Men of Valor The Greatest Generation - New Orlean's National D-Day Museum - Brief Article

Travel America, Nov, 2000 by Angela Wibking

New Orleans' National D-Day Museum honors heroes of World War II

When the landing craft carrying Navy corpsman Leo Scheer was sunk by enemy fire at Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, the Indiana man had to swim ashore. In the process the bandages he carried on his GI web belt were ruined and he had to scramble to collect replacements off the bodies of his fallen comrades so he could move on to treat the surviving wounded. Over 50 years later, Scheer says he can still see the face of every GI he took bandages from on that history-changing morning known as D-Day.

It is personal anecdotes like these and artifacts like Scheer's web belt with its canvas bandage pouches that make a visit to the National D-Day Museum in New Orleans such a moving experience. Fittingly, the facility opened its doors this year on June 6, the 56th anniversary of D-Day, when the U.S. and its Allies battled their way onto the shores of Normandy, France.

The museum is divided into four interactive exhibits that use an array of artifacts, many donated by veterans like Scheer, as well as personal letters, documents, photographs, hands-on activities, and film footage to tell the story of D-Day and America's role in World War II. Highlights include nine oral history stations that feature videotaped interviews with D-Day veterans and others who participated in the war effort overseas and on the home-front. There are also reproductions of battle gear and other objects that allow visitors to try on or pick up a piece of World War II history.

A replica of a concrete German command post like those that lined the Normandy coast in 1944 lets visitors peek through viewing slots for a panoramic view of the English Channel and the beaches. The simulation of General Dwight Eisenhower's war room where he and other Allied commanders planned the invasion also takes visitors back in time.

The exhibit devoted to Andrew Jackson Higgins explains why the National D-Day Museum was built in New Orleans. Higgins, a New Orleans native, designed the boats used to land on the beaches on D-Day, and he also manufactured them in New Orleans. No less an authority than Eisenhower himself called Higgins "the man who won the war" because his boats made the D-Day landing possible. Full-size Higgins boats, tanks, German sentry boxes, and vintage aircraft are displayed in the four-story, glass-enclosed pavilion connected to the museum. D-Day Remembered, the Oscar-nominated documentary, is shown continuously in the museum's theater, and there are a gift shop and a cafe as well.

The museum was founded by author and historian Stephen E. Ambrose, who compiled more than 2,000 oral histories. Funding has come from federal, state of Louisiana, corporate, and private contributions.

The National D-Day Museum is at 945 Magazine St. Hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily except Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Day, and Mardi Gras Day. Admission is $7 adults, $6 seniors and $5 students. For more information, call (504) 527-6012 or visit the web site at www.ddaymuseum.org.