Qualla: The National WWII Museum https://qualla.com/the-national-wwii-museum en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:04 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/9/v/r/f/the-national-wwii-museum-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: The National WWII Museum https://qualla.com/the-national-wwii-museum The National WWII Museum: Introduction https://qualla.com/the-national-wwii-museum/ Photo credit Nolabob, CC BY-SA 3.0. 'He won the war for us.' That was Dwight Eisenhower's verdict in 1964, speaking to historian Stephen Ambrose about Andrew Higgins, the New Orleans industrialist whose flat-bottomed landing craft carried Allied troops onto the beaches of Normandy, Iwo Jima, and dozens of other hostile shores. The boat that Eisenhower credited with winning the war -- the LCVP, or Higgins boat -- was designed, tested, and built right here in New Orleans. That connection is why America's official National WWII Museum sits not in Washington, D.C., but in the Central Business District of a Louisiana port city, on a street that now bears Higgins' name. What began as a single building dedicated on the 56th anniversary of D-Day has grown into a sprawling multi-pavilion campus that draws nearly 700,000 visitors a year.

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]]> Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/v/r/f/the-national-wwii-museum-wp/9vrf-the-national-wwii-museum-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full The National WWII Museum: From Brewery to Battlefield https://qualla.com/the-national-wwii-museum/ Photo credit Nolabob, CC BY-SA 3.0. The museum's original home carries its own layer of history. The Louisiana Memorial Pavilion occupies the former Weckerling Brewery building, designed by architect William Fitzner and built in 1888. The brewery closed just two years after opening, but the sturdy structure endured...

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]]> Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/v/r/f/the-national-wwii-museum-wp/9vrf-the-national-wwii-museum-from-brewery-to-battlefield.mp3 0:06 2 full The National WWII Museum: Warbirds Overhead https://qualla.com/the-national-wwii-museum/ Photo credit Nolabob, CC BY-SA 3.0. Step inside the Boeing Center -- the museum's largest building, formally known as the US Freedom Pavilion -- and the scale of the war becomes visceral. A B-17E Flying Fortress named My Gal Sal hangs in the cavernous space, an aircraft that was lost over Greenland and recovered 53...

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]]> Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/v/r/f/the-national-wwii-museum-wp/9vrf-the-national-wwii-museum-warbirds-overhead.mp3 0:06 3 full The National WWII Museum: A Dog Tag and a Story https://qualla.com/the-national-wwii-museum/ Photo credit Dsdugan, CC0. The museum's designers understood that wars are not won by machines alone. The 'Dog Tag Experience' invites each visitor to collect a replica identification tag upon entry. At interactive screens throughout the exhibits, touching the tag to a sensor reveals the wartime experience...

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]]> Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/v/r/f/the-national-wwii-museum-wp/9vrf-the-national-wwii-museum-a-dog-tag-and-a-story.mp3 0:06 4 full The National WWII Museum: A Campus Still Growing https://qualla.com/the-national-wwii-museum/ Photo credit Infrogmation of New Orleans, CC BY-SA 3.0. The museum has never stopped expanding. The Solomon Victory Theater, Stage Door Canteen, and American Sector restaurant opened in 2009. The John E. Kushner Restoration Pavilion followed in 2011, giving visitors a window into the painstaking work of preserving wartime vehicles and...

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]]> Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/v/r/f/the-national-wwii-museum-wp/9vrf-the-national-wwii-museum-a-campus-still-growing.mp3 0:06 5 full