Weapon's Platoon: A Marine’s Life in Afghanistan

"Weapon's Platoon: A Marine’s Life in Afghanistan," a photographic exhibit by Stephen Dupont, opens at the National Museum of the Marine Corps on April 4, 2012. The series of 35 photographs is a portrait of the Marine platoon Dupont was embedded with in the Spring of 2009.

"I chose to take a simple and intimate path in this project and simply asked all the Marines in the platoon to write their answers to the question 'Why are you a Marine?' in a small journal I kept while I was embedded with them. While in the field I took Polaroids of each Marine and gave them the positive as a reciprocal gesture for their participation and honesty and later, back in Sydney, printed them from the negative," Dupont explains about the project.

The Marines' answers ranged from the humorous "Why am I a Marine?" to the patriotic such as "While some people sit back and enjoy the freedom that we as Americans have, others must go out and defend it. As Marines that's what we do. America can't afford another 9/11. We as Marines not only defend our freedom, but create freedom for others….It can’t always be someone else's son."

The exhibit will be on display at the Museum for one year.

“President´s Own” Band´s Inaugural History

“President´s Own” has offered direct support to the commander in chief since the days of John Adams, and now the National Museum of the Marine Corps celebrates this legacy with a new exhibit titled “Hailing the Chief: The United States Marine Band and Presidential Inaugurals.”

On display through September 2013, the new exhibit focuses on the Marine Band´s involvement in inaugural ceremonies and its significance in Marine Corps history through a collection of compelling photographs and interpretive texts as well as uniform items, musical instruments and even the conductor´s baton used at the 2013 inaugural ceremony.

The National Museum of the Marine Corps commemorates the anniversary of 9/11 with the temporary exhibit "9/11 - We Remember," which features an I-beam from the World Trade Center and a Pentagon building fragment as well as inspiring stories of extraordinary efforts that have been taken to keep America safe since that fateful day.

The exhibit invites visitors to share their memories of the day that ushered in a "new reality" for all Americans while also paying tribute to a generation that has borne the burden of our security during a decade of war.

The exhibit also pays tribute to the resilience of the American people and the stubborn defiance of the Corps and its Marines. Visitors will see that defiance in the display of a Marine Corps flag found standing upright near a sheered edge of the Pentagon, maintaining a silent vigil over the rubble of the damaged building. The flag, like the Marines it represents and the Nation they serve, never faltered under the terrorist attack. On display through September 2013.