We sprinted across Alabama to make our 2:30 admission time with the National World War II Museum in the heart of New Orleans- sprinted is perhaps the wrong word for our rig in action. We travel at a steady 60 miles an hour. At this stately pace we made our way south past Mobile and the Gulf Coast, across the enormous Lake Ponchetrain. literally miles and miles of bridge, and into New Orleans.
We were on time but didn't count on the fact that none of the many street parking lots around the Museum had room for a 23 foot Airstream. After several circles of the area in tight quarters and lots of traffic, our driver Sally was frazzled. We finally found a quiet spot on a side street where we could pause and maybe give up. Sally, however, noted that we might be able to back up far enough to "fit" for street parking. Sure enough she backed the rig skillfully to a spot where we could leave the rig feeling only a little uneasy.
So we did make the Museum, a place Ron has long wanted to see, after hearing from friends about the wonderful way the Museum brings the American experience in the War to life with exhibits that start with all that was happening on the "home front" in the run up to Pearl Harbor. From there, the Museum has extensive commentary, quite a bit of which is interactive covering both the War in the Pacific and the War in Europe. For one who has read quite a bit about the war in both theaters, Ron was familiar with much of the focus. Still,
it was hard not to get shivers in the footage of the "four minutes at Midway" that turned the tide in the Pacific. Midway was a battle in which we lost the first days and were about to lose the last day because we couldn't find the main Japanese carrier force when one heroic attack squadron commander from the carrier Enterprise , about to abort his mission, spied a Japanese destroyer and surmised if he followed her course he would find the main force. In five minutes his squadron rolled out of the sky and sank four Japanese carriers, a blow the Japanese never recovered from. Historians have marveled at this incredible victory. It has many elements and they are vividly brought to light at the Museum.
The curators have done a good job in selecting and highlighting moments like this in both theaters of the war. The flow is good, although there were quite a few people coming through which made it difficult to linger.
The wrap up was an hour production of the major events of the war called "Beyond All Boundaries" narrated by Tom Hanks. In his introduction Hanks made it clear that the fight between countries led by dictators and those that were democracies was one that we hadn't fully put behind us- an ominous note at this time of conflict in the Ukraine.
There, of course, is much more to New Orleans but our focus on this visit was The National World War II Museum. It was worth the trip.
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