Address: 945 Magazine Street
Pricing: Admission $16-8; $9 film. Unformed military free
Phone: (504) 527-6012 or (877) 813-3329
Hours: Daily 9 a.m.-5 p.m., closed Mardi Gras, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day
How To Get There:
US 90S to Carondelet exit towards St. Charles, left on St. Charles towards Lee Circle where you will take a right on Andrew Higgins, which takes you straight past the Museum and the parking lot.
Parking:Paid lot on Higgins, metered spots free on weekend
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National World War II Museum hosts 'Greatest Generation'
Jul 9, 2009
Old soldiers and young peaceniks alike will be moved by the display of artifacts and interactive exhibits at the National World War II Museum, a tribute to “The Greatest Generation” in the heart of New Orleans.
The museum, two blocks from the historic streetcar line and near Lee Circle, was formed to commemorate D-Day and the Higgins boat, the landing craft showcased in the film “Saving Private Ryan.” The Higgins company of New Orleans designed and built more than 20,000 of the vessels that General Dwight Eisenhower credited with winning the war.
A restored c-47 airplane that dropped paratroopers into the fields of Normany hangs overhead overhead as a visitor enters the 16,000-square-foot museum. State-of-the-art interactive exhibits commemorate the foggy morning of June 6, 1944, when Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy. The museum also covers other decisive assaults in the European and Pacific war theatres of WWII and offers insight into the role of minorities and women in the war effort.
The exhibits offer a fascinating narrative of the conflict using such iconic artifacts as Sherman tanks, jeeps, and the Nazi heavy water barrel that was part of Adolf Hitler’s atomic weapons program. An award-winning interactive exhibit tells the story of the C-47 other aircraft from the war.
Two films, “The Price for Peace” and the Emmy-award winning “D-Day Remembered”
alternate at the Malcolm S. Forbes Theater.
The museum is also preparing a $300 million expansion set to open in November 2009 that will include three new attractions: The Victory Theater, The Stage Door Canteen and The American Sector.
The Victory Theater will feature Beyond All Boundaries, a 4-D multi-sensory production designed to let visitors experience World War II via Hollywood special effects, digital technology, and original historical war footage. The Stage Door Canteen will feature and a video montage of the legendary performances that entertained anxious young men and women on their way to war, along with a live show. And in New Orleans, you cannot forget about the food, so the museum is opening a The American Sector, a restaurant by Chef John Besh, who is both a former Marine and a James Beard Award-winning culinary master.
- by Diane Loupe, New Orleans Reporter for HelloMetro
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Diane LoupeA resident of Decatur, Ga., and a native of New Orleans, Diane has a M.A. in Journalism from the University of Missouri. She has worked for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Associated Press, the New Orleans Times-Picayune and Yale Medical School. A freelance writer and editor, her work has appeared in The Sunday Paper, Women's eNews, the Agnes Scott College alumni magazine, eSchool News, and PTO Today.
