Visit to the National Infantry Museum

By COL Arthur N. Tulak

In February, I had the great pleasure of visiting the National Infantry Museum at Fort Benning GA. Having departed Fort Benning in 2003, to report to U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, I missed the years of work to build this new national treasure, which opened its doors in 2009. Before this iteration of the “New Infantry Museum” the collection was on display at the former Hospital building on Fort Benning’s Main Post, and closed its doors in 2008 to move the collection to the new site. The effort to raise funds for a new museum was undertaken in 1998, when the 501(c)(3) National Infantry Museum Foundation was formed for the sole purpose of planning, raising funds for and operating a new museum. The new museum preserves and displays one of the greatest collections of military artifacts in the world, with 190,000 square feet of galleries standing on a 200-acre tract just outside Fort Benning, Georgia. Many of the items in the museum’s collection could not be displayed before the construction of the new museum, and were simply kept in storage until a museum with the proper dimensions could be built. The National Infantry Association is one of the primary partners in supporting the museum.

As I approached the front entrance I saw a formal social event being hosted by the Chilean Army, which was likely connected to the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), which now occupies the former hospital that once housed the museum. Admittance was gratis, and the museum is sustained through donations and sales from the gift shop. Standing at the front entrance of the museum is the “Follow Me” Infantryman statue that greeted generations of Infantry Officers in front of the Infantry School at Building 4.1 Entering the museum, I went straight to the premier exhibit, the “Last 100 Yards Ramp,” which showcased the Infantry through the ages, and the hard fighting that characterizes the “last 100 yards,” when closing with the enemy. The first exhibit was the attack and seizure of Redoubt #10 at the siege of Yorktown, which had great meaning for me, as my 4th Great Grandfather, Private Enos Campbell, served under LTC Alexander Hamilton as part of the follow-on assault element in that attack.

Moving through this exhibit, I came upon the Korean War exhibit, which featured COL Lewis L. Millett’s bayonet charge, conducted on February 7, 1951, when then Captain Millett led his Soldiers from Easy Company, 2D Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division atop Hill 180 near Soam-Ni, Korea. “With only bayonets and hand grenades the company fought a hand-to-hand assault against heavy opposing fire. “ He was awarded the Medal of Honor from President Truman for his exploits. This exhibit had great personal meaning to me, because COL Millet pinned on my Expert Infantryman’s Badge when I was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, “Wolfhounds,” in 3rd Brigade, 7th Infantry Division “Light Fighters” at Fort Ord California, many years ago. COL Millet served for more than 15 years as the Honorary Colonel of the 27th Infantry Regiment, an official distinction given by the Army, and led the last known bayonet charge of the U.S. Army. He passed away on 14 February 2009. (continued on following page)

First exhibit in the “Last 100 Yards Ramp,” the assault on Redoubt #10 at Yorktown.

COL, Lewis L. Millet, leading his legendary bayonet charge while in command of E Co., 2/27 Infantry.

After completing this exhibit, I then explored the many other exhibits of the museum, one of which paid tribute to the Fort’s namesake, General Henry Lewis Benning, Confederate States Army. Brig. Gen. Benning was born and died in Columbus Georgia, and practiced law before the War Between the States. He initially presided over Georgia's secession convention, and helped to draft the state's Ordinance of Secession of Georgia. When war came, he recruited men to form the Seventeenth Georgia Infantry and was elected as Colonel of the Regiment in August 1861. During the Battle of Antietam, Benning earned the nickname "Old Rock" because of his regiment's unfaltering defense of the Confederate right flank. A marker at Fort Benning in front of his home erected in 1953 explains that “As Brigadier General, he was often in command of Hood’s famed Division of the First Corps. He participated with gallantry in the battles of Malvern Hill, Second Manassas, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, Chickamauga, The Wilderness, Thoroughfare Gap, Knoxville, Petersburg, Farmville, and others…. He was wounded severely in the second-day fighting in the Wilderness. At Appomattox he still commanded the Georgia Brigade. After the war, he returned to Columbus to practice law. “2 Whether the Fort will continue to bear his name is very uncertain, as the Army has been directed by Congress to review all installations named after Confederate figures as part of the current wave of domestic attacks on American history.

Another grand exhibit was dedicated to the First World War. Here I saw one of the American versions of the French Renault tank that was built for deployment on the European battlefields (at left). I also saw for the first time, a Division shoulder patch of the 11th Division, known as the Lafayette Division, to which my Grandfather, 2LT Harrison T. Wells was assigned, while part of E. Battery, 72nd Field Artillery Regiment, which was slated to that division assigned to the AEF. Each of the major eras of conflict had a dedicated exhibit, and it was a challenge to see the entire collection on display inside.

A portrait of Confederate Army Brigadier Genral Henry Benning, the namesake of Fort Benning on display in the National Infantry Museum.

Learn more about the museum at https://nationalinfantrymuseum.org/

View of the front entrance of the National Infantry Museum, with paver stones of donors who made it possible. An original 11th Infantry Division Patch, from a collection of all the shoulder sleeve insignia for the Army Expeditionary Forces of the First World War.

Notes:

1. The Infantryman Statue was created in 1960 for the purpose of standing in front of Infantry Hall when it opened in 1964. It is also called the “Follow Me” statue and sometimes wrongly called “Iron Mike.” https://www.benning.army.mil/MCoE/Historic-Trail/24_The_Original_Infantryman_Statue.html 2. https://georgiahistory.com/ghmi_marker_updated/general-benning/