Arlington’s Entertainment District is no stranger to spectacles. Super Bowls, World Series and mega concerts are standard procedure.
Presidential motorcades and Secret Service, however, are less common.
The fireworks that boomed over the city’s newest point of pride on March 22 flared extra bright, shedding red, white and blue sparks on the politicians, celebrities and community members who gathered to celebrate the ribbon cutting at the National Medal of Honor Museum.
Those in attendance included former President George W. Bush, Gov. Greg Abbott, U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott and singer Lee Greenwood, but none of those big names owned the spotlight.
The night celebrated the more than 3,500 recipients of the Medal of Honor, America’s highest military decoration for valor in combat, whose names are engraved in the 100,000-square-foot museum.
“It’s as humbling as it gets tonight,” said Capt. Florent “Flow” Groberg, a Medal recipient recognized for his actions as a Task Force Mountain Warrior in Afghanistan in 2012. Groberg was one of the about 40 recipients attending the ceremony.
“I want this museum to be a clear reminder of what it took and continues to take to be this country,” Groberg said. “These are storylines of ordinary, common Americans who rose to the question of: ‘Will you serve?’”
The museum will open to the public March 25 — National Medal of Honor Day — in a ceremony Arlington has anticipated since the museum’s location was announced in 2019.
Former Arlington Mayor Jeff Williams was in office when the city was announced as the museum’s home in 2019. He took the charge seriously.
“It was an exciting day, but it also was a huge responsibility because we knew that this was our opportunity to build a national museum,” Williams said. “Most all (national museums) have been built 100 years ago, all in Washington, D.C., and here we are in Texas.”
The museum stands out from the surrounding stadiums. The grey obelisk seems to float over the neighboring lake and AT&T Way, supported by five pillars representing the five branches of the military.
“These five pillars, they’re (also) symbolizing the burden that each one of our soldiers has with each other — and what they are doing for us,” Williams said. “We want everyone to know there is a cost of freedom, too, and the stories here share that.”
Also attending the ribbon cutting were U.S. Rep. Craig Goldman, R-Fort Worth, and Rep. Roger Williams, R-Willow Park, and Sen. Tim Sheehy of Montana. New Dallas Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer also walked the ribbon cutting’s red carpet.
Throughout the museum’s construction, officials were determined to make sure its focus was on recipients’ bravery and life stories, not war.
The walls inside the museum are covered in photos of recipients and display cases filled with guns, Medals of Honor and letters. Exhibits feature journals, telegrams, knives, handguns, uniforms and trinkets belonging to recipients.
The museum’s largest artifact is a retired Huey helicopter named “Nancy Lee,” which U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Patrick Brady used to rescue soldiers in Vietnam.
In the museum’s interactive exhibits, visitors can sit down and speak with virtual versions of recipients, or wear virtual reality headsets that put them in a helicopter rescue mission, where they’ll have to work together to make quick decisions under stress.
As Cruz entered the ribbon cutting, he told reporters that all Medal recipients he’s met during his time in politics have shared humility as a trait.
“In the face of machine gun fire, in the face of impossible odds, they risk everything to go and rescue and save someone else, to go and defeat the enemy, to go and defend your nation,” Cruz said. “If it doesn’t make your heart swell up with pride, then you’re just not paying attention.”
Cornyn hopes every visitor walks away from the museum with a bigger appreciation for the country’s history and sacrifices that were made before they were born.
“I’m delighted (the museum’s) in Arlington, Texas,” he said. “Believe it or not, there’s a little competition to try to get to this other part of the country, but we worked together to make sure it was where it belonged, which is right here.”
The museum’s price tag is about $270 million, including operations, staffing and the architect’s fee.
The institution has received funding from several high-profile donors, including $30 million from billionaire hedge fund head Ken Griffin and $20 million from Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
Other major donors include Lockheed Martin; BNSF Railway; philanthropists and business leaders Alan and Bonnie Petsche; and real estate developer John Goff and his wife, Cami Goff, who serves as executive vice president of the National Medal of Honor Museum board.
The museum is expected to attract over 800,000 visitors a year and will advertise itself as an event venue for national and local companies, said Chris Cassidy, president and CEO of the museum.
Each Medal of Honor story is unique and worthy of its own museum, novel and film, said Cassidy, a former Navy Seal and NASA astronaut. Over time, about 70 rotating, in-depth museum exhibits will explore each recipient’s life.
“As unique as each story is, they’re strikingly simple,” Cassidy said. “These are stories of individuals who put others over self, who set aside fear to act with courage, and who were then given a tremendous responsibility to bear the weight of our nation’s highest recognition.”
Drew Shaw is a local government accountability for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at
drew.shaw@fortworthreport.org or @shawlings601.
James Hartley, KERA Arlington government accountability reporter, contributed to this article.
