World War II Museum

When one thinks of New Orleans several things come to mind: good food, the french quarter, Katrina, beignets, streetcars and so much more. But rarely does one think New Orleans and picture the national World War II museum. I myself was fairly surprised to find it here; Washington D.C. would seem like a much more plausible place to have it, being our nation's capital and all. But no, its found here in New Orleans.

After visiting the WWII museum this past weekend I found out just why it is located in New Orleans -- and it makes perfect sense! A man named Andrew Higgens manufactured boats in New Orleans. Specifically, he invented the LCVP, also known as Higgens Boats. General Dwight Eisenhower claimed that Higgins won the war for the Allies -- all because of his boats! The boats allowed troops to land on an open beach and without them the entire strategy of the war would have been different! Just think, D-Day never would have been able to have happened. Here's a picture of one of his boats:

The museum was originally entitled the D-Day museum and focused solely on D-Day. Believe it or not, it is the only museum in the nation to address D-Day. Currently it is undergoing an expansion that will quadruple the size of the museum! The museum will expand its exhibits to include all of the campaigns of WWII and provide visitors with a comprehensive history of the war. It is scheduled to be finished in 2015, so I will definitely be back sometime after then to visit the museum again!