Marine Corps museum reopens after pandemic, masks required

The National Museum of the Marine Corps opened its doors today for the first time since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

More in a press release:

The National Museum of the Marine Corps (NMMC) will reopen to the public on 8 September, after closing temporarily in March due to COVID-19. With enhanced health and safety protocols in place, the Museum is excited to welcome visitors back.

The Museum’s cleaning staff has been hard at work to ensure all areas are clean and disinfected, paying particular attention to frequently touched surfaces such as elevator buttons, door handles and railings. Visitors will see the cleaning crew at work throughout the Museum, along with newly implemented health and safety protocols.

Face coverings are required for all visitors over the age of 6 and are highly recommended for children between the ages of two to six. All staff and volunteers will also be wearing face coverings while helping to interpret exhibits and ensure proper social distancing.

Proper social distancing, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is 6 feet from those outside your immediate group. If a gallery or exhibit area is crowded, visitors are encouraged to return to that area when it’s less crowded. To ensure the safety of our visitors, volunteers, and staff, the Museum will limit capacity. Once the safe capacity is reached, visitors will need to wait until others exit. While waiting, visitors may enjoy a walk through the Semper Fidelis Memorial Park with its monuments which honor Marine Corps organizations and those who served in them.

Hand sanitation stations are positioned throughout the Museum and visitors are encouraged to use them often. The restrooms are cleaned regularly throughout the day, ensuring that soap dispensers are always filled and high touch areas are disinfected. Water fountains are turned off but visitors may bring in an unopened, clear 20 ounce water bottle. No food is allowed in the Museum.

Some areas of the Museum are temporarily closed for the safety of visitors including interactive exhibits which have been temporarily disabled. The Children’s Gallery and other play areas are currently closed. Visitors should remember that exhibits and artifacts are to be seen and not touched.

Even with some areas temporarily closed or deactivated, there’s still plenty to see at NMMC, especially the new exhibits completed during the closure. The extension of Legacy Walk, the timeline leading to the exhibit galleries, opened in early March. These exhibits tell Marine Corps stories of compassion, dedication, terror, family and loss.

Stories of sacrifice are the theme of, “In the Highest Tradition–WWII Medal of Honor Art: Paintings by Col Charles H. Waterhouse, USMCR (Ret),” in the Museum’s Combat Art Gallery. The art exhibit presents portraits and paintings of WWII Medal of Honor recipients created by Waterhouse to document their self-sacrificing deeds.

World War II heroes are also honored in the Museum’s expanded Navajo Code Talkers exhibit. This new addition includes interviews with Navajo Code Talkers, an explanation of the spoken code as well as the importance and deployment of the code, though some interactive functions may be temporarily disabled. Within this exhibit are artifacts including a radio and headset used by Code Talkers, and one of the Congressional Gold Medals awarded to the Code Talkers.

Finally, visitors will have an opportunity to see both flags that were raised on Iwo Jima’s Mt. Suribachi. Both flags will remain on exhibit for approximately two weeks after the reopening.

For more information about the Museum’s reopening protocols, frequently asked questions and more, visit www.usmcmuseum.com/covid-19.

NMMC continues working on new exhibits and galleries covering the years from 1976 through the Global War on Terror. These new galleries will take visitors to Somalia, Beirut, Desert Shield/Desert Storm, and into Iraq and Afghanistan. Stories in the galleries explore the role of the Marine family, the price of freedom, and even Marines who are also professional athletes.

The musuem is located at 18900 Jefferson Davis Highway in Triangle, just outside the main entrance of Quantico Marine Corps Base.