Exhibits: Legacy Walk

Legacy Walk

Along the Legacy Walk, visitors are immersed in more than 200 years of Marine Corps history. Entering the Legacy Walk visitors are greeted by Colonial Marines perched high atop a sailing ship’s “fighting top” ready to sweep the decks of an opposing ship with withering musket fire. Only yards away, two-time Medal of Honor recipient Dan Daly fights on the Tartar Wall in Peking in 1900. Farther on, a World War I Marine locked in hand-to-hand combat with a German soldier reminds visitors that war can be intensely personal. Continuing along the Legacy Walk, a Navy corpsman works frantically to save a wounded Marine during World War II. Overhead, a de Havilland DH-4 prepares to pick up a message pouch during the “Banana Wars” of the 1920s and the UH-1E Huey helicopter in which Marine Maj Stephen Pless earned the Medal of Honor in 1968 is proudly displayed.Photographs, maps, iconic artifacts and life-like cast figures capture the courage of individual Marines and the evolution of the Marine Corps as a whole. The Legacy Walk includes a timeline detailing the Marine’s activities at home and abroad since 1775 and introduces visitors to the cooperative relationship between the Marine Corps and the US Navy, the Marine Air-Ground Team and the many innovations developed by the Marine Corps to improve its operational capabilities. Special exhibits along the Legacy Walk explore the meaning of the Marine creed Semper Fidelis, the history behind the Marines’ Hymn, and other facets of Marine Corps culture.

For visitors with only a limited amount of time to spend at the National Museum of the Marine Corps, the Legacy Walk provides a quick initiation into the rich and storied history of the Corps. Additionally, the Legacy Walk connects the museum's seven primary exhibit galleries and provides access to the Scuttlebutt Theater.

New in March 2020! The Museum opened the extension of Legacy Walk. The extension starts with an exploration of the Corps’ many non-combat duties in the “No Better Friend” exhibit. “Terror Strikes” reveals the role Marines played on September 11, 2001 and its aftermath. “Semper Families” examines the evolution of the Marine family while the “Never Forget” area honors the ultimate sacrifice made by some Marines. In the future, the extension will provide visitors with access to historical galleries that cover the Corps' history from 1975 to 2015. See our Final Phase page for more information.

Take a walking tour of the new extension of Legacy Walk!