A long line stretched into the morning sun on Monday as more than 1,000 people visited the Carolina Museum of the Marine for its long-awaited grand opening.<\/p>\n
Visitors traveled from all over to be one of the first people inside the doors of the new museum, including Beirut veterans Thurnell Shields and Randy Gaddo, who drove together from Georgia to be in attendance Monday morning.<\/p>\n
“I usually don’t travel well, but I had to come to this because we’re Beirut veterans,” Gaddo said. “We were both there at the same time. (Shields) actually was in the building. I would have been if I hadn’t stopped for a cup of coffee that morning.”<\/p>\n
Shields and Gaddo helped start the Beirut Veterans of America in 1991 to ensure the stories of those who died in Beirut weren’t lost, so it was special for them to see an exhibit dedicated to memorializing their service.<\/p>\n
“As Beirut veterans, we had a vested interest in keeping that memory alive,” Gaddo said. “But as we get, as they say, longer in the tooth, as time goes on, there’s not as many of us. After a while, it’s gonna come down to the next of kin, the brothers and sisters and uncles and aunts and children and grandchildren, to make sure this isn’t forgotten.”<\/p>\n
The stories of Marines who served in Beirut are just a few of those told throughout the Carolina Museum of the Marine.<\/p>\n
The museum was founded by Maj. Gen. Ray Smith, commanding general of Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune from 1997 to 1999, and is a project decades in the making.<\/p>\n
It’s situated on 27 acres at the Lejeune Memorial Gardens, located on Montford Landing Road, directly across the street from the Coastal Carolina State Veterans Cemetery in Jacksonville.<\/p>\n
Exhibits begin in World War II, when Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune came into existence, then move into galleries that tell the stories of Marines and Sailors through time. A few of the features include a Landing Vehicle Tracked that visitors can climb aboard, a 1963 UH-1E Huey helicopter and an interactive aircraft exhibit.<\/p>\n
Maj. Gen. Joe Shrader, president and chief executive officer of the Carolina Museum of the Marine, said the actual Huey on display was the very first helicopter ever issued to the Marine Corps.<\/p>\n
Other features of the museum include a full-scale catering kitchen for events, a small retail shop and the Carolina MAGTF Cafe, operated by The Milk Road. Also, outside in the courtyard, sits an eternal flame that burns 12 inches in height, as well as three Belleau Wood trees.<\/p>\n
The motto of the museum is “Meet the Marine. Be Inspired.”<\/p>\n
And many were inspired as they visited the museum for the first time Monday. More than 1,000 visitors paid admission on opening day, nearly half of whom came within the first hour. That doesn’t count the hundreds of plank holders who gained access earlier in the morning.<\/p>\n
One of those plank holders is retired Sgt. Mike Armstrong, who said he was driving around Jacksonville in 2021 when Kevin Stewart, former museum CEO, came on the radio and invited veterans to an introductory meeting about the museum. He decided to go and was the only person there not a member of the staff.<\/p>\n
“That began our relationship,” Armstrong said. “Today, I’m a plank owner and have donated several thousand dollars proudly to the Carolina Museum of the Marine.”<\/p>\n
Retired Staff Sgt. Martha Reynolds has also been involved for some time, serving as a docent for Monday’s opening. She donated all of her military service items, including her maternity uniforms, to the museum, and also takes photos of the exhibits and artifacts for the museum.<\/p>\n
“What I like about this museum here is, it’s about all the local community and the local Marines, and we see a lot of females,” she said.<\/p>\n
Another veteran excited to see the museum open was retired Sgt. Maj. Raymond Mackey, who served 30 years in the Marine Corps. He said he’s been involved with the museum since around 1990 and was probably one of the first people to ever buy one of the bricks that are laid at the gardens.<\/p>\n
He also said the opening felt like a family reunion.<\/p>\n
“For those people that have procured the area and helped build a building and do the planning, to all those people that held onto their grandfather’s or great grandfather’s stuff and donated it, we’re very appreciative of that,” Mackey said.<\/p>\n
A major preopening ceremony was also held on June 5 to celebrate the new museum, bringing together local, state and military officials.<\/p>\n
Lt. Gov. Rachel Hunt was in attendance and said North Carolina has military history that is more visible than anywhere else in the country.<\/p>\n
“The connection between Jacksonville, Camp Lejeune and the Marines who have served our country runs deep, and this museum will help preserve those stories for generations to come,” she said.<\/p>\n
N.C. Sen. Michael Lazzara, a Republican who represents Onslow County, was also in attendance.<\/p>\n
“Children will walk through these halls and learn lessons no textbook could ever teach,” he said.<\/p>\n
The opening of the museum will not only preserve Carolina Marine Corps history, but it will also be a benefit to the local economy and tourism. Tabitha Lanier, tourism director for the city of Jacksonville, said visitors to the museum will stay in local hotels, dine in local restaurants and shop at local businesses.<\/p>\n
She said the museum will help shape the future of Jacksonville as a destination city.<\/p>\n
“The museum is also (going to) be giving former Marines and military families, history enthusiasts and first-time visitors a reason to visit Jacksonville and to revisit Jacksonville,” Lanier said.<\/p>\n
Unlike many military museums that are command operated and federally funded, the Carolina Museum of the Marine is an independent, 501c3 nonprofit. The project broke ground in May 2024 and was funded by grants from the N.C. General Assembly, with a $26 million grant being awarded in 2022.<\/p>\n
The Carolina Museum of the Marine is open Tuesday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The cost of admission is $14 for adults ages 16 to 54, $10 for seniors, $8 for veterans, $6 for active-duty military and children ages 4 to 15, and free for children ages 3 and younger.<\/p>\n
“The bond between the Marine Corps and the Carolinas is not temporary,” Shrader said. “It is a part of this region’s identity. That story deserves a permanent home, a place where future generations can understand the meaning of service, of sacrifice, of duty and love of country.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A long line stretched into the morning sun on Monday as more than 1,000 people visited the Carolina…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117,634],"class_list":["post-304954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}