A salute to Pacific vets

Louisiana's National D-Day Museum has a new wing that pays touching tribute

to our WWII veterans.

New Orleans is again celebrating World War II victories for the whole nation. In addition to The National D-Day Museum's stellar original exhibit on European battles, this new display honors those who served in the Pacific Theater. It opened, appropriately, last year on Pearl Harbor Day-December 7-and now gives even more reason to visit, or revisit, this impressive museum.

The display walks you through a visual timeline with quiet drama and deep sentiment. As in the original exhibit, you wander through curving, dim halls of floor-to-ceiling photographs, interactive maps, commentary, and artifacts. These are not dull history; they are very engaging. You'll recognize renowned newspaper headlines and famous blackand-white photos that connect you to our nation and its memories.

But there are solitary experiences too. When you peer alone at a soldier's handwritten letter under glass or press a button and hear one of the heroes talking just to you, the magnitude of war hits you with unexpected poignancy. A serviceman's yellowed note inside a worn wallet reads, "Please send to Mrs. Radford Jones, Belhaven, North Carolina.

That is my mother." At the time, the wallet held $16 that he wanted mailed to his family if he died in battle. That's a closer look at this war's fear and sacrifice than you may have taken before.

If you're lucky, some of those aged veterans will be touring the exhibits with you. (They are given a tag to wear that proudly identifies them.) The presence of The National DDay Museum has done a lot to thank those vets, and if you look around and spot one of them, you might get a chance to do the same.

The National D-Day Museum: 945 Magazine Street, New Orleans, LA 70130; (504) 527-6012 or www. ddaymuseum.org. Hours: 9 a.m.5 p.m. daily (except on holidays). Admission: $10 adults, $6 seniors, $5 ages 5-17.

Copyright Southern Progress Corporation Jul 2002
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