Expansion underway at National World War II Museum

The New Orleans-based National World War II Museum has seen the best and worst of times since its dedication in 2000.
Originally built and dedicated as the National D-Day Museum, the facility quickly expanded to include permanent exhibits on the war’s amphibious warfare campaigns in the Pacific. Congress soon took notice of the world-class facility and designated the museum as America’s National World War II Museum.
While the facility’s three-square block site on the edge of the Warehouse District avoided flood-related damage following Hurricane Katrina, the museum, and much of the region, experienced a huge decrease in visitors in the wake of the hurricane. It was not until this July that the museum surpassed attendance figures for a comparable pre-Katrina period (July 2005).
But much brighter days are on the museum’s horizon.
The National World War II is ambitiously moving forward with a $300 million capital expansion project. Upon completion, it will create a six-acre campus of exhibition pavilions highlighting the entire American experience during the World War II years.
The mix of new exhibits and attractions is expected to boost annual attendance — projected at 300,000 for this fiscal year — to more than 600,000 when the last pavilion is completed.
Near-term expansion
The museum opened three new attractions the weekend of Nov. 6.
The crown jewel of the expansion is the Solomon Victory Theater. The 243-seat facility is home to the 35-minute, Beyond All Boundaries immersive epic that will tell the story of World War II.
“What happens through the 35-minute experience,” Stephen Watson, the museum’s vice president and chief operating officer, told the News & Messenger, “is to take people on a very emotional and immersive experience through the war.“
While the production will not tell the entire story of World War II in 35 minutes, it will give attendees a sense of the enormity of the war.
“This was a global war. We want to give people a sense of its high points and its critical points — how much it changed the country and how the nation came together as never before,” Watson said.
Tom Hanks, a long-time friend and supporter of the museum, is the executive producer and narrator of the 4-D production. The acclaimed actor and producer sets the stage for the beginning of the war during Beyond All Boundaries’ seven minute pre-show. Hanks is joined by an all-star cast, some of whom spent portions of their lives in New Orleans, to tell the story of the that war in the voice of the veterans themselves. Seven of the actors enlisted by Hanks for the production include Kevin Bacon, Patricia Clarkson, Brad Pitt, Gary Sinise, Elijah Wood, Justin Long and John Goodman.
Music and entertainment are part of the fabric of life in New Orleans. The new Stage Door Canteen will help the museum follow this tradition. The facility is a live entertainment venue modeled on World War II-era USO clubs frequented by servicemen and women in major cities in the U.S and Europe. The museum’s self-produced, live musical show, “Let Freedom Swing” will be the initial entertainment effort at the canteen.
“We’re going to build other entertainment around it,” Watson pointed out. The museum expects to produce other music and entertainment programs and host other groups touring the nation. “In terms of the live, cabaret-style entertainment, we’ll focus on something that is appropriate for that period,” Watson added.
After visitors work up an appetite walking the museum’s corridors and grounds, they will be able to order from a casual, reasonably-priced menu featuring American food — with a few local twists — at John Besh’s American Sector. Besh, a James Beard-award winning chef and local culinary icon who was raised in the region, has long been a supporter and friend of the museum.
The soon-to-be opened restaurant will also be open to the general public.
For younger audiences
The National World War II Museum is addressing a challenge facing similar institutions: how to attract and engage younger, technology-savvy audiences.
“This is critically important for us, to get younger people engaged in this museum’s mission. Museums and cultural attractions can’t present exhibits and fulfill their missions the same ways they did 30 years ago,” Watson pointed out.
The museum is focusing on younger attendees as it eyes the next expansion phase — the planned 2010 start-up of construction for the Campaigns Pavilion. The facility will cover other theaters of the war not addressed at the museum, including China, India, Burma, North Africa, and significant battles on the European mainland.
“This will complete our exhibits in the sense of all the campaigns of World War II,” Watson said.
The Campaigns Pavilion’s exhibits will use technologies that are engaging and help immerse the visitor in the display. There will be audio and visual aids in addition to interactive kiosks, as well as artifacts and dioramas.
“These will be done in a way to engage younger audiences,” Watson promised.
The National World War II Museum’s effort to become relevant with the nation’s youth is also being accomplished through an ambitious distance learning outreach program.
“Right now, our exhibit staff delivers distance learning programs via compressed video into classrooms all across the country,” Watson said. “You can have an educator standing in New Orleans in our education center presenting a lesson on the invasion of Normandy to kids in Boston — and we do that. We do it every spring and we are putting a lot of time and effort to developing our online material.”
Down the road
Three other facilities will round-out the museum campus in the next decade.
A Liberation Pavilion will describe the Holocaust and the long-term impacts of the war on America in terms of social change, technology and other forces.
The U.S. Freedom Pavilion will be home to the museum’s growing array of macro-artifacts — planes, tanks and other weapons platforms. A B-25 bomber and PT boat are among the hardware being restored for display.
And, finally, a 5,000-square foot Special Exhibits Gallery — will showcase for periods of about six months — major, special exhibits developed at the National World War II Museum or loaned from other institutions.
Family venue
New Orleans has stepped up its effort to become a more family-friendly tourist destination. Within the last several years the city has witnessed the opening of the Audubon Insectarium on Canal Street, the Southern Food and Beverage Museum at the River Walk and other attractions.
The National World War II Museum will help the Crescent City achieve its vision.
During the News & Messenger’s recent visit, Kevin Murphy and his three sons from nearby Gretna were visiting the museum for their third time. A special program on World War II glider pilots and units enticed the Murphy family to visit on a Saturday morning.
“My sons see something new and interesting during each visit,” Murphy said.
Bill and Andrea Smith and their two sons from Miami were visiting the museum to gain a better understanding of how their relatives served the nation at home and overseas in the war.
“We learned things about the D-Day [Normandy] operations that my grandfather never shared with us,” said Bill Smith. “He fought and was wounded in the battle. We’re proud of him.”