Major installations at the National Museum of the United States Army.
The Army Historical Foundation is hard at work building the National Museum of the United States Army, which is slated to open to the public in Arlington in late 2019. This month, progress has been made in the major installations of military vehicles, including the M3 Bradley Fighting Vehicle that led the 2003 charge to Baghdad, Iraq in 2003, installed July 31; the M4A3E2 Sherman “Jumbo” Tank which led to American victory in the 1944 Battle of the Bulge, installed Aug. 3, and the Personnel Landing Vehicle or “Higgins Boat,” which won World War II according to Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, due to its innovative design for carrying more troops safely to shore, installed Aug. 4.
Today, another major vehicle installation will join those: The Renault FT-17 Tank dubbed Five of Hearts is the only known surviving vehicle of its type used by American personnel during World War I, according to Col. Dave Fabian, AHF’s chief of staff. Five of Hearts was given to the American Tank Corps by France and belonged to the 344th Tank Brigade led by then-Col. George S. Patton, Jr. The tank was manned by two men and travelled at a speed of less than 5 miles per hour, but proved essential support to the 16th Infantry during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, the largest offensive in U.S. military history.
Five of Hearts, 1918.
The Five of Hearts is being moved from its previous home at the Fort George G. Meade Museum in Maryland and will remain as a permanent exhibit at the National Museum of the U.S. Army. The museum, which will comprise 185,000 square feet situated over 84 acres in Arlington, will be the first dedicated to the preservation and promotion of U.S. Army history. “We have over 242 years of incredible stories that must not be forgotten,” says Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan, chairman of the AHF. Currently the Army is the only branch of the U.S. military without a dedicated museum, but Gen. Sullivan says the project aims to cultivate a “national appreciation for our Army and its soldiers.”
For more information about the Army Historical Foundation and the construction timeline of the National Museum of the United States Army, please visit ArmyHistory.org
