June 2024. For our first visit to the United States of America since the COVID-19 pandemic, we flew to New Orleans via London Heathrow with British Airways. After two days of exploring NOLA, Amtrak‘s Crescent overnight train brought us from Louisiana to New York, where we we stayed one night only before flying home. 

New Orleans houses The National WWII Museum, which, as its name ‘suggests’, discusses World War II from an American perspective. We were mostly interested in the Pacific theatre, as the conflict in the Far East is called. Most war museums in Europe spend less time, energy and space on that side of the hostilities. 

Presentation

The National WWII Museum, formerly known as The National D-Day Museum, is located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, 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. 

Founded in 2000, it was later designated by the US Congress as America’s official National WWII Museum in 2004.

The museum is a Smithsonian Institution affiliated museum, as part of the Smithsonian Institution’s outreach program. The mission statement of the museum emphasizes the American experience in World War II.

The museum is located in part in the former Weckerling Brewery, designed by local architect William Fitzner, which was renovated and opened as the D-Day Museum on 6 June 2000, the 56th anniversary of D-Day, focusing on the amphibious invasion of Normandy in France. 

As the Higgins boats, vital to amphibious operations, were designed, built, and tested in New Orleans by Higgins Industries, the city was the natural home for such a project. 

Furthermore, New Orleans was the home of historian and author Stephen Ambrose, who spearheaded the effort to build the museum. Ambrose also wrote a book entitled ‘D-Day‘ in 1994, which describes the planning and execution of Operation Neptune, which was launched on 6 June 1944. The early emphasis of the museum on D-Day, the location of Higgins Industries, and Ambrose’s connections to New Orleans were all factors in the museum being established in New Orleans.

Museum description

In addition to opening a second gallery exploring the amphibious invasions of the Pacific War in the original building, known as the Louisiana Memorial Pavilion, the museum has since opened the Solomon Victory Theater, the John E. Kushner Restoration Pavilion, the US Freedom Pavilion: The Boeing Center, and the Campaigns of Courage pavilion. As of February 2022, the Liberation Pavilion is in construction.

Within the large atrium of the Louisiana Memorial Pavilion several aircraft are on display, including a Supermarine Spitfire and a Douglas C-47 Skytrain suspended from the ceiling. 

A LCVP, or ‘Higgins boat’ is also usually on display in this pavilion. The exhibits in this pavilion focus on the amphibious landings in the European theatre of the war and on the contributions of the home front. The Louisiana Memorial Pavilion is also home to rotating temporary exhibits, as well as the immersive and interactive train car (part of the larger ‘Dog Tag Experience‘ interactive), which opened in 2013.

This part of the museum includes several permanent galleries, including the ‘Home Front‘, ‘Finding Hope in a World Destroyed‘, ‘Planning for D-Day‘, and the ‘D-Day Beaches‘. The third floor of the Louisiana Memorial Pavilion includes an observation deck for closer viewing of the hanging aircraft.

In January 2013, the museum opened the US Freedom Pavilion: The Boeing Center, which is the now largest building on the campus.

The collection in the US Freedom Pavilion includes a B-17E Flying Fortress bomber, a B-25J Mitchell bomber, an SBD-3 Dauntless, a TBF Avenger, a P-51D Mustang, Corsair F4U-4 and an interactive submarine experience based on the final mission of the USS Tang.

The B-17E is the airplane dubbed ‘My Gal Sal‘, famous for having been lost over Greenland and recovered 53 years later.

The US Freedom 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.

In December 2014, the museum opened the ‘Road to Berlin‘ portion of the Campaigns of Courage pavilion, focusing on the European theatre of war. A Messerschmitt Bf 109 hangs in the building. 

The ‘Road to Tokyo‘ portion of this same pavilion, which focuses on the Pacific war, opened in 2015.

In June 2017, a new exhibit, The ‘Arsenal of Democracy‘, opened in the Louisiana Memorial Pavilion, dealing the experience on the Home Front.

The Liberation Pavilion, with assistance from the Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art, now also houses exhibits which explore the “joys, costs, and meaning of liberation and freedom”, as well as how the legacy of World War II affects us today. 

This section is part of the Monuments Men and Women Museum Network, launched in 2021 by the Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art.

Dining and sleeping options

The Higgins Hotel & Conference Center is attached to the museum. 

The museum has also several food and drinks options: The American Sector Restaurant & Bar (which we chose), Jeri Nims Soda Shop, Café Normandie, Kilroy’s Bar & Lounge, Rosie’s on the Roof and Provisions. 

So, many options. 

A visit 

The museum website offers itinerary suggestions ranging from half a day to twi days because besides the permanent exhibitions there are temporary ones and ‘add-on’ experiences such as the 4D-experience ‘Beyond All Boundaries‘ narrated by Tom Hanks. 

I think we’ve seen all there’s to see which is included in the general admission ticket. We did not pay extra or allocate time for the 4D experience. 

We focused on aspects lesser known to us: the war in the Pacific. Next to ‘Road to Tokyo’ there’s the ‘Final Mission: USS Tang Experience‘ simulating a submarine mission. We did do that. 

We spent quite a few hours inside the museum. Top tip: bring a jumper or sweater because the air conditioning is working overtime. Baby, it’s cold inside. Restrooms feature nose tissues. 

So?

The National WWII Museum offers an extensive – American – perspective on the global conflict. I was pleasantly surprised at how balanced and not (too) propagandistic its approach is, not shying away from tackling subjects as racism towards African American military personnel and the internment of Japanese Americans. 

Kudos to the scenography as well, captivating the flora of the battlegrounds. 

So, do allocate several hours for this museum which appeal to people without and with (much) previous knowledge about World War II. 

From New Orleans to New York on Amtrak’s Crescent – USA 2024

1. REVIEW | British Airways Brussels to London Heathrow.
2. REVIEW | British Airways World Traveller London Heathrow to New Orleans.
3. NEW ORLEANS | Streetcars, Garden District, Algiers Point, Riverfront, Jackson Square.
4. REVIEW | Louisiana State Museums – the Presbytère and the Cabildo, in New Orleans.
5. NEW ORLEANS | French Quarter ft. Bourbon Street.
6. REVIEW | voco St. James Hotel.
7. NEW ORLEANS | Riverwalk and Riverfront at the Mississippi River.