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Stories of veteran service and sacrifice straight from the people driving today’s most important veterans causes and veterans organizations around the world. The show shines a spotlight on their inspiring projects making a real difference for veterans and their families, and along the way we'll hear the stories that drive them to do their best every day as they work to support veterans and their memory.
00:00:06:03 - 00:00:25:18
Speaker 1
Hey, it’s Matthew Cudmore welcome the Story Behind the Stone, a show where we talk service and sacrifice, connecting you with the individuals, changing the way the world remembers veterans and military history. Born into a marine family and retiring in 2020 after 40 years of continuous service, Major General James W. Lukeman has witnessed the Marine Corps story from every possible vantage point.
00:00:25:21 - 00:00:45:05
Speaker 1
Now, as president and CEO of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, he's the guardian of that very history, overseeing the preservation of stories that define the character of the US Marine Corps. Stay with us as we discuss why silence is the greatest threat to heritage, and what it means to engage with the next generation as we approach America's 250th anniversary.
00:00:45:06 - 00:00:47:01
Speaker 1
Major General Lukeman, welcome to the show.
00:00:47:02 - 00:00:48:15
Speaker 2
Thank you. Matthew, it's great to be here.
00:00:48:16 - 00:00:53:23
Speaker 1
Let's dive right in. Growing up in a marine Corps family, what did you feel when you first put on the uniform?
00:00:54:00 - 00:01:08:20
Speaker 2
You're right. I did grow up as a marine. My dad was a marine, and he was still on active duty when I was commissioned. So I've always been a marine. And so when I first was commissioned, I was very proud, obviously, but it was never I was never always going to be a marine. That wasn't always the plan.
00:01:08:21 - 00:01:24:23
Speaker 2
It wasn't like that was destiny. I wanted a scholarship for college, and I got one through the Marine Corps ROTC program, went to college, and I figured that four years in the Marine Corps would do me some good. I needed some discipline, so that would be a good thing. As it was, I liked it and decided to stay and and then never left the Marine Corps.
00:01:24:23 - 00:01:35:04
Speaker 2
So I was really proud to to be able to come. And I think because my father had been a marine, I felt very good about that, that service. I don't think I could have gone into any other service than the Marine Corps.
00:01:35:05 - 00:01:37:08
Speaker 1
What do you think he was feeling when you put on the uniform?
00:01:37:09 - 00:01:50:22
Speaker 2
Oh, he was very proud. It was interesting. When I got the scholarship for college, he thanked me. So you didn't have to pay for that now, you know. And that was great. I was never, like, a done deal that I was going to stay in the Marine Corps forever, you know? And he never pressured one way or another.
00:01:50:23 - 00:01:55:02
Speaker 2
He just supported everything that I was doing. So I know he was very proud.
00:01:55:03 - 00:02:08:02
Speaker 1
Looking back, you were born in Beaufort, South Carolina, which is not far from the US Marine Corps Air Station, Merritt Field, which is not far from the Buford National Cemetery. What do you feel when you pass by? You enter a national cemetery like Beaufort?
00:02:08:03 - 00:02:27:11
Speaker 2
I've been to the Beaufort National Cemetery before. A friend of mine has either. I'm not sure what level of grandparent who he found was buried at the Beaufort Cemetery, and it's a reminder of the past and the legacy that has been passed on to those of us who were uniformed today or recently. So Parris Island is right there in Beaufort.
00:02:27:11 - 00:02:45:18
Speaker 2
So Parris Island is one of the recruit depots for the Marine Corps. And so a lot of Marines say they were born at Parris Island. So I was actually born at Parris Island because my father was stationed there when I was when I was born. And so it starts there as a marine and then continues on through today, but passing by any national cemetery.
00:02:45:18 - 00:03:00:08
Speaker 2
And I've seen some overseas to as well. Matthew, the American Battle Monuments Commission maintains beautiful cemeteries around the world. Get such a feeling of reverence and and honor when you are amongst those that have sacrificed for their country, wherever that is.
00:03:00:09 - 00:03:06:06
Speaker 1
Reflecting on your four decades of service for decades wearing the uniform. Tell us a little bit about what makes a marine a marine?
00:03:06:07 - 00:03:31:23
Speaker 2
Yeah, Marines are a little different breed, right. And it's really all about earning the title. It has to do with that culture and tradition and history of the Marine Corps. I think the Marine Corps tries very, very hard from the first time you show up at either Parris Island or San Diego at boot camp, or for officers at Quantico to make you understand that you have joined an organization that has been around for 250 years now that is bigger than you.
00:03:32:00 - 00:03:49:21
Speaker 2
What you thought may have been sufficient for your own personal standards is not that you have now joined an organization that has never failed at anything in the history of the Marine Corps, and you're not about to be the first. And if you're fortunate enough to earn the title and get through this training, then you will we will have earned the title marine.
00:03:50:02 - 00:04:13:13
Speaker 2
And so there's a certain amount of pride. And they they teach you that by talking about those past heroes, those past battles. And you're convinced that, boy, these people are amazing. They've overcome such an incredible odds at places like Iwo Jima are chosen or Way City or Fallujah or any of those places that we talk to them. So Marine Corps really emphasizes where we have come from as a service.
00:04:13:13 - 00:04:24:00
Speaker 2
And every marine understands that whether you serve four years or 40 years, the change is forever. The transformation is real. They've tattooed that anchor on your heart, and you're going to be a marine for life.
00:04:24:01 - 00:04:28:13
Speaker 1
When you think of a marine who comes to mind right away and what's their story?
00:04:28:14 - 00:04:50:14
Speaker 2
Obviously my father comes to mind. Other leaders that I have served with and looked up to throughout the years because have been very, very fortunate to have worked with some great officers and then also your peers that you serve with that you grow up with in the Marine Corps obviously mean a lot to you, but I've asked the same question of of people who are not moraines.
00:04:50:17 - 00:05:09:18
Speaker 2
What do you picture in your mind when you think Marine Corps, you picture somebody in combat fatigues in the camouflage uniform, or do you picture the dress blues of somebody at eighth and I? Or perhaps there's a role where you see a marine in action doing something, and all those things really are the Marine Corps. They really are.
00:05:09:19 - 00:05:27:23
Speaker 2
The Marine Corps is just different as the country is, but they've all come together to become part of this long line of Marines that, like I said, has gone on for now, 250 years. So I don't know if that answered the question, but but when I think about Marines, there are some really some strong role models that I have worked with that mean a lot to me.
00:05:28:00 - 00:05:38:03
Speaker 1
The museum sits on 250 acres. Walk us through a little bit about what story are you trying to tell with the memorials and the initial experience for visitors at the campus?
00:05:38:03 - 00:05:59:03
Speaker 2
The National Museum of the Marine Corps, which is located just about 45 minute drive south of Washington, D.C., just outside of Quantico Marine Corps Base in Northern Virginia. It opened 20 years ago. Now she'll be 20 this November 10th, which is the Marine Corps birthday. She opened on November 10th, 2006, and so open every day. Free admission, free parking and open 9 to 5 every day.
00:05:59:03 - 00:06:24:08
Speaker 2
What we have tried to create here is an experience for a variety of different groups. So the museum serves different people different way. It's a great place to visit for everybody. But for veterans to come in here, we want every veteran to see their service honored in a way that makes them proud. And so they'll see that here in the museum, which covers 250 years of American history through the eyes of Marines inside the museum.
00:06:24:08 - 00:06:46:00
Speaker 2
But then on the Semper Fidelis Memorial Park, there's almost two miles worth of trail that you can walk. It's paved, and there are monuments along the way monuments to battles, monuments to units, monuments and units and groups that have served together. And you can walk past these and see the sacrifice they are. Many of them are inscribed with the names of Marines that were killed as part of that organization.
00:06:46:00 - 00:07:05:23
Speaker 2
And it's beautiful. It's a beautiful setting. There's actually a chapel out there in the park, along the pathway where people can have weddings or retirements or promotions. So the campus here and the museum is a place for really all phases of, of Marine Corps from people get commissioned here, they get promoted here, they get awarded here, they get retired.
00:07:05:23 - 00:07:27:12
Speaker 2
We have funerals. We have the whole life cycle of a marine right here in the campus at the Marine Corps Heritage Center. For folks who haven't been in the Marine Corps, it's an education. And every museum really serves to do that, to educate the public about what it means to be a marine. And they've done a great job of having immersive exhibits here in this museum.
00:07:27:14 - 00:07:36:04
Speaker 2
To be able to have visitors experience what it's like to be a marine a bit, and so they go away having a much better understanding than they did when they came in.
00:07:36:05 - 00:07:42:23
Speaker 1
For folks who haven't put on the uniform, what do you wish the average American knew about service members who put up their hand to serve their country?
00:07:43:00 - 00:08:03:22
Speaker 2
Yeah, it's it's one of the things we talk about a lot in this country now, Matthew, is that so few Americans serve today that many Americans, it doesn't affect them personally. The fact that we have wars and and people go off to fight. Many Americans think that's sometimes they think that's somebody else's job to do that. Not not mine.
00:08:03:23 - 00:08:27:11
Speaker 2
You know, somebody else is going to go do that. And so what we hope people who come here to the museum understand a bit about the sacrifice, the reason that that Marines step forward to become a marine. Why did I take the challenge to become a marine? The first. One of the first galleries in the museum is called Making Marines, and it talks about boot camp and what Marines go through at boot camp to earn the title.
00:08:27:11 - 00:08:49:18
Speaker 2
And you can step into a booth and be yelled at by the drill instructors to try to get a feel for for what it must be like. And you can see video of drill instructors correcting recruits recruit training. But then you also see the graduation and the pride that the parents feel when their sons and daughters walk across the parade deck at the end of recruit training.
00:08:49:18 - 00:09:19:07
Speaker 2
And they look so good, and they're so proud of what they've become as Marines to serve the country. So it's a very moving experience just to get a sense of that. So we hope that people come away with not only understanding, you know, what the Marine Corps has done for 250 years, but what Marines stand for. Inside the main Leatherneck Gallery of the museum, there are quotes inscribed around the on the marble around the walls of the museum, and most of the quotes are not Marines.
00:09:19:08 - 00:09:40:00
Speaker 2
There are other people talking about Marines, but they all talk about the character and the courage and the selfless service and sacrifice of Marines. And it's those values, those character traits that we hope people understand that that's really what our service members stand for, very righteous values that service members embody.
00:09:40:01 - 00:09:50:17
Speaker 1
You said the word sacrifice earlier. For a lot of folks, it can be abstract, a monument, a flag or a person. Does that word have a name, a face, a hometown attached to it for you.
00:09:50:18 - 00:10:07:18
Speaker 2
Is one marine. I remember I was visiting up in Walter Reed, and he had lost both legs by stepping on an IED in Afghanistan, and he was one of the division Marines. So so I'm visiting him up in and in Walter Reed, and he's recovering at this point. And he was there with his wife and he's working out.
00:10:07:18 - 00:10:27:19
Speaker 2
And he says, I can do, you know, ten more pull ups now because I'm 60 pounds lighter, you know, because he's because he's missing part of his leg. And so later on, he was competing down here at Quantico in the Warrior Games for, you know, Marines who have been injured, wounded Warrior Regiment. And I was looking for him that day in a wheelchair.
00:10:27:19 - 00:10:45:00
Speaker 2
And of course, he wasn't in a wheelchair. He was walking on his prosthetic legs when he see me. So those kind of stories to that are very overcoming the adversity. And sure, they sacrificed a lot for their country, but they're still very strong and very positive about life.
00:10:45:01 - 00:10:50:06
Speaker 1
Did you ever keep a diary, a war diary, writing you postcards home? What would you have written on those pages?
00:10:50:06 - 00:11:07:19
Speaker 2
It is interesting. I have and they change over time, obviously, because, you know, I did serve for 40 years. So I have everything from the letters I wrote from deployment to my wife when I was a lieutenant in a captain, where you have to number them because the mail comes in batches, and if you want them to read the letters in order, they have to be numbered.
00:11:07:19 - 00:11:32:19
Speaker 2
So my wife would send me letters. I would send her letters. She had kept the emails that I sent from Iraq in 2003 when we were deployed there. And again, this is old school email, you know, blue screen, white letters on there and dial up modems. But she has kept those and a lot of those. What I tried to do when I, when I sent those kind of letters home was talk about the countryside and the people, not about the battles and the war.
00:11:32:19 - 00:11:58:02
Speaker 2
It's about the country that you're seeing and the people that are there, and you're experiencing these places in a new way. And every time I've been to a country like Iraq or Africa or someplace where they're operating and fighting the local people, they seem they're they're happy. They're they're doing their job, they're living their life. And you're hopeful that what you can create for them as a better situation, it's important what they're doing.
00:11:58:02 - 00:12:02:23
Speaker 2
And you feel that when you're there that the locals, that's who you're fighting for there is to give them a better life.
00:12:03:00 - 00:12:14:05
Speaker 1
You retired from the Marine Corps six years ago. Coming up on six years, you're now leading the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation. How do you describe your current mission at the Foundation, to your family and to the individuals that you served with?
00:12:14:05 - 00:12:30:11
Speaker 2
So I'm very fortunate to have been able to retire from the Marine Corps and come to work for the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, made it a lot easier for me to retire for once. You know, when you separate from the Marine Corps, that can be traumatic for some folks because that's your whole life. It had been in the Marine Corps.
00:12:30:11 - 00:12:49:05
Speaker 2
But but for me to be able to come on to the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation has been terrific, because every day is like a family reunion here at the museum. So our offices are actually in the museum. And the mission of the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation is to preserve and share the history, tradition, culture of the Marine Corps and educate all Americans in its virtues.
00:12:49:05 - 00:13:11:02
Speaker 2
So it's a it's a terrific mission to be able to preserve and share the Marine Corps story that I've been a part of my whole life. To be able to do that here in the museum, and also to take it beyond the walls of the museum to the American people and try to share with them why I love the Marine Corps and hopefully understand what the Marine Corps stands for.
00:13:11:03 - 00:13:14:18
Speaker 1
I can hear it in your voice. It's more than just a building. What does it represent to you?
00:13:14:18 - 00:13:42:17
Speaker 2
The museum's like I said, it's terrific. It's 250 years of American history and veterans that come here. One of the things the marine the museum is, is really good for is retelling stories. So oftentimes we'll have better ins come in here and and talk about their service with their family members who've never heard it before. We had one marine sergeant in Vietnam who lived in California, and his family wanted to give him a trip to the museum as a gift.
00:13:42:21 - 00:14:02:06
Speaker 2
He's getting older, and he came a couple of years ago. And so he came with his wife, his two daughters, their husbands and their children and his grandchildren. And the family had arranged for a friend of his who he had served with in to come down to the museum as a surprise and link up with him in the park.
00:14:02:06 - 00:14:20:22
Speaker 2
So. So we're out in the park with him and his family, and this other marine walks up and they and he recognizes him right away. And immediately there's tears and and hugs and all that kind of stuff. But then for the rest of the day, the two of them walk through the museum telling stories and with the whole family in tow.
00:14:21:00 - 00:14:38:21
Speaker 2
And they've never really heard these stories before. But this is why the museum is what it is. It allows veterans to talk through their stories, and for others to hear that sometimes for the first time and understand it. So it's perfect for that. We have a lot of reunions here, a lot of reunions here at the museum.
00:14:38:22 - 00:14:47:02
Speaker 1
Talking about taking the museum outside the walls. You did a tour in 2025. Tell us about what you heard from folks that you were sharing these stories with.
00:14:47:03 - 00:15:04:21
Speaker 2
Yeah. So it was the 250th birthday of the Marine Corps in 2025. So 1775 Marine Corps was born in a bar in Philadelphia. So as part of our foundation's mission, we decided to use that anniversary as a way to take the message to the American people. So when we started this, we're like, well, who are we trying to reach?
00:15:04:23 - 00:15:23:17
Speaker 2
I said, well, 330 million Americans, you know, I'd like to do that. How can we do that? So we created a campaign with a lot of different aspects to it that the foundation did that with the help of the Marine Corps. We were able to go around the country spreading the word. So I spent a lot of time on the road, and we had some nationwide things.
00:15:23:17 - 00:15:43:14
Speaker 2
We enlisted a lot of help. One of the initiatives we did was to ask every governor of every state to have a birthday ceremony on the Marine Corps birthday, and they all said yes. And we actually had a group called the American Bakers Association that volunteered to have cakes made for this. And so that was one of the things that we did.
00:15:43:15 - 00:16:04:18
Speaker 2
But really it was about recognizing across the country, people who had been in the Marine Corps for two or 3 or 4, 20 years had gotten out and done things in their communities across the country. So we said, well, let's identify a half dozen or so Marines like this from every state in the Union, and we'll highlight them locally with press releases.
00:16:04:18 - 00:16:21:04
Speaker 2
And we called it Marines across America. And so we were able to highlight, you know, your neighbor who you may or may not know had been a marine. It's kind of hard not to know sometimes because Marines kind of where that on their sleeve a lot, either a bumper sticker on a car or a flag in the front yard or a tattoo or something.
00:16:21:04 - 00:16:41:20
Speaker 2
But to highlight them across the country to to show Americans what the Marines Marines have done, even after they've taken off the uniform in their communities across the country. So it was a year long celebration. We had art shows, traveling. I could go on and on. We did some really fantastic things around the country just to bring attention to the to the Marine Corps values.
00:16:41:20 - 00:16:50:19
Speaker 1
I'm really curious about those veterans which may not have been previously recognized. Did you speak with any of them? What were they saying? You know, to feel celebrated by their own communities like that?
00:16:50:20 - 00:17:00:08
Speaker 2
Well, a surprised that somebody would do that, right? Because they feel like, you know, I've just done these things because this is what I do. I don't expect any recognition for it.
00:17:00:09 - 00:17:08:22
Speaker 1
When you take, you know, a loved one, someone you served with to the museum, is there a place that you take them first, like an exhibit, a monument, memorial?
00:17:08:22 - 00:17:37:14
Speaker 2
So it depends on the age I have my grandchildren. I take my grandchildren to my oldest grandson's 12, so he's old enough to understand the younger ones? Not so much. But I've been through with them. And he wanted to ask questions about certain wars. He's very interested in war War one or War two or something like that. So one of the places that we take, everybody I would take my family to and I have taken my family to, we have in our gallery of World War two, we have the flag that was raised on, not Suribachi on Iwo Jima.
00:17:37:17 - 00:18:00:22
Speaker 2
And that's the flag that's in the famous photograph of Rosenthal took, which turned into the Marine Memorial in Arlington, which is a giant statue of six Marines raising a flag. And the whole story behind that flag. And that photograph is really pretty meaningful, so that you can spend a lot of time with that. So the flag is on display and the photograph that Joe Rosenthal took.
00:18:00:22 - 00:18:20:12
Speaker 2
But the reason it's important is because at that point, we're more to have been going on for almost four years. It wasn't sure we were going to win, and we'd been fighting for a long time. And so when this photograph of the Marines raising the flag on on Mount Suribachi hits every newspaper in the country, because it's just a very moving photograph.
00:18:20:12 - 00:18:38:04
Speaker 2
It is a symbol of victory, is what it is. And the Marines became associated with that symbol of victory through that photograph. And so that symbol means so much to the Marine Corps and to the Marines and to the country at the time. It's a pretty important artifact that we have here in the museum. One of the highlights to come see.
00:18:38:05 - 00:18:42:16
Speaker 1
Tell us about how you are engaging with younger generations with this history at the museum.
00:18:42:16 - 00:18:59:00
Speaker 2
We have a lot of young student groups here. We have an education department here in the museum. Actually, we have teachers from the two counties that border the museum, Prince William County and Stafford County. We've made arrangements with the county for the teachers to work in the museum full time. So we pay their salary and benefits to the county.
00:18:59:00 - 00:19:21:20
Speaker 2
And the teachers work here full time in the museum to support education here in the museum, but also to be able to take trunks of artifacts and things to the schools in the county to do classes there. So they work both here and in the schools across the county. But we have lots of student groups today. There was about 300, probably look like elementary school kids today.
00:19:21:20 - 00:19:44:00
Speaker 2
They were running around the museum because it's great to have them in here. So the education part for the children is really terrific. And the education department that works here in the museum has created everything from a worksheet to a scavenger hunt to actual lesson plans, depending on the level of engagement of the students. But it's most of this stuff, the history that they learn here.
00:19:44:00 - 00:20:11:11
Speaker 2
It's a better way than just trying to read a book you can experience a little bit and go, oh, we have, we have in the Korean War, one of the other my favorite exhibits in the Korean War exhibit, you go into a room and it's purposefully much colder than the rest of the museum. It has glass doors on it, and we keep the temperature down and it's dark and you're in the snow with the Marines coming out of the Towson Reservoir, and there's a whole bit that goes through there while you're there, a storyline where you hear people talking and what they're thinking.
00:20:11:11 - 00:20:32:11
Speaker 2
But in the meantime, you're freezing because it's literally it's like, you know, in the 50s, 60 degrees inside this room on purpose to give you the feel of it. And people will always remember it when they leave. They remember that exhibit. There's another one where you walk through a helicopter and you come out of the back of the helicopter onto Hill 881 South and Vietnam, and you're in, you're there.
00:20:32:11 - 00:20:51:18
Speaker 2
And the Vietnam veterans are very moved by that. It's the right color. Dirt. It looks the same. The equipment is legitimate. Everything looks the way it was for them. And they're like, whoa, it just took me right back. We now have that all the way through Iraq and Afghanistan, exhibits that will put you back where you were for those battles.
00:20:51:18 - 00:21:04:06
Speaker 1
For those veterans that are visiting folks with military history and their family. Is the foundation doing anything to help them capture and preserve those stories or submitting archival content or artifacts to the museum.
00:21:04:09 - 00:21:27:09
Speaker 2
Certainly we encourage folks to be able to contribute. Lots of people don't know what to do with their their things, you know, especially when they're older and your grandfather's passing away or your father passes away and you have his his there things there is a way to contribute artifacts to the museum. We won't collect everybody's stuff because we've got a lot of stuff, but some things are important for us to keep.
00:21:27:09 - 00:21:53:17
Speaker 2
So. So we encourage people to help us tell the story that way by contributing artifacts or equipment they might have. The other part about capturing stories of Marines here. That's one of the initiatives we'd like to do more of. I always want to record the conversations that I hear, and we've done that with some veterans. We have. The Association of America still comes to the museum every year and usually brings 9 or 10 Iwo Jima veterans here with them.
00:21:53:17 - 00:22:24:22
Speaker 2
There were still a lot, which is pretty amazing. The Chosen Few comes with Korean War veterans. We have honor. Flights always come here to the museum. And so we have done some one on one recorded interviews with these veterans just to to get their story. One example, we, the museum collected a tank that had served on Iwo Jima and through archival research, determined that a gentleman who lived in Indiana had driven this tank in Iwo Jima.
00:22:24:23 - 00:22:45:09
Speaker 2
He's still alive, 101 years old. We helped the family fly him here to the museum, reunite him with his tank. And that was a local news story where everybody recorded him talking about his tank. And it's his tank, you know, one of the ones because he had several blown out from under. But it was one of the ones that he drove on Iwo Jima at the time.
00:22:45:09 - 00:22:53:02
Speaker 2
And he survived and the tank survived. We were able to reunite him here at the museum. So it's those kind of stories and being able to capture that for for all eternity.
00:22:53:03 - 00:22:58:09
Speaker 1
Looking towards America's 250, what are you looking for to what are the things on your calendar, on your horizon?
00:22:58:10 - 00:23:19:06
Speaker 2
You have a great summer lineup here at the museum for the two 50th and so much of what the country America will be proud of for their 250th birthday is what the Marine Corps has been proud of. Rates 250 last year, and for the whole time we've been here. But there's always a summer lineup at the museum. We have outdoor concerts in front of the museum in the evenings.
00:23:19:06 - 00:23:43:12
Speaker 2
On Thursday nights, they're free and open to the public. You just bring a lawn chair and set it up and the concert will have we'll have the president's own band here. We'll have the Commandant's own from a bugle corps. We'll have an army band. We have a couple of Navy bands come down one night on July 2nd. So right before the 4th of July weekend, we'll have the drum and bugle corps of the Marine Corps and the fife and drum corps of the Army bands here together to perform.
00:23:43:12 - 00:23:55:12
Speaker 2
So I don't know if it's going to be a battle of the bands, but that's on July 2nd here, just out front of the museum. And then there'll be a lot of special activities. One of the things we like people to do is we'll give them a little American flag, and they can go place it wherever they'd like.
00:23:55:13 - 00:24:12:18
Speaker 2
In Semper Fidelis Park, there's commemorative bricks, benches, memorials, remembrances of people out there in the park, and a lot of folks who go out and place a flag out there in the park. So we'll do that to over the 4th of July weekend here at the museum. But it's a whole summer worth of activities here. It's just a fun place to be.
00:24:12:18 - 00:24:37:05
Speaker 2
And we've got a classic car show on June 27th in the parking lot. So it's, you know, there's a lot to do here. So our website, the place to find this stuff is at the website. Really. So marine heritage or if you go there it's got not just the activities that we're doing but all about the museum. And you can you can learn all about there's a virtual tour, so you can actually take a tour of the museum virtually as part of that website.
00:24:37:05 - 00:24:39:17
Speaker 2
So that's the place to go if you want to know what we're doing this summer.
00:24:39:17 - 00:24:45:13
Speaker 1
For listeners that want to support the Foundation's mission, are there any volunteer or donor opportunities that are coming up?
00:24:45:14 - 00:25:04:01
Speaker 2
Yeah, absolutely. So we are a nonprofit. So the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation, which is at that website, Marine Heritage, we are a nonprofit. So the guys before me, I've only been here six years, but the people before me and the organization here was able to raise an incredible amount of money to build this beautiful museum with private donations.
00:25:04:02 - 00:25:26:15
Speaker 2
Hundreds of thousands of Marines and patriotic Americans contributed to this place, and that's really what keeps it going still today is that that support. So so you can donate that way, but you can also come and participate. We have a huge docent crew of volunteers that go through classes, learn about all the artifacts in the museum, and then then volunteer here several hours a day during the week.
00:25:26:18 - 00:25:34:12
Speaker 2
So there's lots of opportunities to support that way. Just look at marine heritage. There's a button on there that says, how do I support the museum? And you can take a look at that.
00:25:34:13 - 00:25:44:09
Speaker 1
Major General Lukeman, I want to thank you so much for coming on the show today, sharing more about the foundation and about what's connecting you and motivating you to that mission. It's been such a pleasure to chat with.
00:25:44:09 - 00:26:00:11
Speaker 2
You, Matthew. Thank you for what you're doing to preserve and share these veterans stories forever. It's so important to all of us that you do this. So thank you for having me and thanks for doing what you do.
00:26:00:13 - 00:26:13:13
Speaker 1
Thanks so much for tuning in. Story. Behind the Stone is available on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, and on the Rise Across America Radio Network on iHeartRadio. Audacity and tune in to search for wreath.
00:26:13:15 - 00:26:14:16
Speaker 1
Thank you for tuning in.