The Marine Corps Heritage Foundation

THE MARINE CORPS HERITAGE FOUNDATION

By Craig Collins

While it supports the inauguration of the National

Museum of the Marine Corps, the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation’s other historical programs are flourishing.

In 1981, in an article entitled “Why a Marine Corps Historical Foundation?” published in the Marine Corps Gazette by Maj. Gen. Donald M. Weller (USMC-Ret.) bluntly addressed a question that was apparently on the minds of some in the Corps. “A Marine Corps Historical Foundation was established in early 1979,” Weller began, “and some Marines are probably wondering why such an organization is necessary.” The Marine Corps, after all, had its own History and Museums Division, charged with pursuing the historical interests of the Corps.

At the time, Weller explained, the historians of the History and Museums Division’s Historical Branch were laboring to record the Corps’ experience in the Vietnam War – and there simply weren’t enough people to handle the workload. The branch consisted of a chief historian and six others, three of whom were Marine officers serving regular duty at Marine Corps Headquarters. As a government entity, the History and Museums Division could not solicit funds to support Marine Corps-related research by non-official historians. It could accept non-solicited funds to a research grant fund, but in the five years before the Historical Foundation was established, this fund brought in less than $2,000 a year. “It’s clear,” Weller wrote, “that the Historical Branch can use all the help it can get.”

When the Marine Corps Historical Foundation, under the leadership of the former commandant, Gen. Wallace Greene, stepped in to augment the efforts of the Historical Branch, its aims were modest. It established a $10,000 annual research grant fund, and also initiated an annual award to support creative historical writing on Marine Corps-related subjects. The award, named in honor of Marine historian Col. Robert D. Heinl, Jr., initially consisted of a bronze plaque and $250 in cash, and went to the author of the best magazine article pertaining to Marine Corps history that had been published in the preceding year.

Opposite, left to right: Bud Baker, co-chairman of the Marine Corps Heritage fund-raising campaign, Gen. Michael Hagee, commandant of the Marine Corps, retired Lt. Gen. Ron Christmas, president of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, and retired Brig. Gen. Jerry McKay, chief operating officer of the Marine Corps Historical Foundation, attend the coin ceremony for the National Museum of the Marine Corps and Heritage Center construction site. Above: Virginia Gov. Mark Warner presents a check for $640,000 to Lt. Gen. Christmas, president of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, and Lin Ezell, director of the museum, representing a state appropriation he secured for the building of the National Museum of the Marine Corps.

Photo Courtesy of Marine Corps Heritage Foundations

For most of its early years, the foundation, with a limited budget and a small but dedicated staff, strove to meet its potential as a private, nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization able to actively seek funds from individuals, institutions, and corporations. It’s unlikely that early members of the Historical Foundation would have conceived of the crowning achievement that has stemmed from these first efforts to stimulate historical research: the opening of the National Museum of the Marine Corps. Of those who know anything about the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation today – and there are many more now, certainly, than when Weller wrote his 1981 defense – it’s easy to see why it exists.

Toward a National Museum

In fact, the early Historical Foundation did not envision a new museum for the Marine Corps, despite the fact that the History and Museums Division’s remarkable archive of 60,000 artifacts was dispersed among the Marine Corps Museum at the Washington Navy Yard; the Aviation

Museum near the Marine Corps Base at Quantico, Va.; and several other installations around the country. Looking ahead, Weller in 1981 wrote that the foundation hoped simply to expand the Aviation Museum – housed in a cluster of nearby aircraft hangars and other corrugated-metal buildings – into “an Air-Ground Museum by incorporating the display of small arms, artillery, amphibian tractors, tanks, and vehicles.” While this objective was ultimately met to a degree, there was no denying that the museum facilities of the Marine Corps were, for the most part, substandard, overstuffed, and relatively inaccessible to the public.

This was, to say the least, a regrettable state of affairs for the Marine Corps, an organization fiercely devoted to its origins and cultural heritage. The enduring adage “Every Marine a historian” – meaning every Marine, regardless of rank or mission, is steeped in the traditions and tales of the Corps’ collective and individual defining moments – seemed a painful reminder that the Corps was the only branch of the military that did not yet have a significant national museum to share its story with the nation.

In the late 1980s, when the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) committees began their work, the Marine Corps and the foundation received some help. Congress, fearing that historical documents and artifacts might fall through the cracks if they weren’t directed to a central headquarters for preservation, authorized each service branch to develop a “national facility” at a site sufficient to maintain service records and interpret that service’s history to the American public.

On the heels of this legislation, some members of the foundation began to realize that their organization needed a grander vision. In 1995, it began exploring interest in a complex large enough to meet curatorial needs and attract the general public. These early investigations involved some of the nation’s finest historians, educators, museum professionals, and Marines. “The idea began to germinate,” explains Lt. Gen. Ronald Christmas, who retired from the Corps and joined the foundation pro bono as its president in 1997, “of having a Marine Corps Heritage Center, which would feature the National Museum of the Marine Corps – but would also be a place where Marines could gather, and artifacts could be stored and preserved.”

Henrietta Holsman Fore, center, then-director of the United States Mint, presents two proof mints of the commemorative United States Marine Corps dollar to retired Lt. Gen. Ron Christmas, left, president of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, and Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Michael W. Hagee in July 2005. Congress authorized the U.S. Mint to create the coin to commemorate the Marine Corps’ 230th birthday and to honor past, present, and future Marines who have made sacrifices to defend the nation. The Marine Corps is the first service to have a coin minted.

USMC photo bt Sgt. Donald Bohanner

Under Christmas’ leadership, the foundation took a hard look at studies it had either conducted or commissioned. “And the recognition was ... that we had to first of all change our name to the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, to really encompass the growth and the vision of where we needed to go with our programs.” Another thing the studies indicated, says Christmas, was “that we, in fact, could be successful in building a national museum.”

Susan Hodges of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation and Mr. Wayne S. Spilove, chairman of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, unveil the historical marker sign near the original site of Tun Tavern, the traditionally recognized birthplace of the United States Marine Corps, in Philadelphia. The dedication of the marker is the first official recognition of the site of the tavern, where the Continental Marines were recruited by Capt. Samuel Nicholas, the first Marine officer. The erection of the sign was a joint project between the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission and was funded publicly and privately by active and reserve Marines and friends of Marines.

USMC photo by Maj. Sean Clements

Two factors, enabled by Congressional legislation, further contributed to this optimism. First, a public-private partnership between the foundation and the Marine Corps allowed for the foundation to serve as a fundraising arm for the Heritage Center, and to continue supporting it through its lifetime. Under this partnership, the Marine Corps took on the responsibility for developing the museum exhibits, and will assume the operational and administrative functions of the museum after its November 2006 opening. The Heritage Foundation contracted the physical construction, and will donate the buildings to the Corps.

A second breakthrough was the donation of 135 pristine wooded acres adjacent to Interstate 95 and the Marine Corps Base at Quantico. The land, donated by Prince William County, Va., provided a site sufficient for the multipurpose campus of the Heritage Center. Near Washington, D.C., and an abundance of hotels, this stretch of Interstate 95 is one of the busiest tourism corridors in the United States. A feasibility study on the project found that, given its location, the National Museum of the Marine Corps could expect to receive as many as 500,000 visitors a year.

These new developments encouraged the foundation, in early 1999, to formally authorize a campaign in support of the Marine Corps Heritage Center. “The first thing we did,” explains Christmas, “was we reached out to find, as our founders for the Heritage Center project, those former Marines who ... felt very strongly about their ties to the Marine Corps, and had gone out and been very successful in life.” Led by this volunteer group of prominent Marine Corps veterans – the Founders’ Group, which now numbers 97 – the foundation launched a direct-mail outreach to all Marines.

The interior of the Mess Hall cafeteria on the second deck of the National Museum of the Marine Corps, complete with appropriate historical photos selected by members of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation.

Photo by Larry S. Glenn

Seven years later, as the National Museum of the Marine Corps finally began to take shape among the wooded hills outside Quantico, the foundation’s campaign had resulted in 70,000 contributors, who, as of August 2006, had donated $58 million toward the museum’s construction and operation.

Supporting History

For an organization that began 27 years ago with a modest research grant fund and a $250 annual magazine award, it’s been quite a journey. But the Heritage Foundation has not forgotten its roots – far from it, in fact. As it has made its own history with the National Museum project, it has capitalized on the attention, resulting in unprecedented support for work that preserves and promotes the Marine Corps’ history and traditions. The foundation, supported by a small paid staff at the administrative offices in downtown Quantico, has expanded this support beyond scholarly written research.

The awards program that began as the $250 Heinl Award has grown to include 10 awards, for work in film, literature, journalism, museum exhibits, art, and other more specialized fields, including a lifetime achievement award and recognition of an individual or team that has done the most to highlight the contributions of women Marines.

The foundation also supports education from the middle school to post-graduate levels. It helps to develop lesson plans for middle school and high school teachers about important events in Marine Corps history, such as John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry, the Boxer Rebellion, and the Battle for Iwo Jima. It offers graduate and advanced-level fellowships that range from $2,500 to $10,000, as well as one-time grants of $400 to $3,000, in order to encourage Marine Corps-specific study and dissertations. The foundation also, in partnership with cooperating institutions, arranges internship opportunities for promising college or university students in historical, research, or museum activities.

Marine Corps Heritage Foundation President Lt. Gen. Ron Christmas (USMC-Ret.) is presented with a Ka-Bar knife by Commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Michael Hagee. The presentation was part of a June 2006 Evening Parade hosted by Hagee in honor of Christmas.

USMC photo

In addition to the museum, the foundation has also continued to take on a number of special projects, though on a much smaller scale. When battle honors need to be added to the base of the Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Va., for example, those additions are funded by the foundation. It accepts donations and disburses funds for the rehabilitation and maintenance of the Commandant’s House, and offers special support to the oldest professional music organization in the nation: “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band. Recently, the foundation also funded the installation of a memorial plaque at the site where Tun Tavern – the legendary birthplace of the Marine Corps – once stood on the Philadelphia waterfront.

Occasionally, when rare artifacts, works of art, documents, or memorabilia related to the Marine Corps come onto the market, the Heritage Foundation engages in their direct acquisition. It has purchased rare scrapbooks owned by composer and conductor John Philip Sousa; one of only six Civil War brevet commissions granted to Marine Corps officers for gallantry during the attack on Fort Sumter in 1863; and a desk that once belonged to the 18th commandant of the Marine Corps, Alexander Vandegrift.

Most remarkably, the Heritage Foundation funds nearly all of these activities through its direct-mail program, Christmas says. “We’re able to use it to pay all the operational expense, so that any large donor – corporation, foundation, or individual – that money immediately goes into a fenced account, the building fund. So that’s been part of our success. All of that ... that’s raised in pledges or moneys to the bank, quite frankly that’s all fenced, and yet we still do our operations and our programs.”

‘Our Gift to the American People’

Its commitment to both the museum and to work that promotes interest in Marine Corps history is not a short-term balancing act for the Heritage Foundation. Its dual role is now a permanent fact of life. For all the excitement surrounding the November 2006 opening of the first phase of the National Museum, it’s important to remember that this event, however momentous, is only the first in what Christmas describes as “probably a two- to three-decade endeavor.” The remaining exhibits will be phased in over time – it is estimated that it will take a year for each era gallery to be installed, and a separate gallery is planned for the 7,500-piece art collection, as well as classrooms and office spaces. And the museum itself, while considered to be the centerpiece of the Heritage Center, is just one facility in a multi-use campus that will eventually include Semper Fidelis Memorial Park, a parade ground, an interactive armory, artifact storage and restoration facilities, an on-site hotel and conference center, an elegant glass chapel, a water feature, and paved and unpaved walking trails.

And of course, even if the Heritage Center were to be completed tomorrow, it would still require continued support. The National Museum of the Marine Corps, a government museum, does not charge an admission fee, and the Heritage Foundation, since long before ground was broken at the site, has been devoted to finding ways for it to be as self-sufficient as possible. Under the leadership of Brig. Gen. Gerald McKay (USMC-Ret.), who joined the foundation as chief operations officer in 2001, the foundation has launched a new fundraising campaign through which anyone, Marine or non-Marine, can purchase a brick engraved with an honorary or memorial message of their choice. “The brick campaign,” says McKay, “is a way to offer another group of donors the opportunity to be a part of the museum. The bricks can honor either their own contribution or the service of a loved one in the Marine Corps.” The bricks, which can be purchased for $300 each, will line the paved walkways that wind through Semper Fidelis Memorial Park. As of August 2006, more than 8,000 bricks had been sold.

The unique public-private partnership between the Heritage Foundation and the Marine Corps will allow the Heritage Center – and especially the museum – to be supported in part by revenue-generating concessions as well as the gift shop. The second deck of the museum will house two eateries – the Mess Hall, a cafeteria meant to be an easygoing interpretation of the everyday dining experience of Marines, and Tun Tavern, a full-service restaurant. Tun Tavern, which will be operated under the sponsorship of Anheuser-Busch, will itself be a kind of museum piece, built to resemble the 18th-century interior of the Marine Corps’ birthplace.

Tun Tavern, on the second deck of the museum, is built to resemble the original interior of what is traditionally celebrated as the Marine Corps’ birthplace.

Photo by Larry S. Glenn

The Heritage Foundation will also operate two simulators within the museum itself, which visitors can try out for a fee. One, an M-16 rifle range within the “Making Marines” exhibit, is an actual laser-designated marksmanship training system designed by MPRI of Columbia, Md., a company that designs such systems for U.S. military and law enforcement organizations. At the beginning of the Museum’s Legacy Walk, there will be a flight simulator designed by a museum and amusements contractor, OTB International. This simulator, McKay explains, will be tailored to the enjoyment of the general public. “It is not meant to replicate an actual flight simulator that a Marine Corps pilot would use in learning to fly aircraft,” he says. “This is more a simulator to give the visitor some sort of sensation of what it might be [like] to fly an air-to-air mission or an airto-ground mission.”

The foundation has also spearheaded the effort to recruit and train volunteers to staff the museum as docents. “Some of the docents will work at the front desk as greeters,” says McKay. “Some will be in prescribed stations or out on the floor, where they will assist the visitor and talk to the visitor about the exhibitry. And then we’ll have docents who will actually lead organized tours throughout the museum. There will also be volunteer opportunities to work within the Museum Store.” McKay estimates that the museum will need about 200-300 such volunteers, who will need to be serious about their commitment: They will undergo 13 weeks of instruction before they begin work. The first group of docents, who began their training in July of 2006, range in age from 16 to over 80.

When he looks back on the last several years, Christmas is overwhelmed by what the foundation and the Marine Corps have been able to accomplish. “The support we’ve received,” says Christmas, “has been unbelievable. We were a very small foundation. I’d guess our budget was less than $100,000 a year.” The men who first formed the foundation in 1979 probably would not have imagined that within a span of seven years, 70,000 charter sponsors, Marines past and present, would generate such an outpouring of support.

But they wouldn’t be too surprised. The Heritage Foundation’s members were forged in the crucible of an organization that is a living embodiment of sacrifice and service, and they view the new museum as another opportunity to give something to the country they’ve sworn to protect. “The National Museum of the Marine Corps is truly going to be a national treasure,” says Christmas. “And quite frankly, it’s not just our gift to those who have worn the Marine uniform. This is our gift to the American people.”