While Navy SEALs normally work in the shadows, they came into the international limelight on May 2 when they killed Osama bin Laden.
Now the National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum has seen its daily attendance triple. The museum in Fort Pierce, Florida, documents the history of the SEALs from their humble beginnings in 1943 as the Naval Combat Demolition Teams and Underwater Demolition Teams to the cutting-edge special ops force it is today.
Yet what will surely go down in history as one of the SEAL’s greatest hits isn’t covered by the museum yet. It’s too recent. That will soon change if the museum raises $1.5 million to set up permanent exhibits in its new wing.
On memorial Day about 2,000 people attended services at the museum, and the SEAL team that killed bin Laden got special attention.
“The signal was sent that you cannot attack the U.S. and murder innocent women and children with impunity, that we will find you and get you and win this war,” said Admiral Thomas L. Brown II.
[Photo of SEALs in Afghanistan courtesy U.S. Navy]