Free admission to the museum for military and families, thanks to Blue Star
April 28, 2025
The South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum seizes upon every opportunity to honor those who have served in uniform. That certainly includes those serving now – and their families.
So the museum is once again proud to participate this summer in the Blue Star Museums initiative, which provides free admission to currently-serving U.S. military personnel and their families.
The 2025 program will begin on Armed Forces Day, Saturday, May 17, and end on Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 1. Under this program, the Relic Room will provide free admission to military personnel and up to five family members every day of operation during the summer.
Blue Star Museums is a partnership between the National Endowment for the Arts and Blue Star Families, in collaboration with the Department of Defense and participating museums across America. Starting in May, there will be a complete list of participating museums at this address: https://www.arts.gov/initiatives/blue-star-museums
Blue Star Museums include children’s museums, art, science, and history museums, zoos, gardens, lighthouses, and more, in all 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
This free admission is available for those currently serving in the United States military — active-duty Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, Navy, and Space Force, as well as members of the Reserves, National Guard, U.S. Public Health Commissioned Corps, NOAA Commissioned Corps—and up to five family members. Qualified members must show a Geneva Convention common access card (CAC), DD Form 1173 ID card (dependent ID), DD Form 1173-1 ID card or the Next Generation Uniformed Services (Real) ID card for entrance into a participating Blue Star Museum.
“Our exhibits and programs exist for the education of all people of South Carolina, as well as visitors. But we especially want to show our appreciation to those who have stepped forward to serve our nation in times of war,” said Allen Roberson, the director of the Relic Room.
“That makes our participation in the Blue Star program an honor, a privilege, and a duty.”
The museum provides free admission to veterans and active-duty personnel a number of times each year, and the Blue Star program is a big part of that in the summer.
Follow Blue Star Museums: @NEAarts and @BlueStarFamily, #bluestarmuseums.
About the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum
Founded in 1896, the South Carolina Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum is an accredited museum focusing on South Carolina’s distinguished martial tradition through the Revolutionary War, Mexican War, Civil War, Spanish-American War, World Wars I and II, Vietnam, the War on Terror, and other American conflicts. It serves as the state’s military history museum by collecting, preserving, and exhibiting South Carolina’s military heritage from the colonial era to the present, and by providing superior educational experiences and programming. It recently opened a major new exhibit, “A War with No Front Lines: South Carolina and the Vietnam War, 1965-1973.” The museum is located at 301 Gervais St. in Columbia, sharing the Columbia Mills building with the State Museum. For more information, go to https://crr.sc.gov/.
