Devastation of Nagasaki Industrial Factory District by Second Atomic Bomb on Japanese on 22 September 1945
As we come to the end of the our journey on the Road to Tokyo, we take a look at the final two exhibits within the Downfall gallery, which will examine the last ghastly months of war and the controversial military decisions that led to ultimate allied victory.
Dropping the Bomb
On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. A second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9. The unprecedented devastation these bombs caused brought the war to a sudden climax. This exhibit will cover the immediate effects of the bombs as well as introduce visitors to the unending debate over the morality of using these new and terrifying weapons.
Surrender
Experiencing the horror caused by the atomic bombs and faced with the additional threat posed by the Soviet declaration of war on August 8, Emperor Hirohito conceded defeat. The Japanese government agreed to surrender under the terms of the Potsdam Declaration issued by Allies, and victory over Japan was secured aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945. This exhibit will cover these final events that brought World War II to a close.
The Surrender exhibit has been made possible through a generous gift by the Ashner Family Evergreen Foundation in honor of John “Slew” McCain Sr., Admiral US Navy and John “Jack” McCain Jr., Admiral US Navy.
Susan and Michael Ashner
Donor Spotlight: Ashner Family Evergreen Foundation
The Ashner Family Evergreen Foundation was founded 12 years ago by Museum Trustee Michael Ashner and his wife Susan to better coordinate their philanthropic efforts. Michael and Susan are both from South New Jersey. Michael grew up in Margate and Susan in Pleasantville.
The Ashners have been involved with the Museum since 2011, when friends Ginny and former board member David Knott mentioned to them that there was The National WWII Museum in New Orleans. David shared stories of his involvement, and asked Michael if he too wanted to become involved with the Museum. Shortly after their discussion Michael took on a leadership role, joining David on the Board of Trustees.
Michael and Susan’s decision to demonstrate personal support for the Museum was also influenced by their family connections to the war effort. Michael’s two uncles, Morton Hassman and Jules Rainess, both served during WWII. Morton was a glider pilot and was killed in Operation Varsity, a massive airborne assault near the end of the war that landed Allied forces across the Rhine. Jules was in the US Army and served in the difficult New Guinea campaigns. Fortunately, he survived his combat tour.
Jules was reserved in discussing his wartime experiences. “He was a big man at six feet two inches tall,” Michael said. “When he enlisted he weighed 180 pounds. When he came back from New Guinea, he was down to 120 pounds.” Michael and Susan have named the Breaching the German Frontier Bunker gallery within the Road to Berlin in honor of the service and sacrifices of Michael’s uncles.
Michael chooses to support the Museum because it “believe(s) the cost and sacrifice of protecting our freedom and liberties needs to be shared with both current and future generations. We also believe the world should understand how strong a free citizen military can respond when provoked.” They feel that all who visit the Museum “cannot help but come away with some level of appreciation for the contributions that American soldiers and civilians made during WWII. I encourage everyone to visit the Museum and bring their friends and family. Each time I go there I enjoy it more and the people I bring enjoy it also.”
Museum President Gordon H. “Nick” Mueller said the institution “has always turned to its national board for leadership and support, and we are inspired by the generosity of Susan and Michael Ashner.”
The National WWII Museum is thankful for the support of Michael and Susan Ashner as we continue down our Road to Victory.
As we continue down the Road to Tokyo, we stop next at our final immersive gallery space, Downfall, which will examine the final months of the war and the world-changing military decisions which led to Japan’s ultimate surrender.
Unrestricted submarine warfare by the Allied forces were aimed to cut off Japan from shipping and trade while General Curtis LeMay’s low altitude bombing campaign incinerated Japan’s urban and industrial centers. With their economy destroyed, the Japanese could not produce the food and materials needed to carry on the war. The nation faced starvation. But the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa demonstrated that a fanatical will to resist animated the Japanese military and nation. The willingness to sacrifice and die for Emperor Hirohito allowed the Japanese military government to refuse to concede.
Therefore, the United States planned the largest amphibious invasion in world history, Operation Downfall. But instead of this invasion, the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, bringing the most violent, bloody conflict in history to a dramatic climax. Stunned by this new weapon which could wipe out an entire city, and accompanied by a declaration of war against Japan by the Soviet Union, the Japanese government asked for a peace settlement which spared Hirohito. The U.S. granted it. Victory in Japan Day, also known as V-J Day, occurred August 15, 1945, and American troops entered Tokyo unopposed at the end of August. A formal surrender agreement signed aboard the USS Missouri on September 2, 1945 finally ended the hostilities of WWII. Exhibits within Downfall will include Drawing the Noose, Defeating Japan, Dropping the Bomb and Surrender.
Devastation of Nagasaki industrial factory district by second atomic bomb dropped on Japanese on 22 September 1945.
Drawing the Noose
In an attempt to avoid a costly land invasion and force Japan to surrender, the Allies implemented a blockading strategy to prevent the Japanese from importing the vital natural resources they needed to continue the war. The Americans launched an aggressive submarine warfare campaign against Japanese merchant shipping and enforced a surface blockade. The exhibit will cover these naval tactics, as well as the firebombing campaign conducted by B-29 bombers which destroyed industrial operations and urban centers within Japan. Despite signs of their impending defeat, the Japanese military leadership vowed to continue fighting.
Defeating Japan
The Allied invasion of Japan, named Operation Downfall, was planned for November 1, 1945 at Kyushu, the third largest of the Japanese home islands. An invasion of Tokyo would follow in spring 1946. This exhibit will explain the preparations for the
operation and the defensive plan of the Japanese as they built up their resources on Kyushu and encouraged civilians to resist the invasion. Meanwhile, the atomic bomb was tested in New Mexico. The failure to force Japan to surrender through traditional bombing, and the heavy casualties predicted on both sides should the invasion occur, pushed American leaders to consider using this new weapon. The exhibit will detail the factors which informed the final decisions of the American leadership and cover the secret delivery of the atomic bombs to the Marianas Islands.
The Defeating Japan exhibit has been made possible through a generous gift in honor of Lt. William Mosey, Navy Air Corp, Lt. Jack Heise, Air Force.
As we continue down the Road to Tokyo, and through the Philippines gallery, our final stop is the Battle of Manila exhibit, which will detail one the bloodiest urban fighting scenes in the Pacific Theater.
Aided by Filipino guerrillas, the Allied Forces savagely fought the Japanese for control of the capitol. Rather than engage in house-to-house combat, the Allies relied on heavy artillery barrages to defeat the Japanese. This led to the complete destruction of Manila, once called the Pearl of the Orient, and resulted in the loss of more than 100,000 Filipino civilians. The fierce struggle to wrest the city from the Japanese ended with the Allies securing Manila in March 1945.
The defeat in Manila, though catastrophic, brought the Allies one step closer to liberating the Philippines from Japan’s barbarous control. By projecting their power and escalating the level of violence, the Allies were able to push through the islands and continue on their way toward the Japanese mainland.
The Battle of Manila exhibit has been made possible through a generous gift by Madlyn and Paul Hilliard.
Donor Spotlight: Madlyn and Paul Hilliard
Madlyn and Paul Hilliard
For more than a decade, Museum trustee and WWII veteran Paul Hilliard and his wife, Madlyn, have been two of the Museum’s most active advocates and supporters. They have provided transformative support for several Museum initiatives, including the capital expansion, acquisition and restoration of artifacts, collection of oral histories, and education programs.
Paul is a Marine Corps veteran who served as a radioman/gunner in SBD “Dauntless” dive bombers in the Pacific. He turned 17 in June of 1942 and pleaded with his mother to authorize his enlistment in the Marines, finally, in February of 1943, she relented and Paul was shipped to boot camp in San Diego. After more than a year of training in aviation radio, radar and gunnery, he was sent to the Solomons for assignment to an SBD dive bomber squadron.
In the Philippines the SBDs served as “airborne artillery” for General Krueger’s Sixth Army, assigned to dive bomb and strafe targets assigned by the army units attacking the Japanese on the ground. He flew many “Columbus missions,” named this because “we were unaware where we were going when we took off, we didn’t where we were when arrived at the target and when we returned to base we didn’t know where we had been. We did it all at the government’s expense.”
Paul said that when overseas, he knew little about events in the overall war beyond the view from their tent, their short mission briefings, or the unrecognizable sights from the rear seat of a dive bomber. Aside from that, brief summaries were fed to him about once a week in a crudely mimeographed news letter. He states, “we were mostly teenagers and much of our leisure was spent thinking about food, talking about food or complaining about food. The occasional cans of warm beer were a much-appreciated supplement.”
After being discharged, Paul states that he did not discuss the war for 40 years. He states “to those of us who wore a uniform between 1940 and 1946, it seemed as if nearly every man in America had served and so it was so normal, so commonplace, that the subject seldom surfaced.” He stated that with almost 50% of able-bodied men in the United States in uniform, each played an important role in securing freedom. Paul states that he credits “Stephen Ambrose with reviving the discussion and the interest as his books shed light on specific anecdotes, on small-unit-actions, and on the long-lasting impact the War had and was going to have on world history. Once I began to realize that I had been privileged to play a minor role in an enormous event, I became and still am, an assiduous student of WWII. The National WWII Museum has been and is an incredible opportunity to further my interest and to help tell the story of “the war that changed the world.”
The continuous support of Paul and Madlyn attests to their interest in and commitment to telling the story. Madlyn says, “what is so rewarding about [the Museum], is its growth and the enthusiasm of the young visitors, their amazing knowledge of events in the War and their enjoyment of their visit. It’s contagious!!”
Paul says the Museum “tells the story of America at its best and of not only what Americans did during that War to ensure the freedom of millions around the world but to assure later generations that when fascism tackles freedom, freedom is going to come out on top. And whatever we have done or are doing to assist in spreading and trumpeting that message, is done from a sense of gratitude rather than generosity.”
As we continue down the Road to Tokyo and through the Philippines gallery, we first stop at the America Returns exhibit which will detail General Douglas MacArthur’s return to the Philippines with Filipino forces in a joint military landing on Leyte in one of the largest amphibious operations in the Pacific.
“I shall return!” General MacArthur proclaimed after being ordered to leave the Philippines by President Roosevelt in 1942. As loyal Filipinos endured more than two years of brutal Japanese occupation, MacArthur remained fixed on his objective. The general was determined to avenge his defeat, but also argued that the United States had a clear moral obligation to liberate the American commonwealth. He further maintained that recapturing the Philippines would threaten Japan’s lifeline from Southeast Asia, including its vital oil supplies. Finally, the Philippines would provide bases for future operations—with a willing and able Filipino labor force.
The America Returns exhibit within the Philippines gallery has been made possible through a generous gift by Mr. and Mrs. Harry A. Donovan.
Donor Spotlight: Harry and Fran Donovan
Harry Donovan in Uniform
As a member of the VFW, the Homeless Veterans of Akron, and the American Legion Organization in Ohio, Harry Donovan is quite familiar with the importance of supporting Veterans’ causes. It was through one of these organizations that Harry heard of The National WWII Museum. He and his wife, Fran, first visited the Museum in 2009 for the opening of the Solomon Victory Theater. After becoming a Patriot’s Circle member of the Museum in the years following, Harry pledge a major gift in 2014, choosing to sponsor the America Returns exhibit within the new Road to Tokyo galleries.
Harry served in the South Pacific during WWII. He entered into the Navy at age 17, after begging his mother to sign for permission. He went in “without any skills, a junior in high school, gave up [his] education and went overseas, because [his] country needed as many men as they could get” but states that he has “never been sorry” of his decision. For his two years in service, Harry was on a ship that made 7 invasions to a various islands in the Pacific. His main post was as a Higgins Boat driver, delivering men from the main vessel to shore.
Before the captain would order men ashore, Harry was to surround all Ally vessels the night before the attack and set up smoke pots in the water, so that Japanese aircraft could not see the ships below. On one such night, Harry spent hours setting up the smoke decoys and headed back towards the main ship. However, the entire fleet had left the Island, leaving him and two other men behind in their small craft. Harry and the men spent 4 days without food or water offshore of an extremely dangerous Japanese Island, waiting for the return of their fleet. On the fourth day, Harry spotted an LST boat (Landing Ship, Tank) nearby, and went aboard for dinner and a shower. The Captain of the LST boat urged Harry and the men to stay the night on the ship, but Harry did not want to leave his craft alone at night. When Harry and the men returned to the LST boat the next morning for breakfast, a Japanese attack to their ammunition room left 90% of the crew dead, a reminder to Harry that it was prayer and “his God that got [him]through it.”
Harry Donovan
Harry had another close call during his service as well. The vessel he was on was struck by an enemy attack, and the force threw him against the bulkhead of the ship. He awoke in the Sick Bay, and was told that although he was only 17, he would not be able to walk again. After 3 months of boredom in bed, and sheer determination, Harry got up, walked down to the galley kitchen, and made breakfast for the entire crew. Not only was he able to walk, but from then on, he became a Navy cook, a task he said he adored.
Harry states that he “gives half of his income to Veterans” every year. When asked why he supports the National WWII Museum specifically, Harry states that his purpose in life “is to acquaint people with what WWII did for America. It truly made America the nation it is today.” He said that his involvement with the Museum, from getting lunch with President Nick Mueller in Florida, to his hours long oral history recording with Tom Gibbs, to his correspondence with Major Gifts Officer Abbie Sumners, has been incredibly beautiful.
The Museum is fortunate to have the encouragement of Harry and Fran Donovan. We are grateful for their support of our Road to Victory Capital Campaign and the expansion of the Museum campus.
As we continue down the Road to Tokyo, and through the China-Burman-India gallery,we stop at our final exhibit of the gallery which will detail the role of the United States Armed Air Forces and their critical assistance in securing Allied success in CBI.
Flying Tigers/Air Power
This exhibit portrays the important role of the USAAF in the China-Burma-India campaign. The exhibit will discuss the successes they had against Japanese air attacks early in the war, and how the 10th AF provided critical transport and air support to British, Chinese, and American forces while conducting raids against key Japanese targets in Southeast Asia. This exhibit will also tell the detailed story of the famous P-40 Flying Tigers. Created under authority of the U.S. government, the Flying Tigers were the most successful Allied fighter squadron in the Pacific at the time, flying under contract with the Chinese government and using a warning network and unorthodox combat tactics. Finally, the exhibit will unveil the history of the “Aluminum Trail,” the air route over Himalayas, which acted as the only means to ferry men and supplies into China.
Pfc. Edeleanu prints news bulletin on bulletin board outside Intelligence tent of Kyaukpyu Camo the day before OSS, AFU, and departure via convoy for Rangoon.
As we continue down the Road to Tokyo, and through the China-Burman-India gallery, we stop next at two exhibit spaces detailing the military efforts to keep China in the war as well as discussing the importance of Sino-American Cooperative Organization and the Office of Strategic Services during the first years of the war in the Pacific.
Logistics
This exhibit will tell the story of the critical logistical and military efforts made by the Allies to keep China in the war. This includes support for the Kuomintang government within a divided China, and General Stilwell’s pivotal role in dealing with the political challenges encountered in Nationalist China.
Keeping China in the war against Japan was essential for the success of the United States in the Pacific Theater. Allowing Japan to reap the benefits of Chinese resources could have been potentially hazardous to the war effort in the Pacific. General Joseph Stilwell entered the region in 1942 and worked to coordinate the Chinese and US efforts on the ground. The 10th, 14th, and 20th Air Forces all had units in the area to help with the effort. Operation Ichi-Go, carried out by the Japanese was a successful attack and seizure of multiple US Air bases in China.
Lacking the major battles of the European and Pacific theaters, the China-Burma-India campaign’s importance lay in keeping the Japanese from further expanding their empire. China was the next domino to fall to Japan, and that could have made it more difficult for American forces in the Pacific.
This exhibit will describe the Sino-American Cooperative Organization and the Office of Strategic Services during the first years of the war. By attaching to the 14th Air Force, OSS expanded intelligence gathering, set up networks behind enemy lines, conducted “black propaganda,” and provided Chennault with target data and pilot rescue service. The exhibit closes with a personal story on General Johnny Alison.
The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was important to the success of Allied military operations in the China Burma India Theater. The OSS activated a special branch for military operations called Detachment 101. Detachment 101 authorized behind the lines covert action against Japanese forces in Burma and in China. General Stilwell’s Chinese forces were able to take advantage of covert resources, as well as Wingate’s Raider. Merrill’s Marauders took advantage of covert intelligence, the knowledge they ascertained was critical because it allowed them to conduct their missions successfully. The OSS also helped facilitate different local guerilla groups that were against Japanese expansion. The OSS’s was critical to success in the China Burma India Theater because it allowed for Allied forces to coordinate in an unconventional way. As a result of the terrain and the Japanese ability to remain undetected, covert activities were essential in intelligence gathering. Covert intelligence also helped in rescuing downed US Airmen in the area.
As we continue to travel down the Road to Tokyo and out of the Island Hopping gallery, visitors will stop next at the China-Burma-India gallery, which details the important campaign led by the Allies to prohibit the Japanese from further expanding their empire.
The China-Burma-India gallery provides an overview of the campaign to halt Japan’s determined western advance within China, Burma, and India from 1937-1942. The gallery will explore the tactics used by the Allies to stop the Japanese from controlling these countries, including keeping China in the war, the important role of pilots and air power, as well as an overview of Special Forces operations, including those involving the Office of Strategic Services.
The gallery will feature rare artifacts, exhibits and interactive elements. Exhibits will explore the collaboration between Chinese and American military leadership and present the major developments in the planning of air attacks in difficult environmental conditions.
The gallery will feature four exhibits that will use immersive environments, rare artifacts, and interactive elements to captivate and educate visitors about this important, and often untold, story of the Pacific war. The exhibits include Strategic Importance of CBI, Logistics, Raiders and Covert Ops, and Flying Tigers/Air Power.
Chinese infantry division soldiers marching in China in July 1945
Strategic Importance of CBI
This exhibit will provide an overview of Japan’s early advances in the CBI theater and the Allied campaign to limit further expansion. Events highlighted within the exhibit include discussion of the Chinese forces under General Stilwell fight in Burma, the retreat to India, the closure of Burma Road, and the Chinese army and guerrilla units’ five-year struggle against the Japanese in mainland China. The exhibit also highlights the importance of China’s role in the war. The majority of Japanese army strength was occupied in China, and American air power in China was a key strategy in 1942-43.
The Strategic Importance of CBI has been made possible through a generous gift by the Brees Family in honor of Col. Eugene W. Brees II, US Army.
Joy and Boysie Bollinger
Donor Spotlight: Joy and Boysie Bollinger
The China-Burma-India gallery has been made possible through a generous gift by Joy and Boysie Bollinger.
Twenty years after first becoming involved with The National WWII Museum, Boysie Bollinger remains tireless in his support. In his work on the Museum’s Board of Trustees, Bollinger has lobbied government officials, potential donors, friends, and anyone who will listen to support the Museum. On March 24, 2015, he and wife Joy led by example with their own donation to the Museum of $20 million.
Ranking among the top donations in the country to a non-profit organization or museum, this is the largest private gift ever received by the Museum. The gift will be used to add an iconic architectural piece to the Museum’s six-acre New Orleans campus: the Canopy of Peace.
Bollinger calls the Canopy “the finishing touch” to the Museum’s expansion. The Canopy will symbolize the hope and promise unleashed by the end of WWII hostilities. Commanding attention on the New Orleans skyline, the 150-foot-tall structure will also unify the Museum’s diverse campus in the enduring spirit of the wartime slogan, “We’re all in this together!”
A portion of the historic donation will also go to the Museum’s endowment, a step Bollinger noted as significant to the institution’s future. The endowment guarantees the Museum will always have a steady source of funds to support the growing campus. Bollinger, a key player in the Museum’s leadership through critical phases, has always understood the importance of expanding the institution’s campus and its reach, and his donation will guarantee the Museum can continue on this essential path.
Bollinger’s passion for the Museum is easily noted through his unwavering commitment to telling the story of the Greatest Generation. Bollinger states “what these people did for us is mindboggling. I worked every day of my life with two uncles that fought in the Pacific, neither one had ever mentioned a word about it. It forced me to go sit with them and make them tell me their stories. I never would have had that experience without being involved here.”
7th Infantry division soldiers helping local population for eventual evacuation off island on Kwajalein in February 1944
As we continue down the Road to Tokyo and through the last half of the Island Hopping gallery, we come upon two exhibit spaces detailing the invasions of the Marshall and Marianas Islands, which brought Allied forces one step closer to victory in the Pacific.
Marshall Islands Campaign
This exhibit will detail the major events and importance of the invasion of the Marshall Islands and Truk, including Kwajalein Island, which were critical to penetrating Japan’s “Outer Ring” of defenses. The Japanese were quick to learn how to reinforce their beach defenses, and subsequently, island invasions grew more costly to the US. Countering this, the US submarine force responded dramatically with increasing numbers and efficiency in their attacks. US subs began destroying large numbers of Japanese merchant ships, troop transports, and warships, effectively harming the enemy’s industry and war effort.
Pilots and crewman aboard a U.S. Navy carrier cheer as guns strike a smashing blow to a Japanese plane in the Marianas on 22 February 1944
Marianas Campaign
In the Marianas exhibit, visitors will learn of the critical campaign in 1944 to take the Marianas Islands away from the Japanese. Key battles discussed within the exhibit including the amphibious invasion of Saipan, the destructive naval Battle of the Philippine Sea, and fighting for Guam and Tinian. The strategic value of the Marianas will be dramatically displayed, as the Americans used these islands as air bases to strike and wreak devastation through B-29 attacks directly on mainland Japan. In addition, the exhibit will document the role and success of Native American code-talkers on Saipan.
Stay tuned next week as we enter into the China-Burma-India gallery.
As we continue down the Road to Tokyo and through the Island Hopping gallery, which will detail the incredible amphibious landings made by Allied forces as they engaged in efforts to clear the Japanese resistance from the Aleutians, through New Guinea, and the outer rings of the Gilbert, Marshall, and Marianas island chains. Throughout, the exhibits will communicate both the broad strategic complexity of the island hopping campaign and the individual bravery and leadership of the service members who took part in it.
The first exhibit within the gallery is Strategic Overview, which will give a detailed overview of the major events of the post-Guadalcanal Island Hopping Campaign and the importance of the Air War in the Central Pacific. Island hopping was an innovative American military strategy in the Pacific. It created the pathway for American forces to close the vast distances of the Pacific and bring the war to Japan itself. Visitors will learn about the intelligence planning that orchestrated these island invasions and the brutal fighting and challenges which American forces met on the Road to Tokyo.
A Douglas R4D bomber on the airfield at Majuro Island, a tiny atoll near Kwajalein in the Marshalls in May 1944.
Following Strategic Overview, the New Guinea exhibit will explore the arduous battle through New Guinea’s jungles as the Allies counterattacked the Japanese and secured key points along the island’s northern coast. Initially making little progress, Australian and American forces gradually advanced with breakthroughs at Buna, Gona, and Sanananda, as well as the destruction of Japanese forces in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea. Visitors will discover the significance of New Guinea as a catalyst for the Island Hopping campaign.
Next week, we explore the remaining exhibits within the Island Hopping gallery.
As we continue through the Road to Tokyo and into the Pacific Campaign Challenges gallery, we come to two immersive exhibits detailing the monumental obstacles American forces had to overcome for victory in the Pacific.
Building Bases in the Pacific (Seabees)
The vast geography and logistical challenges of the Pacific War led to the creation of hundreds of airfields, supply depots, ports, barracks and more by the Navy’s Construction Battalions (CB, or “SeaBees”) as well as other service engineers. Building Bases in the Pacific will explore the lives of these critical servicemen including the complexities of their work and the obstacles that they faced. Personal accounts will feature the difficulties of life in disease ridden and hostile environments, and the importance of building positive relationships with native island populations. Construction was vital for pushing toward mainland Japan, and this exhibit will discuss the various ways in which Navy SeaBees helped lead to Allied victory in the Pacific.
An Alien World
This exhibit will explore difficulty of life in the Pacific, as well as the medical advances that were made in light of many hardships. American forces serving in the Pacific had little opportunity to escape the war. Escape was crucial for troops to mentally and physically recover from their service, though there was little that compared to the comforts of home. Some troops were allowed furloughs in Australia and New Zealand, but many were trapped in the tedium of remote island locations, never allowing them a break from their environments. An Alien World will feature various accounts and memoirs of these trying times of Pacific campaign service men and women.
Donor Spotlight: Jones Walker LLP
The Building Bases in the Pacific exhibit within Pacific Theater Challenges (Seabees) has been made possible through a generous gift by Jones Walker LLP. Bill Hines is the Managing Partner of Jones Walker and also serves on The National WWII Museum Board of Trustees.
Jones Walker has been committed to and involved in the Museum’s growth since its inception. Many Jones Walker partners have personally supported the Museum both financially and through the development of its programs. Hines became actively involved as a member of the Board in 2007, and became a member of the Executive Committee in 2013. He currently chairs the Museum’s Audit Committee.
Jones Walker was especially interested in supporting the Museum’s Road to Victory Capital Campaign due to the efforts of the Museum’s Board Chairman, Richard Adkerson, CEO of Freeport-McMoRan. Adkerson introduced the firm to the upcoming Road to Tokyo galleries. Hines states that “many of our partners and I were moved by the exhibits, and we felt inspired to support this segment of the Museum’s visionary expansion.”
A Seabee in a road grader waves as a Boeing B-29 Superfortress prepares to land on Tinian in March 1945
After the presentation, Jones Walker committed to sponsor the Building Bases in the Pacific (Seabees) exhibit. Hines says that “we were drawn to Seabees exhibit because of Richard Adkerson, whose father, J.W. Adkerson, was in the Seabees. We thought it was the perfect way to honor Richard’s father and the other noble men who fought in WWII for the cause of freedom.”
Commenting on his many years of involvement with the Museum, Hines states that President and CEO, Dr. Gordon “Nick” Mueller never fails to leave a lasting impact. Hines remarks that Dr. Mueller “has unparalleled knowledge about the detailed history of WWII and its importance to the world. His passion, vision, and drive for conceiving many of these exhibits and executing on the vision are great assets to our city and our country. Because of his work, our children and our grandchildren will know how important WWII is to our history as a nation. Seeing the Museum through to completion has made a great impression on me and many others at Jones Walker. “
When reminiscing of his time spent on the Museum’s Board, Hines states that he has found many of the Museum’s events both memorable and moving. One that stood out the most to him was the Grand Opening ceremonies for the Road to Berlin galleries last December. Hines states that “I found it to be one of the most inspiring and patriotic events I’ve ever attended.”
Hines believes that supporting the WWII Museum is most important in preserving our nation’s history and allowing future generations to be fully educated about the significance of WWII. He states that “it is an honor to have Jones Walker associated with such an amazing organization, and I would encourage others to consider supporting the Museum.”
The Museum is fortunate and grateful to have the support of Jones Walker, LLP in helping the Museum complete our Road to Victory Capital Campaign.
