New Orleans, Part 3: WWII Museum

For those who didn't know, New Orleans is the home of the National World War 2 Museum.  Why, you might ask?  Well, it all comes down to a man from New Orleans, named Andrew Jackson Higgins.  Higgins was the founder and owner of Higgins Industries, which was based in New Orleans.  Higgins Industries was not only responsible for the design of the LCVP (Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel), or simply, the "Higgins Boat," during World War II, but also a huge percentage of the manufacturing of the LCVPs.  Higgins, himself, also gave the blueprints for the LCVPs to any factory that wanted to help them for the war effort.  General Dwight Eisenhower was once quoted as saying, "Andrew Higgins ... is the man who won the war for us. ... If Higgins had not designed and built those LCVPs, we never could have landed over an open beach. The whole strategy of the war would have been different."

Besides getting to see the LCVPs, we also got to see tons of other stuff that played a role in the war.

Like the LCVPs, the carrier that landed that Jeep above, to the ground safely, was almost completely made out of wood.
Below and in the top left corner, are what were known as gas ration tags.  I was excited to see these because out of all the things my grandmother remembers about time during the war, she remembers about the gas ration tags, and that because of her father's job at the time, he had one that allowed him plenty of gas.

The American flags above, all saw the war first hand, flying from the masts of our battleships.

The weird looking thing below is a piece of trinitite. Trinitite is the name given to the glassy residue left on the desert floor after the atomic bomb test on July 16, 1945, near Alamogordo, New Mexico.

The concrete capsule below is actually a one-man bomb shelter.

The rusty looking piece of steel below is a chunk of the World Trade Center, after the September 11 attacks.

And yes, that is a real, unarmed, grenade, being sold in the gift shop.  It was a lot heavier than it looks.

Although I have no picture, the coolest part of the World War 2 museum was the seeing the film Beyond All Boundaries.  If your in New Orleans, and don't really care to visit the museum, at least go and see this movie.