Sunday, 3 March 2019
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| today's route |
On the way in the other day I noticed a Publix grocery store - a surprise to me because I thought they were exclusively a Florida chain, or at least wouldn't reach as far away as Virginia. But it was so close to the campground that it was a logical place to stop, and it is indeed a Publix. This really is a good chain of grocery stores. And luckily this one was sitting in a very large shopping center with multiple grassy areas for the dogs and me to walk.
Then a stop for flea meds for Lily at a nearby PetsMart and we were back on Route 1 heading north.
The public radio station in this part of Virginia is called Radio IQ. When I first heard the call sign I thought it was another weird gimmicky station, but it turned out their programming is exclusively NPR.
A bus passed us this morning with the label KMS Cycling Team Activity Bus. That seemed really odd to me for some reason: who is KMS, why do they have a cycling team, and why is the team so active it needs an "activity bus?" I wondered. So I looked them up. KMS is Killington Mountain School in Killington, VT. It's a real school for kids 13-18, but the kids who go to school here are athletes interested in bicycling. The website doesn't say this but I'm guessing everything in the school is centered around cycling, and the usual school curriculum is structured to fit that interest. They say they work hard to help kids get into colleges that will meet their interests. So anyway, their teams go all over competing in cycling races, thus the need for a bus. You live and learn.
Fredericksburg is home to the University of Mary Washington, and a local tourist attraction is Mary Washington's home. Having never heard of her, I looked her up and she turns out to be George Washington's mother. He bought a house for her here in her later years. Don't know why I never gave a thought to his mother, but I hadn't until now.
Quantico is a tiny town on the Potomac that is surrounded on all 3 land sides by the Marine Base, which is huge. There are about 4,500 people living in base housing, with many many more living in the surrounding area.
I saw a sign directing people to Marine Corps University, which I decided couldn't possibly be a real university so I looked it up. And I was wrong. It's accredited. Its own description of its history is a little convoluted but gives a good sample of the flavor of the place:
Although the University is a relatively new organization, its conceptual roots trace back to World War I and the birth of the modern Marine Corps. General [Alfred M.] Gray’s decision to establish MCU was a logical extension of the historical legacy of many famous Marine leaders who valued the importance of education, as well as a natural extension of the contemporary shift of the Corps’ warfighting doctrine to one of “maneuver warfare,” with its concomitant demand for leaders who can think critically and act decisively in the face of ambiguity, fog, friction, and chance.They offer several masters level degrees, having figured out that the Marine Corps needs more than human cannon fodder.
The statue to the left of the entrance is named Iron Mike and comes with an interesting history, which I've put a link to here. wikipedia.org/Iron_Mike
The inside of the building's as striking as the outside. The exhibits are separated and arranged based on a particular war or conflict, each in a separate room, and each with film and activities for kids (or adults), as well as photos large and small and explanatory print. They're all very well done.
They aim you first to an exhibit showing boot camp and the transforming of raw recruits into Marines. Then you start with the founding of a marine unit during the Revolutionary War, ordered by the Second Continental Congress. (see photo on right)
Most people know the opening lines of the Marine Hymn: "From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli . . .." "The halls of Montezuma" refers to an action in 1847, when Marines were among a combined force that stormed Chapultepec castle in Mexico during the Mexican-American War (triggered by the US annexing Texas). "The shores of Tripoli" refers to an 1805 incident: the northern coast of Africa, aka the Barbary Coast, had been notorious for pirates from the 1500s to the 1800s and were repeatedly seizing US ships. Pres. Thomas Jefferson refused to pay ransom or tribute as most other nations had been doing, and instead sent a fleet of frigates. The USS Philadelphia ran aground in Tripoli Harbor and the crew were captured and held for ransom. The Marines recaptured the ship but it was diplomacy that eventually freed the hostages.
The melody of the hymn, by the way, is from an 1859 opera by Offenbach. A copyright for the lyrics was granted in 1929 to Marine Corps Commandant Lejeune, considered the father of the modern Marine Corps.
In 1939, the US had only the 19th largest military in the world, having let it diminish after WWI, the war to end all wars. In 1940, FDR instituted the US's first peacetime draft; he battled heavy criticism due to the strong feelings of isolationism that prevailed in the US. FDR did everything he could to help Europe, short of sending troops. I think the Japanese made one of the most serious tactical errors in history by attacking US troops in the Hawaiian Territory.
The exhibit for WWII said most of the Marines fought in the Pacific Theater and sustained 86,940 casualties. From this period came 82 Medal of Honor recipients, 48 of them posthumously.
From 1946-53 in the Korean War, known to politicians as a "police action" and to historians as the "forgotten war," the Marines suffered more than twice as many casualties than they had in France in WWI. During this war they pioneered the tactical use of helicopters and refined sea-based air support for ground troops.
The Marine Corps has its heroes, and this poster on the right describes 2 of them - LtCol Chesty Puller, awarded 5 Navy Crosses, and Sgt John Basilone, a Medal of Honor recipient for service on Guadalcanal who chose to go back into battle and was killed at Iwo Jima.
The Vietnam War, from 1954-75, was our longest war until recently being surpassed by Afghanistan. The Marines sent more than 450,000 to Vietnam; more than 66,000 were casualties. One out of every 4 names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, is a Marine.
The largest single combat operation in Corps history was Operation Desert Storm: Kuwait in 1991. 93,000 Marines liberated Kuwait City from the Iraqis in 100 hours.
The motto Semper Fidelis was adopted in the 1880s.
Marines have been called Leathernecks since the Revolutionary War, arising from the leather neck stocks they wore to protect their necks from cutlass blows.
The first time a Marine received the Medal of Honor was in 1862 from Pres. Lincoln. In total 295 Marines have been recipients, as well as 23 Navy personnel serving with Marines as corpsmen, surgeons, dentists and chaplains. Two Marines received it twice: MajGen Smedley Butler and SgtMaj Daniel Daly.
By the way, apparently the Marines write their ranks mashed together, as I have here. I've always separated them (e.g. Maj. Gen.), but they had a display showing all the ranks and that plus all their posted information, like the sign for LtCol Chesty Puller above, smush them up. Here's a link to the ranks, which looks like the one they displayed at the museum, in case you're interested. www.marines.mil/Marines/Ranks
The Marine Corps has a slogan: every Marine a rifleman. To achieve this, all recruits must pass a 2-week rifle qualification course. The Corps expects every member, even those who are cooks or office staff, to be able to pick up a rifle and fight at a moment's notice.
The museum has an exhibit that shows all the times the Marine Corps was portrayed in movies. The person who gave me a brief orientation when I first arrived told me this, so I asked him if there was an exhibit for Agent Gibbs. He said who? and I said Leroy Jethro Gibbs. And he didn't say who? again but instead said no there isn't one. So I told him I thought they should have one since Gibbs has given the Corps a really good name, and he agreed. (He may not have meant it, but I did.)
I was in the museum for 2 hours and barely scratched the surface. It would easily be an all-day trip (and they have 2 cafes inside). It's all very well done and very interesting, but I left feeling very sad. War is usually such a stupid thing, usually initiated (in my opinion) by people who seriously ought to have known better but weren't thinking ahead. And people die because of it. Lots of people. The Marine Corps was formed for the purpose of fighting wars, and they're really good at it. But I wish they weren't necessary.
As an anticlimax, our campground is only about 10 miles away, though the highway signs misdirected me to go an extra 5 miles out of the way (grumble, grumble). This campground is much emptier than the last and I see very few dogs so I think we'll try it for a few days.
Having been inspired by my museum visit, tonight I'm going to watch an NCIS episode from season 6 when a bank at Quantico is robbed. And then I'll watch an episode from season 12 where a Seabee is murdered. One of the last scenes in that episode is filmed in front of the Seabee memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, which I drove by when I was there, so I've been vaguely thinking about it for several days.
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