It’s the one place I wished my grandfather could have visited before he died. My grandpa was a member of the U.S. Army’s highly decorated 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry. It is the only remaining Infantry unit in the Army Reserve force structure.
Many books have chronicled the heroic actions of the members of the 100th Battalion and 442nd Infantry. Many note that none have shed their blood more valiantly for America than the Japanese Americans who served in these units while fighting enemy forces in Europe during World War II.
My grandfather was a proud member of this elite group and made it his mission to make sure my brothers and I knew what he and his fellow comrades did on the frontlines was not in vain. I grew up being acutely aware of how much it meant to my grandfather to be a part of the 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry, which is why I wish he could have lived long enough to visit the National World War II Museum in New Orleans.
The museum opened opened June 6, 2000, a year after my grandfather died. Back then the popular Louisiana attraction was called the D-Day Museum, but four years later it was designated by Congress as the official World War II Museum for the country and subsequently changed its name.
The museum was the brainchild of historian Stephen E. Ambrose, who taught at the University of New Orleans. He originally envisioned it as a small place to hold World War II mementos he had collected from veterans. But war vets and their families had other ideas. More than 300,000 people now visit the museum annually and museum directors expect the numbers to double once renovations are complete.
The museum is currently undergoing a $300-million expansion, which is slated for completion by 2015. Museum officials say at that time the structure will be “a fitting monument to the sacrifices of a generation of Americans.”
However, you won’t have to wait another seven years to take in the historically rich new additions. The first two buildings in the expansion are scheduled to open next year. When they do guests will be able to tour a variety of exhibits including a U.S. Freedom Pavilion, Great Campaigns of the War, Land Sea and Air Pavilion, which will house major artifacts such as ships and planes, and a Liberation Pavilion, which will focus on the Holocaust and the advances in human rights and technology following the Allied victory in 1945.
Plans also call for the construction of a new theater and a restaurant/entertainment center dubbed the “Stage Door Canteen” to be built across the street from the popular museum. The 250-seat technologically advanced 4-D theater will present a one-of-a-kind film being developed in cooperation with Tom Hanks.
When the expansion is complete it will include seven buildings on six acres.
In the meantime, the museum (which is located at 945 Magazine St.) is hosting a special exhibition called “Real to Reel: Hollywood and World War II.” From now through August 31st, the museum is displaying artifacts, images, movie posters and audiovisual material spotlighting the relation between Hollywood and the military.
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