WWII Museum — US Freedom Pavilion

Dwight Eisenhower told historian Stephen Ambrose in 1964 that the inventor of the LCVP — the Higgins boat — "won the war for us." The boats were designed, tested, and built by Andrew Higgins and his Higgins Industries in New Orleans. Andrew Higgins' factory was blocks from the current site. Without those flat-bottomed landing craft, every Allied amphibious landing — Normandy, Guadalcanal, Sicily, Iwo Jima — would have been impossible. That manufacturing legacy is why the National WWII Museum exists here and not somewhere else. The museum opened in 2000 as the National D-Day Museum. Congress designated it America's official National WWII Museum in 2003. In 2013, the US Freedom Pavilion opened as an expansion, funded by a $15 million donation from Boeing and a $20 million grant from the Department of Defense. The pavilion holds a B-17E Flying Fortress bomber — *My Gal Sal*, lost over Greenland and recovered 53 years later — suspended overhead. A B-25J Mitchell bomber, SBD-3 Dauntless, TBF Avenger, P-51D Mustang, and Corsair F4U-4 are also displayed. An interactive submarine experience based on the final mission of the USS Tang is included. Upon entering the museum, visitors may collect a dog tag. Touching it to screens within various exhibits shows information about the experience of the person named on the tag. Personal stories of service members from every branch anchor the exhibits. The museum saw nearly 700,000 visitors in fiscal year 2016 and has become the number one attraction in New Orleans. Allow at least three hours for the full museum.