US Army Quartermaster Museum

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(1) Museum: US Army Quartermaster Museum

(2) Street Address: 1201 22nd Street, Fort Lee, VA 23801

(3) E-mail address: [email protected]

(4) Telephone: (804) 734-4203

(5) Website: http://www.qmmuseum.lee.army.mil

(6) Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/QuartermasterMuseum

 

I'm quite fortunate to work right across the street from the Army Quartermaster Museum. Unfortunately I simply don't have the time to visit as often as I'd like to.

 

The museum is a militaria collectors dream and well worth the trip. It has one of the US Army's largest collections of DUI and SSIs, much of which is on public display. One of the former missions of the Quartermaster Corps was Army Heraldry, so for many decades the Quartermaster Museum was one of The Institute of Heraldry's primary repositories of insignia. On public display is the collection of long time ASMIC member COL Richard T. Bull who donated his entire 6,300 piece DUI collection to the museum. COL Bull's DUIs are in a series of drawers that pull out of the wall for viewing. There is also a collection of cloth insignia on display in a simular manner, however this display is dominated with chevrons used throughout the Army's history.

 

The museum's collection contains standard samples and "blue prints" for thousands of items of clothing and equipment procured by the Quartermaster Department and Quartermaster Corps since the Civil War.

 

If it's flags you are interested the museum has one of the largest collections of presidential flags, several of which are on public display. It also had the first 50 star flag on display.

 

For the uniform collector there is a uniform gallery that charts the evolution of several types of uniforms including the Ike Jacket and Cammo clothing.

 

For military history buffs the museum's crown jewels are Grant's Civil War Saddle, Patton's Jeep and Eisenhower's Sleeping Van used on the eve of D-day and in France and Germany after the invasion.

 

Since the Quartermaster Corps has provided just about everything a Soldier has worn, carried or eaten there is something for everyone at the Quartermaster Museum.

 

If you like what you see here please friend the museum on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/QuartermasterMuseum

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Interested in some obscure bit of mess hall crockery, WWII K-Rations, an original WWII field bakery oven or coffee roaster? If so the QM Museum's Subsistence Gallery is the place for you.

 

Display of plates, cups and other mess hall crockery:

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Do you want to see a real issued Medal of Honor up close without fear of being hounded by law enforcement? If so the QM Museum has on display the Medal of Honor awarded to WWII Quartermaster Private George Watson that was presented to the museum in 1997 after no living relative of Watson could be located. To read more about Private Watson and his Medal of Honor see: http://www.qmfound.com/watson.htm

 

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Do you want to see a real K-Ration box up close after seeing so many reproductions over the years, if so the QM Museum is the place for you: http://www.qmfound.com/army_subsistence_history.htm

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Is jumping out of perfectly good airplanes more of your cup of tea? Then check out the Aerial Delivery gallery and learn about the men and women who pack you parachutes and drop your vehicles and supplies: http://www.qmfound.com/aerial_delivery.htm

 

Fully rigged low cost/low altitude resupply pallet of the type currently dropped in Afghanistan on display in the QM Museum:

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Are you a horse or dog lover? The QM Corps procured hundreds of thousands of horses and mules for the Army from the Civil War to World War II. Based on this experience the QM Remount Depots were selected as the training locations for thousands of War Dogs during WWII, many of which were donated by the public. At the end of the war the QM Corps made every effort to return donated dogs to their original owners and provided the dog with a discharge document:

http://www.qmfound.com/remount1.htm

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Since the Civil War the QM Corps has recovered and buried the dead with reverence and honor. The QM Corps established Arlington National Cemetery as well as the National Cemetery system: http://www.qmfound.com/mortuary-affairs.htm

 

[Lucky 7th Armored]

Wow i will HAVE to visit this museum! Thank you for posting! The MOH story was very touching.. The picture with the skull is something else, i never knew the quartermasters did so much.

 

Haydn

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I need to go and see the museum myself, it's practically in my back yard and I've never been.

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It's an amazing place. Here is the page on Army Heraldry that I put together several years ago for the QM Museum on the museum foundation's website:

 

http://www.qmfound.com/army_heraldry.htm

 

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I stopped by the QM Museum today a took a couple of quick cell phone photos of the COL Bull DUI collection:

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2

[General Apathy]

I stopped by the QM Museum today a took a couple of quick cell phone photos of the COL Bull DUI collection:

 

 

Hi Kevin, I have been fortunate enough to visit the museum several times, and always found it of great interest each time as the displays had been changed around a little and so it's never the same each visit always something new.

 

I have seen the outstanding Col Bull DIU collection and it's quite something. :thumbsup:

 

you are quite lucky of you can simply nip over there from time to time.

 

a very funny thing happened to me one day in the museum.

 

When I had a store in Bournemouth England I had a few visits from an American who pre Viet-nam had served in the USAF in the UK where he had happened to meet and marry a woman who's family lived in Bournemouth. He was rotated to the states with his new bride and almost immediately shipped to Viet-Nam as a gun operator in AC-47's known as ' Puff, the magic dragon gunships http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_AC-47_Spooky

 

So maybe once a year Franz and his wife would visit Bournemouth and we would meet up. Well one year I made a trip to the states and the quartermaster museum was on my list of places to call in at while I was over there. So the particular morning of my visit I was in the museum lobby waiting for a friend who is one of the curators there to come out to meet with me when across the lobby I spot Franz also stood there.

 

I crept around the back of Franz and tapped him on the shoulder and he just couldn't believe it when he saw me also at the museum, he had driven over from Arkansas and I had flown over from the UK and we were both in the lobby at that same moment. Given a few minutes either way and we might have missed one another and never known that we were both there on the same day.

 

ken

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Ken - Thanks for your kind words about the Quartermaster Museum and your story about the chance meeting with Franz.

[gwb123]

Good stuff... keep it coming... I have photos of some of their old uniform exhibits... if I find them, I will put them in a separate thread...

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Thanks Gil. To get a sense of the QM Musuem there are about 75 recent photos of it's exhibits on Yelp at:

 

http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/BhCKMV5O2zh...6lK0fLcsxUyznow

[SARGE]

I have been to this museum and it is well worth the visit. There are also some great outdoor exhibits of things like landing craft, military railway cars, and airplanes.

[Johan Willaert]

Thanks Gil. To get a sense of the QM Musuem there are about 75 recent photos of it's exhibits on Yelp at:

 

http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/BhCKMV5O2zh...6lK0fLcsxUyznow

 

Thanks for the link....

 

I last visited the museum in the summer of 2001 when the MVPA held their annual convention there and I've always wondered about Patton's Jeep on display there...

 

Is it the real one???

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I have been to this museum and it is well worth the visit. There are also some great outdoor exhibits of things like landing craft, military railway cars, and airplanes.

 

I believe you are thinking of the Transportation Musuem at Fort Eustis, which is about 1 1/2 hours from us and another fine museum. The only outdoor items at Fort Lee are the Armored vehicles from the Ordnance Museum collection that were brought here when the Ordnance School moved from Aberdeen. Since the OD School does not have a museum building here yet the vehicles are scattered around post and several are at traffic circles.

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Thanks for the link....

 

I last visited the museum in the summer of 2001 when the MVPA held their annual convention there and I've always wondered about Patton's Jeep on display there...

 

Is it the real one???

 

Yes, Like Eisenhower's van it was turned into the Quartermaster Corps at the end of WWII and eventually found it's way to the musuem. Patton's driver visited the museum many years ago and confirmed that it is indeed the original jeep Patton used in WWII.

[1944]

Excellent Info and Pictures there from the Q.M Museum and Thanks for Sharing all of it with us Very Intresting ! :thumbsup:

[jdamaso111]

great muesum went a couple times while i was training at ft lee

[gwb123]

Thanks Gil. To get a sense of the QM Musuem there are about 75 recent photos of it's exhibits on Yelp at:

 

http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/BhCKMV5O2zh...6lK0fLcsxUyznow

 

 

Wow! It has changed a lot since I was there. I remember it being mostly uniform exhibits, although I do remember Patton's jeep.

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Wow! It has changed a lot since I was there. I remember it being mostly uniform exhibits, although I do remember Patton's jeep.

 

Yes, Up to about 15 years ago the displays were focused on the collection which was heavy in uniforms and horse equipment. Over a period of a number of years the new museum director changed most of the galleries to better reflect the missions and functions of the Quartermaster Corps.

[LtRGFRANK]

Was there a few years back when I moved my son there for training. A really great Museum to see equipment. Robert