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Reception Previews 9/11 Era Museum Gallery

(Dec. 20, 2011) Representatives of about 40 companies that have donated funds for the National Guard Memorial Museum’s 9/11 Era Gallery got an early look last week at artifacts to be included in the gallery and renderings of the how the gallery will appear.

The reception at the National Guard Memorial, the NGAUS headquarters in Washington, D.C., also included a look at the introductory video that will give visitors to the museum a brief history of the Guard’s 375 years and its many missions. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., made the short trip from Capitol Hill to the reception.

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Retired Maj. Gen. Gus L. Hargett Jr., the NGAUS president, thanked the donors and told them their generosity and support helps NGAUS and the National Guard Educational Foundation complete one of its main missions.
“What we do here is important when we work the Hill,” he said. “But what we do that is more important is tell the Guard’s story.”

The gallery is set to open in the spring. It will focus on the Guard’s role since events of 9/11.

Artifacts on display during the reception included pieces of steel from the World Trade Center, the uniform of a fallen Indiana Guardsmen from the war on terrorism, a beekeeper’s helmet used in Afghanistan by a member of an Agriculture Development Team and more.

Additional items have been collected, but Cathleen Pearl, the deputy director of NGEF, said more are always welcome.

Also speaking at the reception were Gen. Craig R. McKinley, the chief of the National Guard Bureau; Lonny Schwartz of Designminds, the company designing the gallery; and Marshall Carlson, the president of Hendrick Motorsports, the largest contributor to the effort.

Learn how you can contribute at www.ngef.org/the911eragallery.