Dentist on the move, 1968
Di An Base, Vietnam, Oct. 14, 1968: An 1st Infantry Division soldier opens wide for his dental treatment.
Di An Base, Vietnam, Oct. 14, 1968: An 1st Infantry Division soldier opens wide for his dental treatment.
Liberation Pavilion is the final permanent exhibition hall at the museum and explores the end of the war, the Holocaust, the immediate postwar years and the war’s continuing impact on lives today.
Long before Greenland’s shifting ice threatened sea level rise, it doomed one of the military’s most audacious Cold War projects.
Kimpo Air Base, South Korea, Aug. 26, 1956: Bags and bags of mail get unloaded off of a C-124 Globemaster.
A massive former military hangar that burned in Tustin, Calif., earlier in the week, closing schools over asbestos worries, reignited Saturday night.
Washington, D.C., Nov. 11, 2014: Thousands of fans, including service members, veterans and loved ones, gather on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., for the Concert for Valor, a mega-concert in honor of Veterans Day.
Kaiserslautern, Germany, Nov. 7, 2013: The 21st Theater Sustainment Command color guard marches off the Panzer Kaserne parade field for a Veterans Day Observance.
Hank Bolden was one of the group of all-Black soldiers sent into the government’s nuclear weapons experiment called Operation Teapot with no protection besides a helmet. Bolden said more than anything else, he would love to be remembered just for music.
Qayara Airfield West, Iraq, Nov. 10, 2016: Cpl. David Dennis reads about the significance of the passing of the cake from the oldest to the youngest Marine as part of the traditional Marine Corps birthday celebration, as Maj. Ryan Hunt cuts a slice of carrot cake.
Within 36 hours of a blaze that ate through a World War II-era blimp hangar at the shuttered Tustin Marine Corps Air Station, the city’s mayor was calling on the Navy to expedite tearing down and cleaning up the remains.
Karizonah, Afghanistan, April 10, 2012: Soldiers with the 1st Battalion, 501st Infantry Regiment prepare to return to base after a patrol through the village of Karizonah near Combat Outpost Sabari, Khost province.
As flames tore at the north hangar’s core at the former Marine Corps Air Station Tustin, not only did a piece of wartime history fall to ash but also a landmark significant to cinema.
Rhein-Main Airport, Germany, June 3, 1959: Actor Jack Lemmon (left) and director, writer and producer Billy Wilder chat as they wait to board a plane.
One of two former blimp hangars once used by the Marine Corps that have been landmarks in Southern California since World War II caught fire Tuesday, and firefighters battling the blaze were ordered to withdraw and wait for the structure to collapse.
The 7th Infantry Division’s show “Uncle Tom-a-san’s Hoochie” played to packed houses in Seoul Area Command Theater No. 2 and at Ascom City. The musical comedy centers around a night club (Uncle Tom-a-san’s) and tells the difficulties a group of actors run into trying to put a show together.
![Seoul, South Korea, September 1956: Pvt. Ed Campbell applies stage makeup to transform himself into "Mercedes Montecarlo," for his role in the 7th Infantry Division Special Services show "Uncle Tom-a-san's Hoochie." The show, using songs from top Broadway musicals, was written by Pvt. 1st Class Tom Wright of 7th Inf. Div. Special Services, and directed by Jack Badcock, Special Service director.
The so-called "soldier shows" - shows created by and for soldiers - had one main objective: keeping morale high through entertainment. With virtually all production jobs - acting, directing, writing, costume and stage design, etc. - done by servicemembers, the shows created camaraderie and boosted morale of both the participants and the servicemembers that came to see them. Often borrowing heavily from European cabaret, and vaudeville, the shows were a mix of comedy/skits, and song and dance routines, parts often performed by soldiers dressed and made up as women. Drag show elements have been an integral part of soldier shows throughout the decades in not just the U.S. military, but militaries around the world, as well as many fraternities and all-male clubs and organizations.
Read the 1956 article accompanying the above photograph and see additional images here.
Want to learn more about the history of drag performances in the U.S. military? Check out The National WWII Museum’s article on the subject here. [https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/drag-entertainment-world-war-ii]
In May this year the Department of Defense chose to enforce an existing policy on standards of conduct and ethics, banning the use of DOD funds, equipment and facilities for drag performances on military bases.](https://www.stripes.com/incoming/z9nsr4-ssp01504xx007.jpg/alternates/LANDSCAPE_560/SSP01504Xx007.jpg)
Seoul, South Korea, September 1956: Pvt. Ed Campbell applies stage makeup to transform himself into “Mercedes Montecarlo” for his role in the 7th Infantry Division Special Services show “Uncle Tom-a-san’s Hoochie.”
Camp Marmal, Afghanistan, Dec. 20, 2012: A Tiger attack helicopter readies for take-off Thursday at Camp Marmal, near Mazar-e Sharif.
The museum unveiled its new, $47 million, 33,610-square-foot Liberation Pavilion, which serves as the final piece of the Museum’s master plan — its “D-Day to Liberation: Road to Victory Celebration” campaign, which raised $400 million over the past two decades.
Roedelheim, Germany, June 17, 1950: Diner patrons eat under cheerful parasols on the outside terrace of the Zephyr Diner.