Sculptor Jim Gallucci’s work “The Gate” is built with steel salvaged from the World Trade Center, and it stands in front of the Special Operations Museum in Fayetteville NC as a remembrance of the victims of 9/11 and the sacrifices of those who were and still are engaged in the global war on terrorism.
The Airborne & Special Operations Museum focuses on the legends of those who jump into battle.
The impressive 5-story glass walled lobby sets the stage with 2 fully deployed parachutes: a WW II era T-5 round chute and a modern MC-4 square chute. You learn the story of Lieutenant Bill Ryder, leader of the Test Platoon, who on August 16th, 1940 became the first American soldier to jump.
You can walk through a section of a C-47, sit on crates in a WW II Army briefing hut, learn about gliders that dropped jeeps and bulldozers, see a famous UH-1 (Huey) helicopter from ‘Nam” days and a Desert Storm hide-site.
Another exhibit traces the development of the Special Forces, or “Green Berets“, from the summer of 1952 to Operation Enduring Freedom.
Admission is FREE to the museum, but there’s a charge for the movie or motion simulator.
100 Bragg Blvd, Fayetteville.
NC Exit 46
910-483-3003
http://www.asomf.org