When Patrick Brady saw the Huey helicopter installed in the new National Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington, Texas, it took him straight back to Vietnam. “I got in it,” he says. “I checked it out of course, and made sure it was authentic.” 

Brady, a retired army major general, received the nation’s highest award for valor for his actions on January 6, 1968, when he piloted four flights into a combat zone to rescue fifty-one wounded soldiers. He used three different Hueys that day, replacing his aircraft after each was hit with bullets or had its controls shot away. 

Brady is one of nearly 3,600 Medal of Honor recipients celebrated at the new $200 million museum, which uses interactive and immersive exhibits to recognize recipients.

“These are just ordinary people who in a moment of extreme danger or stress did something extraordinary, and we all have that potential in us,” says Cory Crowley, the museum’s executive vice president. 

Preserved memorabilia.

Brady says he hopes the exhibits stir patriotism in visitors. “What we did—valor, courage, whatever you want to call it—isn’t important. It’s only useful in as much as it’s inspirational. The medal is just a symbol.”
The museum is hosting grand opening celebrations in March, as well as planning events for Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. Find more details here.