exploring destinations | NATIONAL WWII MUSEUM
US Freedom Pavilion The Boeing Center
Telling the ‘World-altering’ Story By Pamela A. Keene Photography courtesy of National WWII Museum
In a six-building campus, the National WWII Museum in New Orleans continues to preserve and explain the war’s history for future generations. Not many veterans of World War II are left to tell their stories and remind us to remember the bravery and accomplishments of what journalist Tom Brokaw calls “The Greatest Generation.” Veterans’ foundations and numerous museums across the country in Quonset huts and old airplane hangars on nearly abandoned landing fields and army training camps share their collections of uniforms, weapons, flags, and medals. But no place in the United States brings together the story with such depth and detail as the New Orleans National WWII Museum. 40 DeSoto
Located on six blocks in the city’s Warehouse District, the museum comprises six buildings totaling approximately 300,000 square feet. To take in all the museum’s collections might take several days. “The National WWII Museum is the definitive place to come for a comprehensive perspective about World War II,” says Tom Czekanski, senior curator of the museum that opened in 2000. “The collections and exhibitions tell the story of the war through the American viewpoint and delve into our nation’s experience of this great global conflict both