Fort Benning, Georgia
After we left Marathon, we started what we hoped would be a slow drive westbound across the country. We wanted to go slow and travel on back roads as much as possible to see things we had not seen before.
Our first stop was Columbus, Georgia to visit the National Infantry Museum. We had been here before and had discovered one of the most interesting presentations of American Heroism that we have ever experienced.
The museum is a very large facility located on Fort Benning.
As you enter the front door, you are directed to the beginning of a self guided tour. You walk through a dark entrance tunnel into a life size diorama that puts you into the middle of a battle during the Revolutionary War. There are lights flashing and guns firing and it looks dark and dirty and bloody and you really get a chill up your spine as you imagine being in that situation.
As you continue to walk forward through history, the darkness, and it is so dark you can hardly see, the noise of gunfire and shouting and explosions really draws you into the moment being depicted by the diorama.
Then you transition into the Civil War.
Flash photography is not permitted because it would spoil the mood so all of the pictures we took are very dark. I have tried to photo
shop them to make them a little bit more visible but it tends to spoil the effect that we felt being there in the dark.
Next comes World War I and you are in a muddy, dark trench getting ready to go "Over the top" to attack across "No Mans Land". There is now LOTS of gunfire and explosions and machine gun fire and it is hard to imagine climbing out of the trench and into ?????
We also get our first introduction into "House to house combat"
Next comes World War II and things get really loud now. Lots of yelling and shooting and explosions.
We are at "D" Day on Omaha Beach and it must have been something to see.
Next comes Korea.
It must have been miserable. Temperatures in the winter below zero and the soldiers wearing mild weather clothing because America wasn't prepared to fight a war in the bitter cold of Korea in the winter.
Throughout the walk through the various wars and battles, they had stories of individuals that were involved in the making of history.
One diorama was of the last bayonet charge of the Korean War involving Captain Lewis Millett.
It was so dark in the diorama that I could not get a picture of the text that described what the diorama was depicting so I got the following information off the internet describing what happened.
Lewis Millett
"We had acquired some Chinese documents stating that Americans were afraid of hand-to-hand fighting and cold steel...
When I read that, I thought, 'I'll show you, you sons of bitches!'"
Millett, 88, died in Loma Linda, Calif., last weekend after serving for more than 15 years as the honorary colonel of the 27th Infantry Regiment Association.
Millet received the Medal of Honor for his actions Feb. 7, 1951. He led Company E, 27th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division, in a bayonet charge up Hill 180 near Soam-Ni, Korea.
A captain at the time, Millet was leading his company in an attack against a strongly held position when he noticed that a platoon was pinned down by small-arms, automatic, and antitank fire.
Millett placed himself at the head of two other platoons, ordered fixed bayonets, and led an assault up the fire-swept hill. In the fierce charge, Millett bayoneted two enemy soldiers and continued on, throwing grenades, clubbing and bayoneting the enemy, while urging his men forward by shouting encouragement, according to his Medal of Honor citation.
"Despite vicious opposing fire, the whirlwind hand-to-hand assault carried to the crest of the hill," the citation states. "His dauntless leadership and personal courage so inspired his men that they stormed into the hostile position and used their bayonets with such lethal effect that the enemy fled in wild disorder."
During the attack, Millett was wounded by grenade fragments but refused evacuation until the objective was firmly secured. He recovered, and after the war went to attend Ranger School.
In the 1960s he ran the 101st Airborne Division Recondo School, for reconnaissance-commando training, at Fort Campbell, Ky. Then he served in a number of special operations advisory assignments in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. He founded the Royal Thai Army Ranger School with help of the 46th Special Forces Company. This unit is reportedly the only one in the U.S.Army to ever simultaneously be designated as both Ranger and Special Forces.
Millet retired from the Army in 1973.
"I was very saddened to hear Col. Millett passed away," said Maj. Gen. Robert L. Caslen Jr., the current commanding general of the 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. "He was a rare breed, a true patriot who never stopped serving his country. He was a role model for thousands of Soldiers and he will be missed."
After Korea came Viet Nam. This was very well done.
They had a special room off of the main walking tunnel that you went into. There was a warning sign on the door advising that if you are afraid of loud noises, flashing lights or dark, confined jungle areas you should stay out.
It was very dark, hot and humid. Immediately after walking through the door into the room, you are in a dense jungle.
As you wind your way down a path, you are suddenly ambushed. It is really scary.
As you continue down very dark section of the path, you come across a booby trap on the path, Punji Stakes in a hole in the floor. This would really ruin your day. This was all you could see.
Sharpened bamboo stakes arranged to injure your foot and leg if you stepped into the hole that would have been covered with leaves and twigs and not nicely lit up like this one.
Next came Iraq and Afghanistan. Very interesting.
There was a lot more to see inside the museum and it took several hours to walk through all of the displays.
Then, we were able to get on a free tour bus for a ride over to an old company area where we toured through a barracks, mess hall, orderly room and supply room.
It was really weird going through this area because it reminded me of when I went to basic training with my best friend Jeff Ogden at Fort Knox, Kentucky back in the summer of 1971. This barracks was very similar to the barracks buildings that we lived in and it brought back lots of memories.
Our barracks was more crowded than this because all of our beds were bunk beds. Lots of snoring guys and no air conditioning. We got to Fort Knox in July and it was VERY hot and humid.
It took a few days to get used to using the bathroom with 10 other guys all at once, but with drill sergeants screaming to hurry up at the tops of their lungs you adapted quickly!
When we had inspections, we laid out or field gear like this.
Our foot lockers had to be laid out "just so" and everyone was exactly the same.
This is a tremendous place to visit and if you ever get a chance, We hope you will go by and spend a few hours there. It will change you forever.
More to come,
Tom & Suzie
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ReplyDeleteHow cool! Safe travels down into Marathon!
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