Triangle, VA – New exhibit installations at the National Museum of the Marine Corps are in full swing as preparations continue for the opening of three new galleries in June 2010.  Twelve new life-size cast figures will take their places in their permanent home as they are installed in the Museum’s numerous tableaus, exhibits and aircraft.  Members of the media are invited to see three of these cast figures and meet several Marines from the U.S. Marine Corps Base in Quantico, VA who sat for the castings.  This will also be the first opportunity for the media to get an early look at the three new large-scale galleries with exhibits interpreting the legendary founding of the Corps in 1775, the Civil War and the U.S. global trade expansion in the 19th century and World War I.

The new exhibits will include an additional immersive experience, for which the Museum has become world renowned.  Visitors will enter a stretch of forest in western France amidst the Battle of Belleau Wood, encountering a German machine gun nest.  With the smell of cordite in the air and the sound of bullets whistling above their heads, visitors will experience the charge of Marines across a wheat field, just as it happened on June 6, 1918.   The official opening of these new exhibits coincides with the 92nd anniversary of the historic Battle of Belleau Wood.

Months ago, local Marines undertook an arduous process, one that isn't covered in boot camp training:  having plaster molds made of their bodies for the cast figures to be displayed throughout the new galleries.  Briefed with their figure's story and expression, the models posed for three to four hours to create a cast that looks "real."  With the figures fully molded, painted, clothed and ready for display, several of those same Marines will be on hand to see how they have helped bring the Museum's exhibitions to life.  The new cast figures will join the 62 already on display at the Museum.

WHAT:	Media availability and photo opportunity of new cast figures at the National Museum of the Marine Corps
WHEN:	Thursday, April 29, 2010 10:30 a.m.
WHERE:	National Museum of the Marine Corps 18900 Jefferson Davis Highway Triangle, VA 22172

To attend this special media opportunity, please contact Gwenn Adams at 703-784-6134, gwenn.adams@usmc.mil.