Inside the Army’s hidden archives
The Center for Military History (CMH) maintains perhaps the best archive of the American war machine for the past three hundred years. Everything from Grant’s hat to Revolutionary war saddlebags, to Queen Ann’s war muskets to souvenirs from Helmland province and Saddam’s palaces.
But its locked away in archival storage and may very well continue to be so for years, with no one allowed access as the Army struggles to build a museum to house it all.
Pop quiz: how many of these can you name?
Buzzfeed took an amazing tour lately.
Tom Lea’s famous 2000-yard stare is one of more than 16,000 pieces of art that rest quietly waiting for a spot to be displayed. These range from Norman Rockwell’s work to Hitler’s watercolors made between the wars. Every piece is military art in one way or another.
“The story goes that Norman Rockwell, seeking authenticity, wanted to rip holes in the soldiers’s shirt. The GI said fine. Rockwell asked to smear mud on his face and hands. Not a problem. But when the artist asked to rub dirt on his machine gun, the soldier refused: No proper gunner could tolerate that. So Rockwell portrayed the GI as tattered and begrimed, but with his big gray Browning machine gun sleek and clean.”
I can buy that, 110%
The Army Historical Foundation is in charge of raising the funds for the museum. However, there are major fundraising hurdles to jump before the museum can be built. The foundation’s president recently told the Washington Post that they have raised $76 million of the $175 million required for the museum and predicts the museum could open in 2018. The plan is to build the museum at Fort Belvoir.
But until the Army can get a museum built this massive collection will remained locked away, in the dark.
Please click here for the restof the pictures and amazing story