Maryland Veterans Museum at Patriot Park

09/10/2026

MVM was thrilled to be recognized by the Thomas Stone Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution, for consistently flying the American Flag.

09/10/2026

This evening's public program: CAPT Jacob King, Commander of the US Navy Test Pilot School. Great program!!!

09/09/2026

09/09/2026

During World War II these four women received the Silver Star for their actions on February 10, 1944, during the Anzio campaign. A battle many see as a monumental mess for the allies.

US Army history of the campaign reveals that the initial attacks on Jan. 22, 1944, went very well. The problem was that the N**i resistance soon tightened up, and the next thing the Americans knew, they were in one hell of a fight.

What had been a promising beachhead instead became known as “Hell’s Half-Acre.” Troops were crammed in as the Germans carried out a counter attack that started on Feb. 3, 1944. According to an official U.S. Army history of the Nurse Corps in World War II, a week later, the 33rd Field Hospital was hit by a N**i artillery barrage. Two off-duty nurses were killed by one shell. Another hit a generator for a tent used as an operating room, starting a fire that threatened 42 patients.

While 1st Lt. Mary Roberts kept the operating rooms going, 2nd Lt.s Elaine Roe and Rita Rourke used flashlights to evacuate patients that could be moved. 2nd Lt. Ellen Ainsworth also assisted in that evacuation, but caught a shell fragment and died six days later. All four women received the Silver Star – in Ainsworth’s case, the award was posthumous.

09/09/2026

On this day, 17 years ago, September 8, 2009, 30-year-old Captain William D. Swenson entered the Ganjgal Valley in Kunar Province, Afghanistan.

He served as an embedded advisor to the Afghan National Border Police alongside American and Afghan troops.

As the forward column entered the village of Ganjgal for a scheduled meeting with local elders, over 60 well-positioned insurgents ambushed them from high ground.

The enemy opened fire with rocket-propelled gr***des, mortars, and machine guns from fortified positions on three sides.

Captain Swenson immediately returned fire and organized the defense with his Afghan partners while calling for suppressive artillery and air support.

Enemy fighters managed to flank the Coalition forces, cutting off the forward team and pinning down the unit under heavy crossfire.

Swenson repeatedly requested smoke rounds to conceal the movement of pinned-down soldiers and cover a withdrawal.

Surrounding forces demanded Swenson's surrender over open radio frequencies, but he ignored the transmissions and maintained his position.

Exposing himself to direct fire, Swenson moved 50 meters across open ground to treat a severely wounded teammate, Sergeant First Class Kenneth Westbrook.

While administering medical aid, enemy forces advanced within 50 meters, forcing Swenson to pause, pull a hand gr***de, and throw it to repel the insurgents.

He then helped carry Westbrook to a medical evacuation helicopter.

A helmet camera worn by the flight crew recorded Swenson kissing the wounded sergeant on the forehead before turning back into the firefight, marking the first time Medal of Honor actions were captured on video.

Knowing four team members were missing in the kill zone, Swenson drove an unarmored pickup truck directly back into enemy fire.

He maneuvered through heavy fire on two separate trips to search for survivors and mark enemy positions for air support.

Heavy enemy fire made helicopter landing zones unusable, forcing a ground recovery.

Swenson led a team back into the kill zone inside a Humvee, then stepped out of the vehicle under fire to recover three fallen Marines and one Navy corpsman.

His actions during six hours of continuous fighting disrupted the enemy assault and saved over a dozen lives.

Marine Corporal Dakota Meyer, who also earned the Medal of Honor for his actions in the same battle, later stated that he would not be alive without Swenson.

After the battle, Swenson openly criticized military commanders for repeatedly denying fire support requests during the engagement.

His Medal of Honor paperwork was subsequently lost in the Army email system for nearly two years before an investigation led to its recovery.

Swenson left active service in 2011, but President Barack Obama presented him with the Medal of Honor on October 15, 2013, making him the first living Army officer to receive the award since the Vietnam War.

Following the award, Swenson requested a return to active duty and was reinstated into the United States Army in 2014, later advancing to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.

09/09/2026

PVT Anselmo Arellano was Killed by the Japanese while trying to survive the sinking of the “Hell Ship” Shinyō Maru off of the Philippines on September 7, 1944, he was 27/28 years old…

Born in 1916 in New Mexico to Alejandro & Irene Arellano, Anselmo Arellano had two sisters and a brother.
Their father Alejandro served in the Army during the Spanish-American War, he passed away in 1943.

Anselmo enlisted in the Army and was serving in the 89th Quartermaster Battalion in the Philippines when war broke out in the Pacific in December 1941.
He survived the surrender at Bataan and the Bataan Daath March, and was held at the Cabanatuan POW Camp.

On September 7, 1944, Anselmo was on the “Hell Ship” Shinyō Maru with 749 other POWs when she was hit by two torpedoes fired by USS Paddle SS-263.
The guards opened fire on the POWs trying to escape the hold, soldiers on boats launched by the other Japanese vessels killed any POWs they found who had escaped the cargo hold and were in the water.

15 to 20 survivors were recaptured and taken aboard one of the Japanese torpedo boats where they were summarily executed.
Of the 750 Prisoners carried by Shinyō Maru, 668 were killed, some of the POWs who managed to survive the ordeal were later rescued by the submarine USS Narwhal.

PVT Anselmo Arellano was among those killed, his remains were not recovered.
He is Memorialized with the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines.

09/09/2026

Meet Labor Day Johnson, born September 3, 1894—the very first official federal Labor Day!

When his father skipped his union parade to be at the birth, he was hit with a $2 fine. His response? Naming his newborn son after the holiday to make it count.

Here is Labor Day's WWII draft card: https://f3.social/6yet:

09/09/2026

Veterans reclaim visibility and sisterhood in Tampa as contestants fund housing, careers and transitional support. | Read More. ⬇️

09/09/2026

On August 13, 1918, Opha Mae Johnson walked into a Marine Corps recruiting office in Washington D.C. and became the first woman ever to enlist in the United States Marine Corps. She was in her forties, already well into a career, and she signed her name anyway, opening a door that had never existed for women before that morning.

More than 300 women followed her into the Marine Corps Women's Reserve before World War I even ended, taking on clerical and administrative roles that freed up male Marines for the front. It was a small beginning by later standards, but every integration that came after, in World War II, in the decades since, in the modern Marine Corps women serve in today, traces back to that first signature.

Firsts rarely feel historic in the moment. They usually just look like one person doing something ordinary that nobody has done before. Opha Mae Johnson signed a form at a desk, and by doing it, she changed what the Marine Corps would look like for the next hundred years.

09/06/2026

Remember, We're open on Labor Day!

We're open next Monday. Come in and spend some of your holiday with us.