National Infantry Museum

We arrived at the National Infantry Museum mid to late morning. There's scads of parking spaces and the handicapped parking isn't too far from the entrance, well at least in relation to the other spaces. I don't think I have mentioned it before but we had brought PoGoGo with us for this trip and having it at the Naval Museum and Andersonville was great. Anyway, we unloaded it and off I scooted to the museum.

This museum is located at Fort Benning and they often have graduations for the soldiers and other special events. It appeared that they had one of the graduations that morning. I think they call it Turning Blue when the newly qualified infantryman get their light blue infantry cords around their right shoulders after about sixteen weeks of training.

The entrance is impressive and leads into a large lobby area which I am sure is necessary with the sheer numbers of people sometimes. The museum is free but donations are welcome and the day we were there volunteers were handing out uniformed AFLAC plush ducks which I later discovered would even say AFLAC when you squeeze it. It sounds a bit silly but I love my little AFLAC duckie and it does not let me forget the part the infantry has played in this country's history!

At the back of the lobby is a huge square column in an entryway to a section known as "The Last 100 Yards," a gently sloped ramp with life size scenes from important battles in infantry history beginning with Yorktown and continuing through Antietam, Soissons, Normandy, Corregidor, Soam-Ni and on through Vietnam and Iraq.

There is simply no way any photographs do these scenes justice and the way the combination of physical scene, lighting effects, and sounds come together is not only impressive but stirring. I was frankly stunned by the effect. I have no clue about how it is done but the change from one battle scene to another is dramatic and yet the transition is almost unnoticeable. Some parts of the "Last 100 Yards" scenes can be seen from the sides and above once you are in other parts of the museum.

The gallery at the rear of the "Last 100 Yards" follows recruits through the training process from their first haircut and has windows looking out on Inouye Field where the graduations take place and another views the World War II Company Street which Geoffrey later toured. From here you go down one floor (elevators are available) to galleries for different stages in infantry history.

Above the lobby are the Ranger Hall of Honor and, among other things, the Fife and Drum Restaurant where we went for lunch.  This place is better than what is available at most museums and such and we saw a lot of soldiers eating there.

After lunch, Geoffrey took the tour down to the outer areas including the WW2 street while I wandered around in the gift store, buying a Ft Benning ball cap of course, and eventually headed PoGoGo for the car where I relaxed with my Kindle. The tour takes a couple of hours and involves a good bit of on and off the vehicle and some walking around so I was happier just getting Geoffrey's report. Besides, this is Army stuff and my dad and grandfather were Marines!

Afterwards we managed to get lost (again!) but eventually made it back to Wolf. This has been an excellent week and the Civil War Naval Museum, Andersonville, and most especially this visit to the Infantry Museum have all been terrific. If you ever get to the area around Columbus, Georgia, please try to spend time at all three of these museums!