Posted on 11/12/2004, 3:45:09 AM by Former Military Chick
WASHINGTON - The iconic artifacts of war are all there, as you would expect at the Smithsonian Institution: George Washington's sword, the furniture Grant and Lee used at Appomattox, Va., Colin Powell's battle-dress uniform worn during the Persian Gulf War.
But an ambitious exhibit that tells the story of America at war, opening on Veterans Day, goes beyond the "great man" way of remembering history to honor what's important on Veterans Day: the lives and sacrifices of average soldiers who fought and died from Yorktown, Va., to the streets of Fallujah, Iraq.
First-person narratives on video describe how a Southern spy operated in Washington during the Civil War, how a Marine survived the horrors of combat in the Pacific and the night a badly wounded medic treated the men around him during an ambush in Vietnam.
Next to Powell's uniform is that of Army Spec. Melissa Rathbun-Nealy, who was captured in the Gulf War. Next to the familiar photos of leaders during Vietnam are the combat boots, dog-eared letters, peace buttons and six packs of Budweiser left at Washington's Vietnam Memorial.
The new permanent exhibit does not gloss over the gruesome cost of war. A full-scale Bell UH-1 Huey helicopter, like the ones that rescued nearly 400,000 wounded in Southeast Asia, includes a soldier's vivid memory of a time when the air inside it was permeated with "the sickeningly sweet redolence of fresh blood."
"It's important for kids to see all this, and know that war is not like the video games they play," said Clarence Sasser of Texas, who won the Medal of Honor as a 20-year-old medic who struggled to save those around him after his legs were shot.
On Wednesday Sasser stood in front of the Huey, and just shook his head at the video screen that showed a younger Sasser receiving the medal from President Nixon.
"At night, after the ambush, all you could hear were guys moaning," he recalled in the video. "My job was to take care of my guys."
The Smithsonian's fresh look at Americans at war also does not avoid controversy, or the reality that some conflicts - the 1846-48 Mexican War, the 1898 Spanish-American War and Vietnam - deeply divided the country.
Ulysses S. Grant, in his memoirs, writes the Mexican War was "one of the most unjust ever waged," and the exhibits feature the argument over whether U.S. leaders were pursuing empire in the wars against Mexico and Spain.
The Vietnam exhibit notes "many unwilling draftees became disillusioned by the war." A display on the Iraq war, including decorative glass taken from one of Saddam Hussein's palaces, features quotes from national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and anti-war candidate Howard Dean.
"We could not shy away from controversy - it's an important part of our history," said David Allison, project director. The exhibit has another ambitious goal: to go beyond strictly military history.
"We wanted to show the economic, social and political impact of war," he added.
Vietnam vet Fred Castleberry recalls on video how "God's angel wings" - a Huey chopper crew - saved his life, then shows him years later at the Vietnam Memorial, touching the names on the wall.
"Without that crew, my name would be there," he said.
A recreated factory workplace shows how "Rosie the riveter" and other women built the planes and ships that turned the tide in World War II. A 1960s-style living room, with boxy TVs and plastic covers on the sofa, shows how Vietnam became the first televised war.
A blue-ribbon commission two years ago urged the Smithsonian to make the history museum more relevant and engaging. What animates "Price of Freedom" are the stories of the soldiers who were prepared to give everything for their country.
Weapons from flintlocks to robots used in Afghanistan may lure people in to the exhibit. But it is the stories of foot soldiers that will leave memories.
"Look at the faces," Tom Ridge, secretary of homeland security and a Vietnam vet, said at the opening ceremony. "The uniforms and weapons have changed, but the people have not."
The Price of Freedom: Americans at War
Freedom is not free.
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For...
'WE WERE SOLDIERS ONCE..& YOUNG'..4 FREEDOM
http://www.Freerepublic.com/forum/a39626542519c.htm
Signed:.."ALOHA RONNIE" Guyer
Veteran-Battle of IA DRANG-1965,
Landing Zone Falcon
http://www.lzxray.com/guyer_collection.htm
(Battle of IA DRANG-1965 Photos)
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