December 30, 2014. Max Makes It to the World War II Museum, New Orleans, LA.

 

 

December 30, 2014.  Max Makes It to the World War II Museum, New Orleans, LA.   Annie Farkley and I met with Larry Decuers, Curator of the WWII Museum, this morning.  We delivered Dad's dress uniform.  Larry could not have been more gracious.  He took us to the head of the ticket line and gave us free admission to the complex.  He then guided us to the exhibit where Dad's uniform will be displayed.  He said the exhibit is changed every six weeks.  The uniform will be displayed in the building housing WWII airplanes.

Speaking of planes, the Curator showed us the plane most likely flown by my friend, Scott Wright.  There are three pictures of it above.  It is called the Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bomber.  It was an effective aircraft.  The Curator said it took out three Japanese air carriers in the first five minutes of the Battle of Midway.  It was replaced in 1944 by the Curtis SB2C helldiver.  SB2C, according to Larry Decuers, was an acronym for "sonnavabitch, second class" because it was much more difficult to handle than the Dauntless.  The Dauntless dove at targets from an altitude of 20,000 feet, reached dive speeds of 250 MPH and was carrier based.  Imagine trying to land one of those aircraft on a floating, bobbing landing surface, then trying to catch the tail hook on one of three cables atop the deck of the ship.

The Museum opened in 2000 as a D-Day museum.  It was located in New Orleans because that is where the Higgins landing craft were manufactured by Andrew Jackson Higgins.  The landing craft made possible the landing of nine divisions in Normandy on D-Day, giving the Allies a toe-hold in Hitler's Fortress Europe.  The Museum is now a sprawling complex consisting of four structures. The most recent exhibit, Road to Berlin, opened just this month.  There were the two of us there today along with 5,000+ of our closest friends.  If you are near New Orleans, the museum is a must see. 

I am indebted to Larry Decuers.  I promised to provide information about Dad and his relationship with Wernher von Braun.  Von Braun was the head of Hitler's rocket program who deliberately surrendered to American soldiers at the end of the War.  It was Dad's division to which he surrendered.  Several months earlier, he had injured his left arm and shoulder in an automobile collision.  Dad, a medic, treated von Braun and they became friends.  I think it was the von Braun connection that peaked the museum's interest in Dad's uniform.  I promised more information on that relationship when we get home.

It has been a good day.  We are in Gulfport, MS, tonight.  Tomorrow, we plan to move on to Gulf Shores, Alabama.  There, we will stay a while if they will let us.  Things are about to slow down.  Good.