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News Releases |
National Infantry Museum Off to an Explosive Start
 Columbus,
Georgia – June 8, 2006: Neither shovels nor entrenching tools
could handle a groundbreaking of this significance. For the United
States Army Infantry, nothing but dynamite will do the job.
The National Infantry Foundation kicked off construction
of the new National Infantry Museum today with land-clearing explosives
and barreling bulldozers before a crowd of about 350. The ceremony
took place on the site of the new museum, on a 200-acre stretch
of land between Fort Benning Boulevard and South Lumpkin Road, near
Oxbow Meadows Environmental Learning Center.
Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue was the featured
speaker. “It is fitting that a state with a rich history of
supporting the U.S. military will host one of the finest tributes
to valor and sacrifice of the American soldier,” he said.
Special guest retired General H. Norman Schwarzkopf
was forced to cancel his appearance because of a back injury. In
his letter, read at the event by MG Jerry White, General Schwarzkopf
agreed that this is “the premier place to honor the American
Soldier.”
“The museum’s location on this sacred
ground in the red clay of Georgia is befitting the long history
of Infantrymen who have earned their crossed rifles here,”
Schwarzkopf said.
Other speakers included MG Walter Wojdakowski,
Chief of Infantry and Fort Benning Commanding General; MG (R) Jerry
White, National Infantry Foundation Chairman; Columbus Mayor Bob
Poydasheff and CB&T President Steve Melton. Special guests included
BG Stewart Rodeheaver, the commander of the Georgia National Guard’s
48th Infantry Brigade and Col. Robert Nett, the state’s only
surviving Medal of Honor recipient.
At the conclusion of the speeches, MG White removed
a camouflage tarp to reveal a World War i-era dynamite detonator,
specially-equipped with a plunger large enough for five sets of
hands. At the count of three, the plunger was pushed and a series
of three explosions rocked the ground about 150 feet from onlookers.
Before the dust cleared, two massive bulldozers rushed into the
newly cleared spot, knocking down trees and leveling the land for
construction.
Construction is expected to take about two years.
When completed, the 150,000- square-foot museum will tell the story
of the American Infantryman from the Revolutionary War to the War
on Terror. With immersive exhibits and interactive displays, simulator
activities and a 3-D IMAX® Theatre, the museum will attract
a wide array of visitors from across the country. The surrounding
Heritage Park will feature a five-acre parade field for Infantry
school graduations and change-of-command ceremonies, a memorial
walk of honor and an authentic World War II company street.
The mission of the museum is to honor the Infantry’s
231-year legacy of valor and sacrifice, to preserve the artifacts
that document that legacy, and to teach Americans about the true
cost of freedom. Special tribute will be paid to those who have
loved an Infantryman, whose pride, fear and sorrow amount to a sacrifice
as great as the Soldier’s.
The museum is expected to draw 400,000 visitors
a year. According to a study conducted by the D. Abbott Turner College
of Business at Columbus State University, its annual economic impact
on Columbus will be more than $50 million.
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