams said, "where you can feel rounds whizzing overhead, smell carbide in the air, feel the floor vibrating" at Belleau Wood in France. It was the Marines' first fight against a battle-hardened foe, the German army. More than 300 men in the 4th Marine Brigade were killed during the first 30 minutes of the June 6, 1918, engagement.
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