Help us welcome a very special group of WWII veterans from Los Angeles, CA and Phoenix, AZ flying down with Soaring Valorto New Orleans this April 13-14. The veterans visiting will represent all service branches, and for many of these men and women it will be their first time in New Orleans and their first time seeing our nation’s tribute to their sacrifices.
Come out to any of these three opportunities to welcome our nation’s WWII veterans:
Welcoming the Veterans at the Hyatt Regency on Wednesday, April 13 at 4:30 pm
Join us inside the lobby at the Hyatt Regency at 601 Loyola Avenue in Downtown New Orleans to welcome the veterans as they arrive to their hotel.
Welcoming the Veterans to The National WWII Museum in front of the The American Sector Restaurant + Bar on Wednesday, April 13 at 6:30 pm
Help us give these veterans a grand welcome as they step foot on the Museum grounds for the first time for a special dinner in their honor.
Welcome the Veterans for their day exploring the Museum on Thursday, April 14 at 8:20 am
Meet us outside of The American Sector Restaurant + Bar to get the veterans’ day started with excitement as they begin their day of touring the Museum’s tributes to their sacrifices during World War II.
Please feel free to show your support in welcoming these veterans with patriotic posters, signs, and your New Orleans spirit! We hope to see you there for these very special moments!
Learn more about The National WWII Museum’s partnership with the Gary Sinise Foundation, Soaring Valor, that brings WWII veterans to the Museum and records their stories for the Museum’s Oral History collection.
Winning Students and Supporters from Helen Cox High School Spelling Out the School’s H.C. Initials
This past Saturday, March 19, The National WWII Museum hosted its Greater New Orleans National History Day regional contest. National History Day is a student research competition in which students, either as individuals or in groups, conduct research and construct a project on a historical topic of their choice. Projects in this year’s contest focused on the theme of “Exploration, Encounter & Exchange in History” with student-selected topics ranging from the disappearance of the Roanoke colony to the origins of cheerleading!
At this year’s regional contest, over 240 middle and high school students with over 130 projects in 18 different categories competed throughout the day for a chance to advance their work to the Louisiana State History Day contest which will be held at the Museum on Saturday, April 9 and will feature winning students across the state from the Lafayette, Monroe, Shreveport and Baton Rouge regional contests as well. The winners from the Louisiana State History Day competition will then travel on to represent the state of Louisiana at the National Contest in Washington D.C..
For these students, the regional contest was the result of many months of researching, writing and perfecting their work. Judging panels evaluated student projects in five different formats—exhibit, research paper, performance, documentary and website – with students placing in the top four of each category advancing to the State Contest.
Congratulations to all the winners and to all the students who participated!
This post by Collin Makamson, Student Programs Coordinator @ The National WWII Museum
Winning Students and Supporters from Helen Cox High School Spelling Out the School's H.C. Initials
In shipbuilding traditions, a ship’s life begins on the date its keel, the vessel’s foundation, is laid. On March 30, 1943, our vessel PT-305 came into existence and began her life at the City Park Plant of Higgins Industries in New Orleans with the laying of her keel.
View of a Higgins boat assembly line, sign above factory reads “The guy who relaxes helps the axis.” Louisiana in the 1940s. From the collection of The National WWII Museum.
Launched just two months later on May 27, 1943 and completed at the Industrial Canal Plant on December 8, 1943, PT-305 was assigned to Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 22 (Ron 22) to defend in the Mediterranean. Operating in the Mediterranean along the coast of Southern France and Northern Italy, with Ron 22, PT-305 participated in the Invasion of Elba on June 18, 1944 and Operation Dragoon, the invasion of Southern France on August 15, 1944.
During the 14 months that PT-305 was deployed in the Mediterranean, she conducted more than 77 offensive patrols and operations, fought in 11 separate actions and sank three German ships. More importantly, she was the home to 44 officers and enlisted men where she served as the backdrop for moving personal stories of war, including the trials of cramped quarters, the terrifying thrill of combat, and humorous tales of shore-leave escapades.
Following her wartime service, PT-305 served as a New York tour boat, a fishing charter, and an oyster boat, undergoing modifications along the way: new, less-costly engines; several new paint jobs; and a dramatic reduction in length by 13 feet.
Throughout the past decade, a dedicated crew of volunteers has been restoring PT-305 back to her wartime glory adding back the 13 feet to her keel and original Packard Engines. In October 2010, the volunteer crew laid the missing piece of PT-305’s keel, marking the start of her renewed life as the world’s only fully restored and operational combat veteran Patrol Torpedo boat.
Now at 73 years old, PT-305 is ready to hit the water once again. Help us return her to her home waters of Lake Pontchartrain, where she was originally tested for combat readiness by Higgins Industries more than 70 years ago.
View of a Higgins boat assembly line, sign above factory reads "The guy who relaxes helps the axis." Louisiana in the 1940s. From the collection of The National WWII Museum.
In 1988, after 41 years as a tour boat, scalloping boat, and fishing boat, PT-305 was sold again, this time to two oyster fishermen, who used the boat to seed oyster spat in the Chesapeake Bay. Notice here that 13 feet in length was removed from the stern .
The restoration crew at the Museum signed the 13 foot keel extension before installing it to PT-305. The signatures of the crew will now travel with PT-305 during her renewed life as the world's only combat veteran and fully operation Patrol Torpedo boat.
The 13 foot keel extension being installed on pieces PT-305's original keel putting the boat back to its intended length.
Crew members aboard PT-305. Gift of Joseph Brannan, from the collection of The National WWII Museum.
PT-305 today at The National WWII Museum.
The first crew of PT-305. Gift of Edric Costain, from the collection of The National WWII Museum.
PT-305 was named Sudden Jerk by her first crew, and remained her nickname for the duration of the war. The story goes they ran into the dock too hard, someone commented on the sudden jerk, and the name stuck.
The Contractors Plan to Higgins Industries that included the building of PT-305 in its commission.
View of a Higgins boat assembly line, sign above factory reads “The guy who relaxes helps the axis.” Louisiana in the 1940s. From the collection of The National WWII Museum.
PT-305 was in bad repair and un-seaworthy when Tom Czekanski, the Museum’s senior curator and restoration manager, traveled to Galveston Island retrieve her in April 2007.
Tom personally led the effort to have her towed from Back Bay Boat Yard in Galveston, Texas, to The National WWII Museum. That 500-mile trip was only the beginning of the project to return PT-305 to her original glory.
At the beginning of the journey, Tom’s team painted eyes on the front of the boat, which according to nautical legend would help her find her way home. Once back at the Museum, Tom mused, “We didn’t need the eyes anymore, because we had her home at last.”
PT-305 is ready to get back in the water, and today our Kickstarter campaign to help launch her hits its half-way mark. So far we’ve already reached our first stretch goal of $150,000, and we need your help to make our second goal of $200,000.
Help us get there. There are only 14 days to back Launch PT-305 on Kickstarter. Back this project now to put the world’s only restored, fully operational, WWII-veteran PT boat back in the water.
With enormous gratitude, we’re happy to report we beat our first stretch goal yesterday! That brings our Kickstarter total to more than $150,000 pledged. In other good news Drafts for Crafts was a tremendous success! We raised over $70,000 on Friday night, which will go directly to finishing PT-305’s restoration.
PT-305 all dolled up for Drafts for Crafts on Friday, March 11, 2016.
On that note we’re announcing a second $50,000 stretch goal to get to a total of $200,000.
We know that with the help of our wonderful supporters we can reach that goal. We’re also releasing another 10 “CDR” $2,500 level rewards.
Thank you all once again for your tremendous support—but the campaign is far from over. We still need your help to share this project! Please continue to share with friends and family via email, social media, and word of mouth.
Exciting news: as you have probably seen, we have reached our initial goal of $100,000! Thank you so much for your support! We couldn’t have done it without each and every one of you.
We also have some exciting news to share. Longtime Museum friend and supporter Gary Sinise has personally donated $50,000 to help launch PT-305 after seeing the momentum generated by this campaign! The combined total of our fully-funded Kickstarter campaign, Gary’s donation, and the Tawani Foundation‘s commitment earlier this week brings us almost halfway to our overall fundraising goal of $500,000.
To celebrate, we’re pleased to announce that we’re releasing another 10 “CDR” $2,500 level rewards. That means 20 people will have the chance to ride on PT-305 once she’s back in Lake Pontchartrain. We’re also announcing a new stretch goal of $50,000. We, and PT-305, need your help more than ever and we think this goal is attainable.
Also, tonight is our third annual Drafts for Crafts, an event put on by The Young Benefactors, a group of young professionals whose mission is to support the restoration and preservation of important WWII artifacts. This year, all proceeds from Drafts for Crafts will benefit the restoration of the Higgins boat PT-305 and its return to the waterways. A splendid array of delicious food and drink will be had, along with entertainment from The Essentials and DJ Matty of Mod Dance Party. It has been amazing to see all of your support. Let’s launch PT-305!
A huge thanks to the Pritzker Military Museum & Library in association with the Tawani Foundation, who yesterday made a $100,000 commitment to the PT-305 project—including a $10,000 direct pledge to our “Launch PT-305” Kickstarter campaign! This gets us closer to our $100,000 Kickstarter goal and marks a significant step toward our overall fundraising goal.
As of this morning, we have surpassed $50,000 in pledges to launch PT-305! Thank you for your phenomenal support—but the campaign is far from over. We still need your help to share this project! If you haven’t already please share with friends and family via email, social media, and word of mouth.
Yesterday we also completely maxed out at the “CDR” $2,500 level so we’ve now upped the limit to 20 as a way of thanking our supporters and inspiring more high-level pledges.
PT-305 is also making quite the buzz around town and across the country. Check out a few of the news hits below:
We need your help to get the world’s only restored and operational combat-veteran PT boat back in the water!
Over the next 30 days, we’re crowdfunding a goal of $100,000 on Kickstarter to return our restored patrol-torpedo (PT) boat PT-305 to her home waters of Lake Pontchartrain, where she was originally tested by Higgins Industries more than 70 years ago.
WWII patrol-torpedo boats were a perfect naval expression of the American Spirit at war. Today, just four of these combat-veteran PT boats still exist in the United States. PT-305 is the only one that is fully restored.
Now, after a $3.3 million restoration effort and more than 100,000 hours of work by a dedicated corps of over 200 volunteers, PT-305 is ready to hit the water.
BUT WE NEED YOUR HELP TO FINISH THE JOB!
We need to raise $100,000 by April 8, 2016, to get PT-305 back to her home waters of Lake Pontchartrain. To raise the money, we need all hands on deck to make this a reality.
Join us on Friday, March 11, at our third annual Drafts for Crafts event for an evening of delicious food, open bar, live music, and a bit of history raising funds for PT-305 at The National WWII Museum in New Orleans. TICKETS ARE STILL AVAILABLE
Learn more about PT-305’s history and restoration at www.pt305.org.
How would you like to earn six college credits in one of the world’s most beautiful and culturally rich island cities, learning about America’s role in the Pacific Theater of World War II―at the very place where we were plunged into this global struggle? Well, there are scholarships available to do just that with The National WWII Museum’s Pacific Academy!
This summer June 11-July 9, 2016, The National WWII Museum will be taking up to 100 college students from across America to spend one month learning about the attack at Pearl Harbor and other subjects related to World War II and Hawaiian and Asia-Pacific history at Hawai’i Pacific University. This once in a life-time opportunity will put you learning under top faculty—including featured professor Allan R. Millett, PhD—who share expertise and passion for the study of World War II and the history of Hawaii. When you’re not hitting the books, you can take advantage of Oahu’s famous beaches and tropical setting along with its many attractions where your studies will even take you like Pearl Harbor, USS Arizona Memorial, Iolani Palace, and more!
Scholarships are still available on a limited basis rewarding $2,000 per student to spend the summer in Oahu with us. To apply, enroll in the Pacific Academy now and submit the initial deposit of $1,000 to reserve your space. Then, by March 18, 2016, tell us in a compelling and informative two to three-page, double-spaced essay on how WWII influenced the character of the Asian-Pacific world in the Twentieth Century.
Help us welcome a very special group of WWII veterans from Los Angeles, CA and Phoenix, AZ flying down with Soaring Valor to New Orleans this April 13-14. The veterans visiting will represent all service branches, and for many of these men and women it will be their first time in New Orleans and their first time seeing our nation’s tribute to their sacrifices.
