New Orleans
The
main floor of the museum is impressive with hardware and large
screen video |
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You
board a "troop train" to the main exhibits and choose a military
person to follow his journey in the conflict |
Looking down on the main floor |
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Exhibits included explanations
of hardware |
and life on the homefront |
This
plane was significant in WWII  |
Years
after the war, my aunt would tell me "save the soap for the soldiers"  |
The
reality of segregated America was also documented  |
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The
D-Day landings are a prominent exhibit This is an original map of Utah Beach |
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D-Day
- June 6, 1944  |
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In April 2015 we walked all the Normandy beaches |
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All
theaters of war are documented in this amazing museum
The War in the Mediterranean was of special significance to me because of the 5 battle stars of my Dad's ship the USS Philadelphia (my tribute website to the crew and their history) which contains additional documents and artifacts of those battles |
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Quite a surprise to see that the documents
featured in the exhibits were from the Philadelphia ("The Galloping Ghost of the Sicilian Coast" and "The Terror of the Tyrannean") The crew has held reunions for the last 54 years. They are very proud of their ship and their service |
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The crew of the Philadelphia saved
many artifacts from their time at war which are included on my
website The message below was in the memorabilia of a marine Don Passoth whose unit was part of the Philly crew. |
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The photo below was taken at Torgau, on the western front when American and Soviet soldiers joined up for the first time At right is the monument to this historic event
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The war in the Pacific continued after Germany's
surrender. The island by island campaign is well documented in the museum as well as plans for the invasion of the Japanese islands and the aftermath. |
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The
Philadelphia was not deployed to the Pacific, but was a front line
observer to an historical event that ended the war. In July 1945 the Philadelphia escorted President Truman to the Potsdam Conference. Photo from my Dad's album  He wrote in his diary that for some reason they are setting new speed records returning suddenly to the USA |
Crewman Russell Simpson recorded in his memoirs  |
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In a letter dated August 6, 1945 my Dad Frank Paukstis wrote: "I guess they won't need me in the Pacific after all" It is important to me
to remember this time in history |
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