Columbus: Nat'l. Infantry Museum gets Bradley Fighting Vehicle

Crane gingerly lifts vehicle to waiting
construction team. (Dave Bender)

An Army Bradley Fighting Vehicle that saw heavy action in Iraq was donated Thursday morning to the new National Infantry Museum at Fort Benning.

The 25-ton weapon was hoisted into place two stories off the ground on a reinforced steel platform.


Construction workers align Bradley on
cradle in museum (Dave Bender)

BAE Industries, who make the gun-studded armored car, made the donation at a ceremony among the girders and hard-hats at the still-under-construction, 180,000 square-foot facility.

Company officials say the vehicle saw hard fighting with the 4th Infantry Division around Baghdad in 2004.

Mark Willhoft, BAE project manager: “It was hit by an IED and had pretty significant damage to it; and we were able to take it in and refurbish it, and supply it back to the museum for display here at the new building.”

Soldiers manning the vehicle were not hurt in the attack.

Close to 40 Columbus and state officials, National Infantry Foundation and army representatives broke into applause as the vehicle was deftly set down for future generations to see.

Andy Hove, BAE Systems’ director of Bradley Combat
Systems looks on as workers remove cables.
(Dave Bender)
The museum is set to open late next year.