Every writer of Gent Life has a divine connection to the Second World War. Through grandfathers and great uncles, we hear stories of commitment and sacrifice that have traveled through decades of time filling us with pride and inspiration. The unfortunate part is we’re losing this generation fast, leaving only our parents, books and museums to recount their stories.

One museum we HIGHLY recommend is in New Orleans, Louisiana. You may ask yourself… why would the National World War 2 Museum be in New Orleans? New Orleans was home to Higgins Industries which developed amphibious boats capable of moving mass quantities of personnel and equipment ranging from Pacific atolls to the coastline of Normandy, France giving the city a quite unique, yet critical contribution to the war effort. General and former President Dwight D. Eisenhower said Higgins boats “won the war for us.”

It’s hard to ignore captured relics like Nazi flags or Japanese Samurai swords collected after brutal battles or hand to hand combat or even a B-17 Flying Fortress hanging over your head! But beyond these relics filled with stories the “Campaigns of Courage” allow you to follow a walking chronological path on the “Road to Berlin” and “Road to Tokyo” that our very own family members took part in.

There is no way your relatives were not impacted by this pivotal moment in history between the mid 1930’s and following the end of the last shot fired in 1945. Give yourself plenty of time and schedule some time off Bourbon street to check this out. (FYI: In 6 hours, we still couldn’t see everything in detail this wonderful museum had to offer)

Cheers, Gents!

WWII Museum