By Craig Stewart
On Monday I had the distinct honor and pleasure to meet with the members of VFW Post 8469, “The Blue and Gray Post” in Fairfax, Virginia for dinner and a presentation. This Post was established in 1946. John Weaver was kind enough to invite me, and Post Commander Floyd Houston graciously welcomed me and introduced me to the membership.
I generally have attentive listeners when I talk about the Museum, but these men and women paid extra close attention as I talked about our plans. Proof of this came in the question and answer session. Their questions were so spot on that I offer many of them here and my responses:
Will the Museum build hills to reflect accurately the Korean landscape? I served there and it was hilly!
First, we could not be better situated than we are with land directly adjacent to I-95, at a major exit, and not far from Washington, DC. Over 160,000 vehicles pass by this site every day.
Creating hills for a Landscape of War will not be one of our problems, because our site, which was generously donated to us by the Hylton Family of Prince William County, has lots of slope. Our goal will be to work with the natural terrain as much as possible so that we position the different Landscapes in the most appropriate spots to provide realism and buffering from adjacent Landscapes and minimize grading.
On a side note, I am proud that both my grandfather and father served in the Korean War, and I will take the authenticity of the sites seriously. [My grandfather, MG George Craig Stewart, Sr. USA, was prominently signaled out for his outstanding leadership during the Wonju Campaign in David Halberstam’s excellent book, The Coldest Winter.]
Your site shows the Landscapes of War in chronological order. Is that best?
At this point, our conceptual site map does have the Landscapes in chronological order starting with World War I and that presents a certain logic. However, we could well change the positioning of the Landscapes if other demands dictate that we do so.
It looks like you have a lot of undeveloped land on the site. Will you have plenty of run to add Landscapes for any future wars?
The site map is a little deceptive in that the Neabsco Creek and its protected buffer room across the bottom third of the property. This creek area will always be preserved in its natural state. Hopefully, we will not have future wars, but, if we do, we may well have to de-commission one Landscape, such as World War I, to make room for a new Landscape. I am just speculating on this right now and no decisions have been made.
How will the Museum represent the Air Force?
And the Navy and Coast Guard? I usually get asked about them as well. We will have vehicles, vessels, and aircraft on display where possible. Also, we envision having simulators on hand to allow visitors to experience air travel and sea travel. This will be an exciting creative challenge, but we do intend to represent all armed military services fairly. We all can easily see how to show the Army and Marine Corps through the landscapes and armored vehicles, but we will not let the Navy, Air Force, or Coast Guard down.
From the site map it looks pretty far from one side of the property to the other. How will people get around?
We envision having some sort of internal transportation system for older visitors or anyone who desires transport. Of course, there will be walking paths throughout the site for those wishing to travel by foot. It is about a quarter of a mile from the main building to the farthest Landscape of War. The display and restoration hangars on the west side of the main building are closer.
What Landscape of War will you develop first? We’re losing 1,000 World War II veterans a day now.
Our Museum does lend itself to opening in stages, which could mean opening with the main building, a large storage/display hangar, one Landscape of War, and the activity field. We have not made a decision on this yet and much will depend on funding. However, it does seem logical to me to open with the World War II Landscape of War first.
Why are Afghanistan and Iraq presented as one Landscape of War? I served in Iraq and they are two totally different wars with totally different landscapes?
You are right that these are two different wars with different landscapes. We will put buffering between the two Landscapes and each will be an authentic representation of the actual country. This site map does seem to imply they are one and the same, which is not our intention. [Since Monday night and as a result of this excellent question, we have revised our site map to show this distinction.]
Can any veterans group meet in your facility?
We will have The National Veterans Visitors Center in the main building that will include meeting and banquet spaces as well as a recording studio that will be the focus of our Oral History Program. We certainly will encourage veterans groups, such as VFW and American Legion Posts, to meet at the Museum, and we will also invite military reunion groups from around the country to use our facilities. It’s getting harder for groups to get onto military bases, so our museum will provide a military environment as well as being close to Washington, DC and Potomac Mills Mall. Not long ago, Washington was listed as the 7th busiest city for military reunions in the United States.
Can I designate that my gift to the Museum specifically goes to the Vietnam Landscape of War?
Like most not-for-profit organizations, especially those in a building phase, we prefer unrestricted gifts, but we certainly can direct donations to a specific area of the Museum if requested by a donor.
On a separate note, I commend Floyd Houston for the wonderful work he has done over the past two years collecting remarkable wartime stories of Post 8469 members. He hopes to publish the collection as Pillars of the Post once he completes his editing and finds a publisher.
