Opening of Third Major Pavilion at the World War II Museum Adds Cogent Reasons for a Visit to New Orleans

For many, a visit to New Orleans is an occasion to get drunk, or to hear superb jazz, or to imbibe the gourmet specialties that so many restaurants here provide. But increasingly, visitors to New Orleans are spending a day or two at that city's World War II Museum, which is currently being expanded into one of the leading collections of important history in the world. The third of some three adjoining buildings opened last week, and the eventual aim is to expand the museum into a complex of six gigantic structures.

I visited New Orleans' World War II museum some years ago (it opened in 2000), when the guides were mainly veterans of that historic conflict (1940 to 1945). There probably won't be many survivors continuing to provide an escorted experience on the occasion of your own trip, but the museum contains so many movie theaters, video auditoriums and large, explanatory, video screens that even a person with no knowledge of the events leading to that war, and the conduct of that war, will be able to understand the exhibits and their larger themes.

The museum deals with the warfare on and under the seas, in the air, and on land. It displays numerous actual aircraft of the warring powers. It presents you with an actual World War II submarine, with the landing craft that enabled the invasion of Europe by American, British and Canadian troops. It relates the experiences of American soldiers. It tells the story of the Holocaust, the Battle of the Bulge, the London Blitz, the second front in Russia, every other major phase of that war. The events it covers have now grown to such an extent that a single day is insufficient to cover them all. If asked, I would respond that a two-day visit must now be planned to gain a full understanding of the museum's story.

New Orleans' World War II Museum is within walking distance of the French Quarter; there's no need to take a bus or taxi to reach it. The museum is open seven days a week from 9 to 5, and one-day admission is $21 for adults ($6 for a second day), $12 for students (with ID) and children 12 and under; free for children 5 and under; and there's an extra charge for visiting the theater. Don't fail to visit it on your stay in New Orleans.