National Medal of Honor Museum opens its doors
It has been years, decades even, in the making but on Tuesday, the National Medal of Honor Museum opened its doors to the public in Arlington, Texas.
'Our mission is pretty simple,' Chris Cassidy, CEO and president of the National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation, told Military Times. 'Our aim is to inspire Americans through stories like Tommy's [Norris] of courage, sacrifice, service to others, service over self, through the interaction of those stories in the museum to bring that into one's own life.'
The 100,000-square-foot museum boasts exhibits such as 'More Than a Medal,' which explores the 'ordinary lives' of medal recipients, like Marine Kyle Carpenter, and an interactive display featuring interviews with the 61 Medal of Honor recipients living today.
Since its inception in 1861 during the American Civil War, the Medal of Honor has been awarded to less than 4,000 men and one woman among the 40 million Americans who have served in the United States armed forces.
Despite the award's prestige, however, some are less familiar with the Medal of Honor's history and its recipients.
'We want to flip that around,' Cassidy said. 'We want people to walk out of the museum experience and have connected in a personal way, because people, human beings, like to hear stories of other human beings.'
While the National Medal of Honor Museum is not the first of its kind — the Medal of Honor Museum at Patriots Point, South Carolina, was designated by Congress as an official National Medal of Honor Memorial site in 1999 and is operated by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society — the scale of the museum and the stories it shares is unprecedented.
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and his family donated the first $20 million to get the staggering $300 million project started, with the museum site just a stone's throw from the Dallas Cowboys stadium.
Thirty-two of the recipients traveled down to Arlington to mark the museum's grand opening, with Medal of Honor recipient and Navy veteran Thomas 'Tommy' Norris telling Military Times that the museum 'is an incredible avenue to be able to give to the American public those values that are held within the people that have served in order to receive this medal.'
For Norris, who was awarded the Medal of Honor for his 1972 actions in Quang Tri, Vietnam, these values aren't only displayed in the military.
'Individual recipients don't wear the medal for themselves. It's for our teammates and for those that never returned, the ones we lost,' Norris said. 'But what it took to do that mission are the values and the inspiration we want to impart on all the people that are able to come here and see this incredible museum.
'There are a lot of people out there that are heroes. A lot of people out there have done amazing things and are not always recognized. But they don't need to be. They can be self-satisfied with having the inspiration, the commitment to achieve whatever it is that they're trying to achieve.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
3 hours ago
- New York Post
Archaeologists may have finally solved the mystery of Roanoke's ‘Lost Colony'
A team of researchers believes they may have cracked one of America's most enduring legends: Where did the settlers of the Roanoke Colony go? The Roanoke Colony, also known as the Lost Colony, was the first permanent English settlement in the United States. A group of over 100 colonists settled on North Carolina's Roanoke Island in 1587, led by Sir Walter Raleigh. John White, the governor of the colony, returned to England for supplies in 1587. When he came back to Roanoke Island in August 1590, he found the settlement mysteriously abandoned – and all the colonists, including his daughter Eleanor Dare and his granddaughter Virginia Dare, gone. One of the only clues remaining at the site was the word 'CROATOAN' carved into a palisade. It either referred to Croatoan Island, which is now called Hatteras Island, or the Croatoan Indians. The mystery has haunted Americans and Brits for the past four centuries, with several investigations launched into the matter. Whether the colonists were killed by Native Americans, starved to death, or left for greener pastures has eluded historians. But new research suggests the colonists' fate may not have been tragic after all. Mark Horton, an archaeology professor at the Royal Agricultural University in England, spoke with Fox News Digital about his findings. 5 A team of researchers believes they may have cracked one of America's most enduring legends: Where did the settlers of the Roanoke Colony go? Getty Images For the past decade, the British researcher has worked with the Croatoan Archaeological Society's Scott Dawson to uncover the mystery. Horton said they've uncovered proof that the colonists assimilated into Croatoan society, thanks to a trash heap. 'We're looking at the middens — that's the rubbish heaps — of the Native Americans living on Hatteras Island, because we deduced that they would have very rapidly been assimilated into the Native American population,' Horton said. The smoking gun at the site? 5 The mystery has haunted Americans and Brits for the past four centuries, with several investigations launched into the matter. Youtube/IslandTimeTV Hammerscale, which are tiny, flaky bits of iron that come from forging iron. Horton said it's definitive proof of iron-working on Hatteras Island, which could have only been done by English colonists. 'The key significance of hammerscale … is that it's evidence of iron-working, of forging, at that moment,' he said. 'Hammerscale is what comes off a blacksmith's forge.' Start your day with all you need to know Morning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more. Thanks for signing up! Enter your email address Please provide a valid email address. By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Never miss a story. Check out more newsletters Horton added, 'This is metal that has to be raised to a relatively high temperature … which, of course, [requires] technology that Native Americans at this period did not have.' Hammerscale shows that the English 'must have been working' in this Native American community, according to the expert. But what if the hammerscale came longer after the Roanoke Colony was abandoned? Horton said that's unlikely. 'We found it stratified … underneath layers that we know date to the late 16th or early 17th century,' he said. 'So we know that this dates to the period when the lost colonists would have come to Hatteras Island.' 5 The Roanoke Colony, also known as the Lost Colony, was the first permanent English settlement in the United States. Getty Images 5 'We're looking at the middens — that's the rubbish heaps — of the Native Americans living on Hatteras Island, because we deduced that they would have very rapidly been assimilated into the Native American population,' Mark Horton, an archaeology professor at the Royal Agricultural University in England, said. Youtube/IslandTimeTV 'It's a combination of both its archaeological position but also the fact that it's evidence of people actually using an English technology.' At the site, archaeologists also found guns, nautical fittings, small cannonballs, an engraved slate and a stylus, in addition to wine glasses and beads, which all paint a vivid picture of life on Hatteras Island in the 17th century. When asked if the colonists could have been killed in a later war, Horton said they survived among the Croatoans and successfully assimilated. 'We have one little snippet of historical evidence from the 1700s, which describes people with blue or gray eyes who could remember people who used to be able to read from books,' he said. 'Also, they said there was this ghost ship that was sent out by a man called Raleigh.' 5 When asked if the colonists could have been killed in a later war, Horton said they survived among the Croatoans and successfully assimilated. Youtube/IslandTimeTV Horton added, 'We think that they assimilated into the Native American community and their descendants, their sons, their granddaughters, their grandsons carried on living on Hatteras Island until the early 18th century.' When asked if he's officially solved the mystery, Horton said that though the archaeological evidence is definitive, the legend will probably still endure. 'Have we solved the mystery? Well, you know, it's pretty good evidence, but there's always more work to be done,' he said. Horton added, 'And people love mysteries. They hate resolving things one way or the other. So I'm sure that the mystery will continue, you know, whatever the scientific evidence says.'
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Yahoo
Fulton celebrates Medal of Honor hero for D-Day bravery
FULTON, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — June 6 has a new meaning to community members in the City of Fulton. The city has recognized a Medal of Honor recipient for acts of heroism on D-Day. Fulton said as part of 'Carlton W. Barrett Day,' they honor a local hero and teach students about the sacrifices made during World War II. The day is dedicated to Carlton W. Barrett, a veteran who they said displayed extraordinary bravery during the D-Day invasion. Barrett, a native of Fulton, served in the U.S. Army and was awarded the Medal of Honor for his valor on June 6, 1944. Courtesy of Bill Cahill. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
19 hours ago
By The Numbers: The origins of Pride Month
A look at the numbers behind the significance of the month of June for LGBTQ+ Americans.
