Sonya's Blog - Day 229 - The National WWII Museum

Sonya’s Blog - February 6th - Day 229 - The National WWII Museum

We are back on the shuttle today and heading to the National WWII Museum. It is in the Warehouse District near the French Quarter. Due to the fact that Mardi Gras is on Tuesday, the French Quarter is very busy now and we have a new drop off spot. This worked out great for us though, because we just got on one of the red trolley line and it took us close to the museum. We can ride the trolley all day for $3, so we chose to do that. The trolley operator was really funny and gave us a tour while the trolley was trundling along. When we went by Jackson Square, she shouted out that it was built for Michael Jackson. It was, in fact, to commemorate Andrew Jackson. When we got to Toulouse Street, she shouted out it was named because your pants are too loose. Every time someone disembarked she would say, “glad you came, sorry you had to stay so long”. We enjoyed our trolley ride very much.

The National WWII Museum is very large, with several buildings dedicated to different parts of the war. We started on the train, that introduces us to America during the late 1930’s and early 1940’s and their reluctant forced entrance into WWII with the bombing of Pearl Harbour. When WWII broke out, the US was an isolationist country. The government of the time felt that they needed to deal with their problems at home and the Depression that the country was still in the grips of. At the onset of WWII, the US did not have a strong military. In September of 1940, when it became increasingly clear that the US would, possibly, be drawn into the war they began to build up their army and instituted the draft (the first peacetime draft in the US history). Isolationism sentiment was still very strong in the US, but a growing majority were realizing that the army needed to be better prepared and were in favour of instituting the draft. On December 7th, 1941 when Pearl Harbour was attacked and they declared war on Japan on December 8th the country went into full war mode. While a lot of industry in the US was already supporting the war effort by supplying England with much needed supplies, it was nothing compared to the full transformation of the country after they entered the war.

The train ends in New York City, we are soldiers disembarking to enter our new lives as soldiers in a country at war. The US had to build up both of their coasts to fight the war on two fronts, the Pacific and the Atlantic. Roosevelt agreed with Churchill, that the Germans needed to be defeated first and a majority of the troops were sent over to Europe. The US still had the threat of another Japanese attack, or invasion, on it’s West coast so also had to build up it’s defences and army on the West coast. The museum does a good job of looking at both the European campaign and the Pacific Theatre. While we (as a family) know a lot about what happened in Europe during WWII, we are woefully un-educated about the Pacific Theatre and the war with Japan.

The Coast Guard was doing a presentation at 11:30 AM in the museum’s square, so we went down to check that out. It was really good, we enjoyed it. They are pretty fast throwing around their bayonets. I am pretty sure I would cut myself if I were the one to be twirling around a bayonet and then throwing it around. Natasha got a picture with one of the guys, I love the guy in the background that is leaning back to get in the photo.

We also saw an IMAX presentation about the US in the war, which was narrated by Tom Hanks, it was called Beyond All Boundaries. This was a great overall picture of the US prior to entering the war, entering the war and then the battles that were being waged on opposite sides of the world. It was interesting because the film would discuss what was happening in Europe and then flip over to what was happening in the Pacific at the same time. It was certainly the best overall picture of the United States war efforts that I have ever seen.

We went through some more galleries after the IMAX film. They had a large gallery with many of the tanks and airplanes that the US produced for the war effort.

We went over to the Campaigns of Courage exhibit. Upstairs was the Road to Tokyo and downstairs was the Road to Berlin. Each gallery extensively covered the US battles in these very different campaigns and the challenges faced by the military.

In Road to Berlin (I had to get the Kilroy was here picture, as I got one at the WWII Memorial in Washington):

In the Road to Tokyo:

We all came away much more educated, which is always a good thing.

We didn’t have to walk far before we ran into a parade. There are many parades today, culminating in one of the largest parades of Mardi Gras - Krewe of Endymion . This parade starts in Metairie and ends at the Superdome, where there is a huge ball and entertainment. Those attending the ball will be in tuxes and ball gowns and this year the entertainment is Pit Bull and Steven Tyler. Pretty fancy. It starts at 4:15, but probably won’t reach the Superdome until 10 or later. People camp out on the route for days, to reserve their spots. Pretty crazy. The parade we were watching was the Krewe of Tucks, which started in Uptown at noon. It was now 4 PM and was just getting to through the Warehouse District on it’s way to the French Quarter. We walked along and stopped every now and again to view it and catch some beads. It was pretty packed on the streets and very noisy. Here are some pictures of floats:

After about 1/2 hour or so we decided we needed to head back to the trolley to make our way to the shuttle stop. The French Market was near our stop, so we decided to stop there for a quick snack as we were all hungry and all the lunch that we had packed was gone. The trolley ride back was not as entertaining, but far more packed. We went to a cajun food booth in the market. Natasha and I got the gumbo and Blake tried the boudin, which is a large sausage that is stuffed with meat, rice and spices. It was very tasty, as was our gumbo.

On the trolley with our bling:

We then wandered over to the shuttle stop and caught the shuttle back to the campground. Isaac was desperate to go and check out more parades, but we were all exhausted.

Sonya