23-03-2025
Take a look inside the National Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington before it opens
The Brief
The National Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington spans 100,000-square-feet in the city's entertainment district.
The museum houses the name of each Medal of Honor recipient.
The museum opens to the public on Tuesday.
ARLINGTON, Texas - While the National Medal of Honor Museum does not officially open to the public until Tuesday, FOX 4's Casey Stegall got a sneak preview of the exhibits.
Nestled in the middle of Arlington's entertainment district sits the 100,000-square-foot architectural marvel that's expected to attract millions each year.
Its mission?
To inspire America and celebrate the human spirit.
Through the front doors, visitors are greeted with the "Ring of Valor," which contains the names of all 3,528 Medal of Honor recipients. The military's highest distinction.
As visitors move upstairs, the first exhibit they'll encounter is "Moments of Action."
The exhibit is an immersive experience, transporting people to the battlefields where these awards are earned.
After leaving the Ring of Valor, visitors will have a chance to see the "Rails to Rotors" exhibit that highlights the equipment and machinery that troops have used throughout history.
Among its exhibits is one of the largest artifactsin the museum, a Vietnam-era Huey helicopter.
They were used in "dustoff" missions which are credited for saving thousands of lives during the Vietnam War.
What they're saying
"They were basically helicopter ambulances," Greg Waters, the museum's director of curatorial arts, said. "When things went bad, they would send out the call for dustoff and that's when General Brady would go out and rescue whoever needed rescuing."
The helicopter is so large that it was lifted into the museum by a crane before the walls were finished.
One of the more expansive exhibits in the museum is the "More Than a Medal" exhibit.
Inside, visitors will find memorabilia and personal effects that let visitors put faces to the nation's most prestigious military award.
What they're saying
"That's what this place is," museum President and CEO Chris Cassidy said. "It's a place for the stories of those Medal of Honor recipients."
Inside the exhibit, visitors can get up close and personal with real medals that have been loaned to the museum for display.
"The Medals of Honor themselves are the crown jewel of our collection," Waters said.
The final exhibit lets visitors speak with Medal of Honor recipients and ask them questions.
"We sit down recipients and we ask them hundreds of questions, over the course of several days with lots of cameras trained on them," Waters said. "We use AI to match the question with the most appropriate answer. We don't use AI to put words in their mouths. So all of the answers are the words the recipients actually said."
Five pillars are integrated into the building's design, representing each branch of the armed forces.
Then, once the sun goes down, a beam of light will shine into the sky.
Officials call it a "perpetual" light ensuring none of the stories, inside, are ever lost to darkness.
Local perspective
More than 20 cities tried to attract the museum.
In the end, it came down to Arlington and Denver as finalists.
Arlington was chosen because it's centrally located, giving easier access for all Americans to visit.
The Source
Information in this article comes from a tour of the museum and interviews with the museum officials.
