The refurbished Medal Room at the Royal Marines Museum will be formally opened by Commanding Officer of 42 Commando, Lt Col Matt Holmes, on November 28 2007.
Lt Col Holmes was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his outstanding service in Afghanistan.
Work on the refurbishment began in January 2007 and has seen the medals cleaned, re-mounted and placed in more logical groups. New lighting shows the medals to good effect and the accompanying text is much easier to read.
Some of the medals in the new display have never been seen by the public before, whilst visitors will also have access to information about all the medals and the stories behind them via state-of-the-art touch-screen kiosks.
“The improvements will transform the way that all our visitors and users can understand, appreciate and enjoy our outstanding medal collection,” said Ian Maine, the Museum’s Curator.
The museum received a Heritage Lottery Fund grant and support from other charitable trusts to fund the work, whilst a number of generous gifts have also been made by individuals towards the project.
A pivotal part of Royal Marines' heritage, and recognised as one of the finest collections in the UK, the medal collection documents bravery and service all over the world for the last 200 years and incorporates over 8400 medals including all ten Victoria Crosses awarded to Royal Marines.
