National Medal of Honor Museum opens, highlights courage of generations of Soldiers

ARLINGTON, Texas – As Lee Greenwood belted out “God Bless the USA,” 32 of the 61 living Medal of Honor recipients, national and military leaders, celebrities and musical guests celebrated the official opening of the National Medal of Honor Museum here March 22 during a ribbon cutting ceremony in Arlington’s entertainment district.

“Cutting the ribbon to open the National Medal of Honor Museum was the realization of a long-awaited moment,” said retired Army Maj. Gen. Patrick H. Brady, MOH recipient and member of the national MOH Museum Foundation Board of Directors. “The Medal of Honor and its recipients will now have a proper home, where the values of courage, sacrifice, and patriotism will be preserved and shared with future generations of Americans.”

He said they’ve been trying to make the MOH museum a realization for 30 years.

“This Medal – and this Museum – are for those I served with, especially the ones who never came home,” Brady said. “I hope that visitors will learn from our stories and see that they too have it within themselves to do something great for others and make a positive impact on our country.”

Brady received the Medal of Honor for his service in Vietnam, using helicopters to rescue wounded men from enemy territory. His story is among more than 3,500 now housed at the museum.

“It’s as humbling as it gets tonight,” said Capt. Florent “Flow” Groberg, a Medal recipient recognized for his actions as a Task Force Mountain Warrior in Afghanistan in 2012. “I want this museum to be a clear reminder of what it took and continues to take to be this country. These are storylines of ordinary, common Americans who rose to the question of: ‘Will you serve?’”

Jack Jacobs, a retired U.S. Army colonel who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Vietnam War, said he wants museum visitors to realize the recipients aren’t “spectacular supermen,” but regular people who “embody the kinds of values that are really important.”

“Really grand things, not just in combat, but in everyday life … are all accomplished by ordinary people who come to the conclusion that something has to be done and they are going to do it,” Jacobs said.

When his unit was ambushed by the Viet Cong on March 9, 1968, Jacobs took charge after his commander was seriously wounded. Despite being wounded in the head by shrapnel and bleeding heavily, Jacobs reorganized the company and repeatedly ran through enemy fire to rescue the wounded, saving the lives of a U.S. adviser and 13 soldiers.

Jacobs, now 79, said he lost a lot of friends in the battle.

“You really do wear the award for all of the people who can’t wear the award,” he said.

Ribbon cutting

The U.S. Army Strings, U.S. Army Herald Trumpets, “The President’s Own” Marine Chamber Orchestra, and U.S. Air Force Ceremonial Brass performed as the 32 MOH recipients, former President George W. Bush, NBC Today Show anchor Savannah Guthrie, actor Gary Sinise, Dallas Cowboys’ stars Dak Prescott and Jake Ferguson, legend Zach Martin and other prominent guests attended the grand opening of the museum after a three-year construction effort.

“We need our young people to know about character and perseverance and selflessness,” said Sinise.

Following the ribbon cutting, the Mission to Inspire Spectacular lit up the sky with fireworks and drones, accompanied by video and a variety of musical arrangements, to commemorate the milestone in a 360-degree storytelling marvel.

Since the Civil War, the Medal of Honor has been awarded by Congress to less than 4,000 of the 40 million Americans who have served in the armed forces who risked their lives in combat beyond the call of duty.

Grand opening

The elevated exhibit deck, held aloft by five concrete mega-columns representing the branches of the armed forces, features 31,000 square feet of the artifacts, interviews, lives, and legacies of those who have received the country’s highest award for valor in combat.

This $270 million, 100,000-square foot museum is the only one in the nation devoted to sharing the stories of more than 500 recipients of the Medal of Honor, America’s highest military decoration for valor in combat.

Veterans had the opportunity to visit the museum for free March 25, during its grand opening here.

“I’m here because (the museum) is about people that did things that were a little unusual,” said Bill Brown, an 86-year-old Army veteran who served in 1963 in Korea. “They did some things that were above and beyond.”

Jack Morrison, a 78-year-old-Vietnam Army veteran, waited with the crowd at the museum’s doors, listening to live brass band marching tunes. He said he kept looking up at the gray obelisk floating above him that holds the museum’s exhibits.

“It’s something else,” Morrison whispered. “This place is beautiful. I didn’t realize how big it is.”

He stood with his cousin, Vietnam Air Force veteran John James, 79, and his son, Jon Morrison, a 40-year-old Marine who served in 2004 and is now a police officer. As an Air Force veteran, Speir was most excited to see the retired Huey helicopter, which Brady used to rescue Soldiers in Vietnam.

“Young people will walk in the front door. They’re going to see so-called heroes, and they’re not going to be wearing capes. They’re going to be wearing dog tags,” said Brady.

The collection

The collection includes the first MOH ever presented, which went to Army 1st Lt. Jacob Parrott, who served in the Civil War.

The museum features five different interactive exhibits. The Ring of Valor encircles visitors as they walk through the front door. Five exterior pillars represent each branch of the armed forces.

In one square acre, museum visitors can see courage and patriotism on display. The museum boasts an impressive collection of artifacts, from battle and dress uniforms of recipients to flags, dog tags, family photos and firearms dating back to World War I.

The walls are covered in photos of recipients and display cases filled with Medals of Honor, guns and letters. Exhibits feature journals, weapons, uniforms and trinkets belonging to recipients.

“We do go all the way back to the Civil War, but our focus has been post-World War I,” said Alexandra Rhue, senior vice president of museum engagement and strategic initiatives. “We want to have that personal connection where you knew someone who could have served in that conflict.”

While the museum tells tales of war, its creators wanted to make clear that it’s not just another war museum — it’s a biography museum focused on shared values highlighted through stories of courage, sacrifice, commitment, integrity, citizenship and patriotism.

“All of the Medal of Honor recipients, if you look into their life stories, you realize they’re ordinary people who, in a moment of time, courage meant circumstance, and they did something extraordinary,” Caldwell said.

Instead of grouping the recipients by conflict, their stories are interspersed throughout the museum.

Two of the museum’s corners have 50-foot projection screens, which showcase war landscapes from the jungles of Guadalcanal to the frozen mountaintops of Korea. Each scene includes portals visitors can enter to learn more about various recipients from those eras.

Off the main gallery, visitors can gain perspective by stepping into the world of the Vietnam-era “Dustoff” — rapid helicopter medical evacuation missions during the war.

“You can put on a headset, and you can jump into the seat of a 1968 UH-1H Iroquois Huey helicopter,” Rhue explained. “You’ll be able to make rapid-fire decisions to either bring people home safely to base or potentially have a hard landing in the jungle … to bring you into those really difficult decision-making experiences.”

Thanks to cutting-edge audiovisual technology, visitors can physically step into time to hear Army Chief Warrant Officer 4 Michael Novosel Sr. and others tell their stories. Just steps away, visitors can get a close-up look at the prominently displayed “Nancy Lee,” a Huey helicopter that retired Army Maj. Gen. Patrick Brady used to rescue soldiers in Vietnam in 1968. The helicopter is named in honor of his late wife.

To highlight as many recipients as possible, the displays will rotate over the years as new recipients are awarded, more artifacts are collected and others on loan are returned.

There’s also the interactive theater, where AI technology allows recipients to talk virtually with visitors. The recipients chosen for the project recorded more than 700 responses to potential questions, from their favorite ice cream to what it was like growing up to their combat experience and what they want their legacy to be. It transports them into a helicopter rescue mission, where they’ll have to work together to make quick decisions under stress.

“[There are] some really deep, as well as some really accessible, entry points for our visitors to have conversations,” Rhue said.

The museum came together with the help of several veterans, including five Medal of Honor recipients who served on its board. They all understood that the smallest details mattered, from the language to the uniforms.

“We worked really hard on making sure we could get those little things right so our audience — who we expect to be a lot of active-duty military and veterans coming in here — can say, ‘Yeah, that’s accurately portrayed,'” Caldwell said.

Caldwell said he’s witnessed the burden that being the living representation of the Medal of Honor’s values has taken on many of the recipients and their families. He said the museum is a chance for the country to give them a vault to house their legacies.

“We really want people to be inspired by what they see here more than anything else,” Rhue said.

The museum

The museum will be open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. General admission costs $30. It is located at 1861 AT&T Way, Arlington, Texas. It will attract more than 800,000 visitors annually.

The museum’s ground-level rotunda, which has the names of all medal recipients engraved on its ceiling, will be open 24/7.

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