Immersion and Artifacts

New Orleans Day 3

My morning started out early with a 7 a.m. grab-and-go breakfast at Provisions, the hotel lobby marketplace, and then I met the group in the lobby at 7:55 a.m. It was an easy stroll across the street to connect with our tour guides in the museum lobby for our Early Access Tour.

We started with a brief overview and History of World War II and then experienced the D-Day exhibit. (Apparently, the museum started many years ago focusing on D-Day, and more recently it has expanded to all aspects of World War II.)

The two superb guides provided us with many interesting tidbits about how the war started, what life was like back home during the war, how the soldiers were trained, and explained how D-Day was the turning point. (I love having a guided tour as the people giving tours usually have great insight and hit the highlights quickly.)

For instance, I forgot or never knew that Mein Kempf was handed out to each bride and groom on their wedding day.

And, I had never seen the infant gas mask on the right in the photo. They would put the baby in a full-body suit and use the pump on the side to push air into the airtight chamber. I could see all kinds of problems with this mechanism.

https://www.objectlessons.org/conflict-and-protest-20th-century-to-present/baby-gas-mask-world-war-ii-original/s74/a973/

I guess because we are all wearing masks now and afraid of catching the virus the similarities were in my face - pun intended - and I was very interested in this.

In addition to our tour, we had a behind-the-scenes look at fascinating and unusual items presented by two museum curators.

We saw a Nazi flag that was signed by an entire regiment who defeated the enemy in Europe (I did not catch the location). Apparently, the entire group signed the flag and the soldier sent it home for safekeeping. (The curator said this was a fairly common thing to do and they have several flags like this in storage.)

However, this flag was unique.

This soldier's mother embroidered the names and hometowns of each soldier for fear of the ink fading away.

An amazing artifact not seen in the museum proper.

He showed us uniforms, medals, K-rations, rifles, and much more. At the end of the session, I had the opportunity to speak to one of the young men and told him about my dad’s journal. He said the museum would probably be interested in keeping the journal when I am finished with my research. I now have a starting point and a contact person to work through the process. This is very exciting for me and one of the major reasons for this adventure. I will keep you posted where this goes, but I hope to give the museum my dad’s journal and the book he annotated to put in their archives for preservation.

Our morning ended with a lovely luncheon held in a private room at The American Sector Restaurant and Bar located in the museum.

I am still getting to know the participants on the tour, but everyone is extremely nice and today the representative from the museum was Nathan. (I guess Sarah had the day off.)

For lunch, we had sausage gumbo with rice and a “big salad”. I also had a great Bloody Mary garnished with okra, green beans, and olives.

After lunch, I took a brief time out and returned to the museum in the afternoon to walk through the Road to Toyko exhibit by myself. (We will go through this exhibit with a guide tomorrow, but I was anxious to get a head start.)

I spent a great deal of time looking over the section about Leyte Gulf and Manila. This part of the museum is new and frankly amazing!

It is truly an immersion experience as you feel as if you are on a battleship and at the next turn walking through the jungle.

Fortunately, when I walked back to the hotel I bumped into my new friend Sandra from Osage City, Kansas.

We decided to forego the crowded bars on Bourbon Street and once again retreated to Rosie’s Rooftop. We talked until the cows came home and the sun went down and discovered that we had much in common. Sandra’s father was the publisher and editor of the Osage City, Kansas newspaper when she was growing up. Sandra now lives in Williamsburg, Virginia, is an avid reader and a world traveler.

Once again, it was a momentous day of learning and growth. I feel so fortunate to have this opportunity.