Infantry Museum Offers Pavers as Unique Holiday Gifts

(ARA) - The holiday season brings with it one of the toughest decisions of the year: What to buy loved ones for Christmas. But this year, consider precious stones -- though not the ones you think.

The new National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center, scheduled to open March 2009 in Columbus, Ga., will honor the contributions of infantrymen and those who fight alongside them. Among the many magnificent attractions of this facility will be Heritage Walk, paved with stones honoring those living and dead who have made the ultimate sacrifice: infantrymen and their loved ones.

In the Footsteps of Heroes is a program developed by the National Infantry Foundation to give permanent recognition to heroes from all walks of life. The commemorative pavers, engraved with personal messages of gratitude, will line a 1,000-foot long, 20-foot wide walkway connecting the new museum and the parade field in Patriot Park. A kiosk will allow visitors to look up the exact location of their paver.

The National Infantry Foundation is selling the 4 inch by 8 inch granite pavers to support the mission of the National Infantry Museum and the Foundation. Each paver holds three lines of text; each line has room for 20 characters. The $250 cost is tax deductible and includes one free 2 inch by 4 inch replica paver that purchasers or honorees can keep on a desktop. Orders can be placed online or with a downloadable order form at www.nationalinfantrymuseum.com and brochures are available for mailing. Proceeds will be used to complete construction of the museum.

Pavers that have been purchased by Dec. 18, 2008, will be placed along Heritage Walk in time for the National Infantry Museum's grand opening on March 20, 2009.

"In the Footsteps of Heroes will honor everyone --active duty soldiers and retired veterans; Infantry, Armor, Airborne, Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard -- everyone who has fought for and protected our beloved nation," says Major General Jerry A. White of the National Infantry Museum. "This project will also pay tribute to the wives, parents and children who have supported, loved and sometimes lost their loved ones in the fight for democracy; they, too, have made brave sacrifices for the freedoms we hold dear."

The 200-acre new National Infantry Museum site is adjacent to historic Fort Benning, known as the "Home of the Infantry." The famed United States Army Infantry School was established at Fort Benning and, through the years, this institution emerged as the most influential infantry center in the modern world. The museum's galleries will be chock full of engaging exhibits with themes highlighting infantry experiences in military training, Medal of Honor recipients, the Officer Candidate School training experience, the contributions of Rangers and more. In addition, the museum's 300-seat IMAX Theater will bring giant screen movies to the Columbus region for the first time.

Supporters of the National Infantry Museum include corporations such as Chrysler, AT&T, Synovus, Aflac, Burger King, Coca-Cola, Colt and Samsung as well as foundations, government grants and over 900 individuals who have made donations or contributed to the commemorative paver program. More information about the National Infantry Museum and In the Footsteps of Heroes is available at www.nationalinfantrymuseum.com.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

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The National Infantry Museum Unveils Body Sculptures

/PRNewswire/ -- Today, the National Infantry Foundation will unveil a sample of its 50 life size sculptures at Brooklyn's StudioEIS, who for more than 30 years has been creating figures for museums around the world. These life-like figures will soon be placed in the new National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center, scheduled to open March 20, 2009 in Columbus, Georgia.

Each of the museum's 50 life size sculptures is modeled after U.S. Army Soldiers who each had to go through a three-hour-long casting process. "The casting experience was awesome," said Capt. Matthew Makaryk. "The crew that did it was absolutely outstanding."

After the casts are removed, the pieces are assembled, sculpted, and painted. The figures are then dressed in costumes, which are impregnated with foam, given weapons, and treated with a resin coating. Thirty-eight of the body sculptures appear as Infantrymen, while 12 of the sculptures, which are dressed in original, artifact costumes, represent other historic figures. "As a former history teacher and now as an Infantryman I am impressed with the great lengths the foundation is going to portray accurate historical details," said Capt. Robert Peterson.

The 200-acre National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center site includes a parade field, a memorial walk of honor, and an authentic World War II Company Street. Inside the museum are galleries chock full of engaging exhibits with themes highlighting Infantry experiences in military training, Medal of Honor recipients, the OCS training experience, the contributions of Rangers and more. In addition, the museum's 300-seat IMAX Theater will bring giant screen movies to the Columbus, GA region for the first time.

Opening in March 2009, the National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center at Patriot Park, a 200-acre tract linking Columbus, Georgia, and Fort Benning, the Home of the Infantry, is the first world-class site to pay tribute to the U.S. Army Infantryman and those who fight alongside him. As the only interactive Army Museum in the U.S., the museum showcases the contributions of the Infantry Soldier in every war fought by the U.S. by offering immersive participation and engaging visitors in the unique experiences of the Infantry Soldier. The complex also includes the parade field, memorial walk of honor, authentic World War II Company Street and 3-D IMAX Theatre. For more information, visit http://www.nationalinfantrymuseum.com/.

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Arts Across Georgia

National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center: A World-Class Tribute to the Unforgotten Soldier

Imagine waking to the sound of 155 mm Howitzers before dawn…digging a foxhole to sleep in…being wounded in hand-to-hand combat…moving through rough terrain to perform perilous reconnaissance missions. Imagine giving years of your life in service for your country…Now imagine giving up your life for your country. This is the everyday experience of the United States Army Infantryman.

For centuries, the Infantryman has paid the price for American freedom, yet his valor and sacrifice have gone largely unrecognized. For example, it is not widely known that…More

Former Ft. Stewart Soldier Receives 70 Months Imprisonment for Faking Wife's Death and Collecting Insurance Proceeds

Edmund A. Booth, Jr., United States Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, announced that Ingerberth Baird, age 38, was sentenced on October 14, 2008, in U.S. District Court in Savannah to 70 months in federal prison by U.S. District Judge B. Avant Edenfield.

Booth commented that, in imposing sentence, Judge Edenfield made an upward variance from the advisory guidelines range of 44 to 51 months, finding that Baird committed perjury when he testified on his own behalf at trial and noting that Baird remained totally unrepentant of his criminal actions. Baird had been convicted by a jury on January 29, 2008, on one count of conspiracy, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371, one count of making false claims against the United States, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 287, and one count of mail fraud, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1341.

Baird had been extradited from Trinidad to face the charges in this case in June 2007. Booth noted that Baird will be transferred to the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation to his home country of Trinidad after he completes serving his sentence.

The convictions rested upon the evidence at trial which established the following :Ingerberth Baird and his wife, Nicolette, lived in Hinesville, Georgia, in 2002. Ingerberth Baird was an enlisted officer in the U.S. Army, posted at Ft. Stewart. Nicolette Baird was an elementary school teacher at Joseph Martin Elementary School in Hinesville. In September 2002, Nicolette Baird requested time off to travel to Trinidad, where she had been born, to attend a family funeral. Several days later, a person identifying himself as Nicolette's husband called the principal of Joseph Martin Elementary to report that Nicolette had died in an automobile accident in Trinidad. Ingerberth Baird sought leave from his duties with the United States Army and traveled to Trinidad shortly after Nicolette's reported death, spending eleven days there before returning to the United States. The evidence further showed that in October and November, 2002, Ingerberth Baird applied for benefits under life insurance policies covering Nicolette through the U.S. Army (under the Family Servicemembers Group Life Insurance program, or "FSGLI") and the Liberty County, Georgia school system.

In connection with those claims, he presented a handwritten death certificate and handwritten police report purportedly describing Nicolette's death in Trinidad. Ingerberth Baird received over $100,000 from the U.S. Army FSGLI policy on Nicolette. The benefit was paid in the form of a checking account funded with the entire benefit amount, and a checkbook drawn on that account was mailed to Ingerberth Baird at his home. Over the course of October and November, 2002, Ingerberth Baird wrote numerous checks that totally depleted the account. In December 2002, Ingerberth Baird left the United States for Trinidad.

Shortly thereafter, it was determined that the death claim was false in that the handwritten death certificate was counterfeit and that no registrar of deaths with the name listed on the death certificate actually existed. In April 2003, agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation located Ingerberth Baird and Nicolette Baird, alive, living together in Cunupia, Trinidad. At that time, Ingerberth Baird admitted to the FBI agents that he knew on his first trip to Trinidad in September 2002, right after his wife's reported death, that no accident had occurred and that his wife was alive.

Booth praised the efforts of Special Agents Joseph Swiatek and Freddie Watkins of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The United States was represented by Assistant United States Attorneys R. Brian Tanner and Brian F. McEvoy.

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