After a 10-month renovation, the First Division Museum at Cantigny Park is reopening to the public.
The museum now has an entirely new gallery called “Duty First.”
“Now we tell the whole 50 years since Vietnam,” First Division Museum Executive Director Paul Herbert said. “We talk about the Cold War and how it came to an end. We talk about Desert Storm. We talk about peacekeeping in the Balkans. We talk about the counter-insurgent campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. It’s right up to date.”
The “First in War” gallery was also redesigned and still covers the division from WWI through the Vietnam War.
Visitors now also have the chance to interact with the exhibits through new media and virtual reality simulations that allow you to join the division on a raid or in a Desert-Storm tank battle.
Before you leave the museum, an interactive exhibit asks your views on today’s military.
“We want your opinion on issues of contemporary military affairs,” Herbert said. “What you think, where you think we should be sending our soldiers, if at all and why we should be doing that.”
The museum reopens and marks the First Division’s 100-year anniversary Saturday August 26 with a celebration from 10 am to 8 pm.
Naperville News 17’s Beth Bria reports.
