When the National Infantry Museum opens June 19, visitors can expect to see exhibits capturing the battles of American forces.
Dressed in a range of uniforms, from the French WWII winter ensemble to the modern ACU, mannequins will display artifacts from wars dating back to the founding of the country.
But something visitors may not realize is that 90 percent of the uniforms and accoutrements displayed on mannequins throughout the museum are original, said Mike Criscillis, museum curator.
The museum has collected artifacts since 1954, five years before the museum opened on Fort Benning. Private donors, the Center for Military History and units, such as the 18th Airborne Corps and the Rangers, donated most of the items. And the donated uniforms are not restricted to American forces.
The museum will depict both sides of a battle including uniforms of foreign soldiers in the exhibits to show the similarities between the soldiers and technology of the period, Criscillis said.
"If you study American history, you only get half the story. This museum will give you the whole picture," said Chris Kolakowski, chief curator for the National Museum of the Army Reserve at Fort McPherson, Ga., who was one of several specialists to assist in dressing the 48 mannequins in authentic military uniforms.
Kolakowski said he consulted a stack of uniform books he keeps close to ensure the uniforms are correct to the simplest detail.
"The mannequins, in some cases, are larger than the uniforms," Kolakowski said. "We have to get the mannequins to fit the uniforms, not the other way around."
Soldiers stationed at Fort Benning posed for the mannequins. Read about that experience in next week's The Bayonet.
For more information, visit Fort Benning's new museum Web site, www.benning.army.mil/museum, which goes online June 12.
Social Sharing