(National Museum of the United States Army, Duane Lempke)

As visitors emerge from a “trench,” in the Nation Overseas Gallery, cast figures, lighting effects, imagery, and sounds of distant battle recreate a setting—based on a famous photograph of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. Viewed atop a glass and steel bridge, splintered trees and advancing American Soldiers maneuvering amidst the battle wreckage convey the bleak situation. The film shown here plunges visitors into scenes of trench warfare and relays the U.S. Army’s contributions to the war effort. Continuing inside the tableaux a nearby 1917 FT-17 tank, against a backdrop of recruiting posters, augments the experience.