WASHINGTON (USTCNS) --- A new exhibit for the Medal of Honor Society Museum, on loan and sponsored by Military Sealift Command, was unveiled in a ceremony Feb. 17 aboard USS Yorktown, moored in historic Charleston, S.C.

The ceremony marked the opening of a new exhibit titled Yesterday's Heroes Live on Today. The exhibit -- on loan to the museum and sponsored by Military Sealift Command -- highlights the many Medal of Honor recipients who are namesakes of MSC ships.

Vice Adm. Gordon S. Holder, commander, Military Sealift Command, retired Marine Corps Col. H.C. Barnum, president of the Medal of Honor Society and Michael Lindquist, chief executive officer for the Society were all present for the ribbon-cutting.

The Medal of Honor Society Museum is home to a myriad of immortalized heroes.

The museum details eight eras of Medal of Honor history, from the Civil War and Indian Campaigns to the Vietnam War and peacekeeping efforts in Somalia. Here, our country's heroes live on and are honored in exhibits highlighting their courageous exploits and lauding their unyielding bravery.

The exhibit was designed by two master of fine arts candidates, Sasha Sweeney and Rebecca Blevins, from the Savannah College of Art and Design, a fine arts college founded in 1978 and located in the historic district of Savannah, Ga.

Sweeney and Blevins responded to a request for proposals to design a temporary exhibit focusing on Navy ships named for Medal of Honor recipients. The graduate students were selected in a competition that included commercial graphic design firms in the Charleston and Savannah area.

"The job was mentioned to our late environmental design professor, Jim Bostwick, in January 2000 and in turn he mentioned as a class project," said Sweeney. "Rebecca and myself, along with another classmate, began this as our project. Rebecca and I then pitched our ideas to MSC and the museum and took it to the next step -- beyond the classroom."

In order to accept the contract award, the students had to set themselves up as a business and find contractors.
"It was a steep learning curve, but in the end it was definitely worth it," said Sweeney. "There is a sense of pride knowing that we did the project well."

Both students are studying graphic design and expect to complete their theses this coming spring.

The exhibit is on a five-year loan to the Medal of Honor Society Museum from MSC. (FROM MILITARY SEALIFT COMMAND PUBLIC AFFAIRS).