Inside Your Museum

The National Guard Memorial Museum gets high marks from its visitors despite being comparatively small and a little off the beaten path in a city full of acclaimed museums and monuments.

Reviewers on Tripadvisor.com, the worldwide travel platform, give the facility on the first floor of the National Guard Memorial, the NGAUS headquarters in Washington, D.C., a rating of 4.7/5.

That’s higher than the National Air and Space Museum and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (both 4.6) and equal to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (4.7), all of which are on the National Mall.

“Stunningly robust content!!” says a recent visitor on Tripadvisor.com. “This small museum should be a must for those interested in U.S. history or if you have a military connection or legacy,” adds another. “Hidden gem,” says a third.

William Roulett, the museum curator, receives similar feedback from people in the museum. More confide they previously knew little about the force, he relays.

“They say, ‘Oh, I didn’t realize the Guard could be deployed overseas or do all the things that the regular Army or Air Force does,’” explains Roulett, officially the deputy director of the National Guard Educational Foundation. “Those with Guard service also pick up a lot. The museum tells a story that isn’t readily available elsewhere.”

Roulett knows museums. He holds a master’s degree in history from Rutgers University and worked in multiple museums before coming to the NGEF, which operates the facility, in 2022. He also knows the military. He served in an Army Reserve military history detachment before recently getting his commission in the USAR.

Many states have Guard museums, he says. The NGEF maintains an online Heritage Map of them at www.ngef.org. But the National Guard Memorial Museum is the only one that tells the Guard story from the perspective of all 54 states, territories and the District of Columbia.

The museum tells a story that isn’t readily available elsewhere.

—William Roulett, the deputy director of the National Guard Educational Foundation

Visitors learn the Guard grew from the colonial militia, which has been continuously around since Dec. 13, 1636. The Continental Army, the forerunner to the U.S. Army, came much later — after the Massachusetts militia fired the first shots of the American Revolution in 1775.

They also discover that 20 U.S. presidents served in the Guard or the militia, and the force has fought in every conflict the United States has entered. Even so, the Guard has maintained its identity as a locally based, predominantly part-time organization.

The story is told in 5,600 square feet of artifacts, images and interactive exhibits. After a brief introductory video, five immersive galleries transport visitors through nearly 390 years of Guard history, from precolonial militias to today’s force with global reach.

Significant artifacts mark the chronology, starting with a handwritten mobilization order issued to a Rhode Island militiaman on April 20, 1775, the day after the battles of Lexington and Concord. The creases in the document suggest he likely folded the order and put it in his pocket.

“I tell Guard groups that come in that each of them probably remembers folding written orders and putting them in their pocket, and so did this guy 250 years ago,” Roulett says. “To me, the human connection with any of these artifacts is the exciting part. They’re relatable. If the museum was just all words on a wall, it would be pretty boring.”

The militia mobilization order (read more below) is one of several with an adjacent QR code that links to an episode of the NGEF’s Minuteman Minute YouTube series on the item. Roulett says the videos enhance the museum experience. His advice: “Bring your phones and your earbuds. You’ll learn even more.”

There are many more “relatable” artifacts in the Militia Era Gallery, which focuses on the American Revolution and the Civil War. They include common utensils, tools and musical instruments. Uniforms and weapons are also plentiful. There is also a first pattern Confederate battle flag captured by Illinois troops at the Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas, in 1862.

Legislation in the early 20th century laid the groundwork for the modern Guard as visitors learn in the second gallery, the National Guard Comes of Age. The Militia Act of 1903 bolstered training, organization and federal funding for states that adopted Army standards. It also gave the force its current name. Often referred to as the Dick Act, it was written by Rep. Charles Dick, an Ohio Guard major general and the NGAUS president from 1902 to 1909.

The gallery also highlights the nearly 500,000 Guardsmen who fought in the Great War. Their story is largely told through the belongings and correspondence home from Pvt. Thomas Reno, a 19-year-old member of the Pennsylvania Guard’s 28th Infantry Division. His letters home are presented on computer audio. Visitors will note their tone changed after he reached the front.

More artifacts help tell the story as visitors step from displays on World War I to those on World War II.

Among them is a Brownie camera (read more below) of an Oregon Guardsman used to photograph the effects of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Another is the pistol (read more below) Colorado Guard Lt. Col. Felix Sparks fired during the liberation of the Dachau Concentration Camp to stop his troops — enraged by what they found — from shooting surrendered German camp guards.

Nine Guard divisions fought in the European theater and 10 in the Pacific. An interactive map table shows their movements, from mobilization in 1940 to the end of the war in 1945.

The Guard in the Cold War is the subject of the next gallery. One focal point is the actions of Maine Guard Capt. Lewis Millett, who earned the Medal of Honor in the Korean War. On exhibit is a uniform from Company D, 151st Infantry, the Indiana Rangers, one of the few Guard units deployed to Vietnam. Photographs illustrate the Guard’s role at home during a period of domestic strife. Visitors also learn how the lessons of Vietnam led to the implementation of Total Force Policy.

The stroll through Guard history concludes in the 9/11 Era Gallery. Here is the story of the Guard’s response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Exhibits include artifacts and photographs from operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and bent steel from the World Trade Center in New York City. There is also a Wall of the Fallen, which includes the names of the more than 800 Guardsmen killed in the Global War on Terrorism.

Exhibits featuring some of the Guard’s unique current missions are also in the final gallery, including the State Partnership Program, which has grown to more than 100 nations worldwide, and the Weapons of Mass Destruction-Civil Support Team in each of the 54.

While some of the museum’s artifacts are on loan from other institutions, most are part of the NGEF collection. The foundation, which started as the Historical Society of the Militia & the National Guard, began acquiring artifacts 50 years ago to open a museum in the original National Guard Memorial for the U.S. bicentennial in 1976.

The National Guard Heritage Gallery shuttered when the first NGAUS headquarters closed in 1988. The new, larger building, which is on the same site as its predecessor, opened in 1991 with space for the museum, but financial challenges delayed the opening of the current facility until 2003.

Not all the NGEF’s exhibits are in the museum. There is also a Medal of Honor Gallery on the first floor of the building. It features the names of the more than 140 Guardsmen who earned the nation’s highest award for valor in combat and dioramas that depict the heroic actions of some of the recipients. The foundation also maintains a research library and archives that include more than 7,000 military titles and hundreds of historic Guard and NGAUS documents and photographs.

Individual and corporate donations fuel the NGEF’s work, according to Luke Guthrie, the foundation’s director. The Legion de Lafayette, which is reserved for gifts of at least $10,000, is the NGEF’s most successful fundraising program.

The museum is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, except federal holidays. There is no admission charge. Most visitors walk the facility on their own, but Roulett and Kevin Brown, the NGEF archivist and museum specialist, offer guided tours to groups and special guests.

State Guard associations, school classes and National Guard Bureau staff are among the recent groups to tour the museum. Members of Congress and senior Pentagon officials have visited. The grandson and great grandson of Felix Sparks visited earlier this year to see the pistol he fired in the air during liberation of Dachau.

Roulett says he learns more about what the Guard is doing today from nearly every visiting group of Guardsmen. Some Tennessee Guardsmen recently informed him that Leigh Ann Hester, who earned the Silver Star in 2005 in Iraq while a Kentucky Guard sergeant, is now a first sergeant in the Tennessee Guard. She is the first female U.S. Soldier honored for valor in close-quarters combat. One of her 2005 uniform blouses is on exhibit in the 9/11 Era Gallery.

Brown adds that family members and battle buddies of Guardsmen killed in Iraq or Afghanistan often come to find their names on the memorial wall. “Some will share stories about their loved one or friend — about how they lived and how they died,” he says. “It’s really an honor to hear those stories.”

The museum was originally designed in 2002, which meant it didn’t include much on the latest chapter in Guard history when it opened. Consequently, the NGEF transformed the original National Guard in the Modern Era Gallery into the 9/11 Era Gallery in 2012 with new exhibits, including the memorial wall. The foundation has continued to add artifacts ever since.

It also revised the Citizen Soldier in World War II two years later after acquiring new artifacts and better tools to share the story, Roulett says.

“The National Guard continues to write its history,” he adds. “As new chapters are added, we will include them to the museum.” 

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The museum is open during the week from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., except federal holidays. It's free and open to the public. More information, including a virtual tour, is available at www.ngef.org/national-guard-memorial-museum.

A SAMPLING OF ARTIFACTS IN THE MUSEUM

Militia Mobilization Order

The order dated April 20, 1775, instructs Cpl. James Briggs to muster with the enlisted militiamen of Cranston, Rhode Island’s 3rd Company, at a local farm the following day. The Battles of Lexington and Concord occurred April 19, 1775. Militia units later massed around Boston, trapping the British there for more than a year. New England’s standing militias and Minutemen would form the backbone of the Continental Army in the coming American Revolution. The document is believed to be the oldest mobilization order in any museum in the country. It’s in the Militia Era Gallery.

POW Diary

Capt. Edward Lingo of New Mexico’s 200th Coastal Artillery kept a diary of his time deployed to the South Pacific from 1941 to 1945. It provides a look into his experiences, from the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor through his combat experiences before the surrender of U.S. forces to his harrowing survival of the infamous Bataan Death March and as a POW. Lingo continued to serve in the New Mexico Army Guard after the war, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. The first volume is in the Citizen Soldier World War II Gallery. It’s on loan from the New Mexico National Guard. 

Chapin Sabers

The sabers belonged to Abel Chapin and his son, Harvey. The owner’s date of birth, date of commission, dates of rank, unit affiliations and date of death is inscribed on each. Abel served in the Continental Army during the summer of 1776 and in the Massachusetts Militia from 1781 to 1794, when he was discharged as a lieutenant colonel. Harvey served in the Massachusetts Militia from 1812 to 1826, when he was discharged as a colonel. Both sabers were refurbished earlier this year thanks to a grant from the Samuel Frazier Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. Both are in the Militia Era Gallery.

Liberator’s Pistol

Lt. Col. Felix Sparks, the commander of Colorado’s 3rd Battalion, 157th Infantry Regiment, fired the pistol in the air April 29, 1945, to stop the massacre of captured German guards at Dachau Concentration Camp in Germany. U.S. troops were enraged when they liberated the camp earlier that day and found piles of dead bodies and emaciated prisoners. The pictures on the grip are of his wife, Mary, and his son, Kirk. Sparks continued to serve in the Colorado Army National Guard after the war, rising to the rank of brigadier general. It’s in the Citizen Soldier in World War II Gallery. The pistol is on loan from the Colorado National Guard.

Hiroshima Camera

Cpl. Grover Alton Wheeler used the camera in Hiroshima, Japan, in October 1945 while on occupation duty with Oregon’s 41st Infantry Division. The detonation of atomic bombs by the United States over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 moved the Japanese to surrender. “It was terrible,” he said of the devastation in Hiroshima, “but it saved thousands of our boys’ lives.” A member of a communications squad, he participated in several amphibious landings as the division fought its way from Papua New Guinea through the Philippines. Wheeler’s camera and linesman tools are on display in the Citizen Soldier in World War II Gallery. They are on loan from the Oregon National Guard.

Hero’s Clothing

The uniform then-Capt. Katie Lunning wore while helping to evacuate 22 people wounded by the Abbey Gate suicide bombing Aug. 26, 2021, at Hamid Karzai International Airport as the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan. She walked alongside the Taliban to perform her duties. Lunning, a member of the Minnesota Air National Guard’s 133rd Medical Group, received the Distinguished Flying Cross for her actions. She is the first Air Guard flight nurse to receive the award. The museum plans to display the uniform in the 9/11 Era Gallery later this year. It will be the most recent event represented in the museum.