The National WWII Museum

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The National WWII Museum
National WWII Museum logo.svg
The National WWII Museum New Orleans Dec 2015.jpg
Main Entrance
The National WWII Museum
Former name
D-Day Museum
EstablishedJune 6, 2000
Location New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
Coordinates 29°56′35″N90°04′13″W / 29.94306°N 90.07028°W / 29.94306; -90.07028
Type Military history museum
Visitors706,664 (2017) [1]
Website nationalww2museum.org

The National WWII Museum, founded as The NationalD-Day Museum, is a military history museum in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S., on Andrew Higgins Drive between Camp Street and Magazine Street. The museum focuses on the contribution made by the United States to Allied victory in World War II. [2] Founded in 2000, it was designated by the U.S. Congress as America's official National WWII Museum in 2004. [3] The museum is an affiliated museum of the Smithsonian Institution as part of its outreach program. [4] [5] The museum saw 406,251 visitors in 2010 [6] and nearly 700,000 in fiscal year 2016. [7]

Contents

The museum is part of the Monuments Men and Women Museum Network, launched in 2021 by the Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art. [8]

History

In 1964, historian and author Stephen Ambrose became determined to establish a museum about the LCVP, or Higgins boat, after former president and retired U.S. Army general Dwight Eisenhower told him its inventor "won the war for us". Andrew Higgins and his Higgins Industries designed, tested, and ultimately built more than 20,000 of the boats in Ambrose's hometown of New Orleans. Ambrose discussed the idea with historial and academic Nick Mueller, then received $50,000 in startup funding from Peter Kalikow, a real estate developer and then-owner of the New York Post. Congress later appropriated $4 million for the museum. [9]

The former Weckerling Brewery, designed by local architect William Fitzner, was renovated for use by the museum, which opened on June 6, 2000, the 56th anniversary of D-Day. [10]

The museum closed for three months after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans on August 29, 2005; it re-opened on December 3 of that year. The museum hung a banner proclaiming "We Have Returned," an allusion to General Douglas MacArthur's 1942 pledge to return to the Philippines.

The Solomon Victory Theater, Stage Door Canteen, and American Sector restaurant opened in November 2009.

The John E. Kushner Restoration Pavilion opened in June 2011. [11] [12] [13]

In 2015, the museum was seeking to raise $400 million in a fundraising campaign called "The Road to Victory: A Vision for Future Generations." [7] The following year saw record attendance. [14]

The US Freedom Pavilion: The Boeing Center opened in January 2013 [15] , followed by the opening of the first phase of the Campaigns of Courage pavilion in 2014. The second phase of the Campaigns of Courage Pavilion, Road to Tokyo, opened in 2015. [16] The final project in the expansion will be the Liberation Pavilion. Initially, the intended date of completion of the expansion project was 2015, but has since been pushed back due to a series of delays causing it to be set to finish in 2022. [17]

In 2018, the museum claimed that it boosts the economy of Louisiana by about $132 million a year, as one of New Orleans' biggest employers with some 300 employees. [18]

Museum description

Artillery and a Higgins boat on display in the lobby DDayMuseumHigginsCannons.jpg
Artillery and a Higgins boat on display in the lobby

Upon arriving, visitors are encouraged to board a "train," a simulation exhibit that mimics the experience of soldiers going off to war.

The original building is known as the Louisiana Memorial Pavilion. Several aircraft are displayed in the large atrium, including a Supermarine Spitfire and a Douglas C-47 Skytrain suspended from the ceiling. A Higgins boat is also usually on display in this pavilion. The exhibits in this pavilion focus on the amphibious landings in the European theater of the war and on the contributions of the home front. The Louisiana Memorial Pavilion is also used for temporary exhibits, such as the homefront-centered The Arsenal of Democracy exhibit opened in June 2017. [19] It also holds a train car, part of the "Dog Tag Experience" interactive exhibit opened in 2013. This part of the museum includes several permanent galleries, including the Home Front, Planning for D-Day , and the D-Day Beaches. The third floor of the pavilion has an observation deck for closer viewing of the hanging aircraft. It has a second gallery exploring the amphibious invasions of the Pacific War.

The museum's largest building, US Freedom Pavilion: The Boeing Center, holds a B-17E Flying Fortress bomber, B-25J Mitchell bomber, SBD-3 Dauntless, TBF Avenger, P-51D Mustang, Corsair F4U-4, and an interactive submarine experience based on the final mission of the USS Tang. [15] The B-17E is My Gal Sal , lost over Greenland and recovered 53 years later. [15] The pavilion was paid for with a $15 million donation from the Boeing Company and with a $20 million grant from the US Department of Defense with congressional approval. [20]

The 32,000-square-foot Campaigns of Courage Pavilion includes the Road to Berlin exhibit about the European theater of war, opened in December 2014, and the Road to Tokyo exhibit about the Pacific campaign, opened in 2015. A Messerschmitt Bf 109 hangs in the building. [16] [21]

The Liberation Pavilion aims to explore the "joys, costs, and meaning of liberation and freedom" and how World War II affects us today. [22]

Visitors may collect a dog tag upon entering the museum; touching it to screens within various exhibits shows information about the experience of the person named on the tag. Such exhibits include The D-Day Invasion of Normandy, and the U.S. Merchant Marine Gallery. [23]

A 4-D film, Beyond All Boundaries , shown in the Solomon Victory Theater, gives an overview of the war.

Some exhibits feature video oral histories conducted with veterans of the war by museum staff.

The museum has two restaurants: the American Sector Restaurant & Bar and the Soda Shop.

Airplanes

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The National WWII Museum Sets Visitation Records". National World War II Museum press releases. Retrieved May 24, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Mission / Vision / Values - The National WWII Museum - New Orleans". The National WWII Museum - New Orleans. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  3. ↑ Loane, Shannon (April 8, 2019). "National Museums: In Brief" (PDF). Congressional Research Service.
  4. ↑ "Affiliate Profile - National World War II Museum". Smithsonian Affiliations. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
  5. ↑ "Smithsonian Affiliations". affiliations.si.edu. Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
  6. ↑ "Top Construction Projects 2012". New Orleans City Business. February 24, 2012. Retrieved March 22, 2012.
  7. 1 2 "The National WWII Museum Named No. 2 Museum in the World, No. 2 in the United States in 2017 TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice Awards - The National WWII Museum - New Orleans". The National WWII Museum - New Orleans. November 17, 2017. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  8. ↑ "Monuments Men Foundation I World War II I Art Preservation I Museum Network Connections". MonumentsMenFdn.
  9. ↑ "Creating The D-Day Museum in New Orleans". AMERICAN HERITAGE. Retrieved September 8, 2025.
  10. ↑ "A War Story: The History of the National World War II Museum in New Orleans". New Orleans Times-Picayune. March 28, 2019. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
  11. ↑ Pope, John (June 1, 2011). "National World War II Museum's restoration pavilion gives a window on the work". Nola.com. Retrieved July 13, 2020.
  12. ↑ "Grand opening of new WWII Museum pavilion gives visitors a sneak peek". nola.com. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  13. ↑ National WW II Museum published expansion plans Archived May 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine , accessed June 5, 2011.
  14. ↑ National WWII Museum Sees Busiest Month Ever [ permanent dead link ], 11 April 2012. Accessed 9 May 2012.
  15. 1 2 3 "Let Freedom Ring: A Growing National WWII Museum Opens Newest Building". The National WWII Museum | New Orleans. Retrieved September 8, 2025.
  16. 1 2 "'Road to Tokyo' brings visitors to the National WWII Museum into the war in the Pacific". NOLA.com. Retrieved January 31, 2016.
  17. ↑ "Liberation Pavilion". The National WWII Museum | New Orleans. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
  18. ↑ "The National WWII Museum Sets Visitation Records". The National WWII Museum | New Orleans. January 4, 2018. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
  19. ↑ "Louisiana Memorial Pavilion". www.nationalww2museum.org. Retrieved October 13, 2017.
  20. ↑ D. MacCash, New Orleans Times-Picayune, January 9, 2013.
  21. ↑ "Campaigns of Courage: Road to Berlin | The National WWII Museum". www.nationalww2museum.org. Retrieved October 14, 2015.
  22. ↑ "The National WWII Museum | New Orleans: EXPANSION: Liberation Pavilion". www.nationalww2museum.org. Retrieved October 14, 2015.
  23. ↑ "Exhibits". The National WWII Museum | New Orleans. Retrieved April 24, 2023.
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