The World War II Museum – New Orleans

Our first goal to be realized upon our arrival in New Orleans was visiting the World War II Museum…

This museum is huge and you can’t just wander through it glancing at physical artifacts.  The amount of detail and information presented is almost overwhelming.  We were ‘fortunate’ in a sense as large portions of the museum were closed pending the upcoming opening of expanded and enhanced exhibits.  As it was, it took us all afternoon on our day of arrival just to see the portion of the museum that was open for visitors!

The National World War II Museum, (previously known as the National D-Day Museum), is focused on the contribution made by the United States to victory by the Allies in World War II, and the Battle of Normandy in particular.  In 2003, it was designated by the U.S. Congress as "America's National World War II Museum".  Its mission statement emphasizes the American experience in World War II.

Note: This is just one of the buildings comprising this museum.  We were only able to tour the Louisiana Memorial Pavilion.  The largest building, the Freedom Pavilion (The Boeing Center) was closed during our visit.

These displays of American and German uniforms and equipment was typical of many of the exhibits that we saw.  As you can see in the photo, detailed information is provided for each item shown. (The difference in photo sizes are due to Smart Phone vs. digital camera photos) 

Note: We started our tour with a ‘4-D’ film entitled “Beyond All Boundaries” as narrated by Tom Hanks.  In addition to the inspiring and realistic film, theater seats shook and flashes of lights erupted during battles, planes were shot down and explosions blasted the audience.  The movie tells the tale of the Greatest Generation’s journey from Pearl Harbor into the fire of several epic battles onto America’s final victory in the war.  There are many quotes included in the film that are in the words of the veterans themselves. The film is an add-on to visitor’s price of admission but its well worth the money!

Much of the portion of the museum that we were able to view is given over to photos and related stories…mixed in with displays of equipment, medals, and memorabilia.  To really appreciate this museum, one must slow down and read…yes actually read the stories that match up with the photos…

This is an interior photo of the Louisiana Memorial Pavilion.  There is a display of weapons, with a couple of airplanes hanging from the ceiling and there is the “Higgins Boat” shown above.  These “Landing Craft, Vehicle, Personnel (LCVP) boats were landing crafts used extensively in amphibious landings in World War II.  More than 20,000 were built and typically they carried a platoon-sized landing party of 36 men. 

Aren’t you Curious??  Why is the National World War II Museum located in New Orleans?  The city is not usually associated with 20th-century military history.  When the museum originally opened as the “D-Day” Museum, it focused on the amphibious invasion of Normandy.  Then a second gallery opened which explored the amphibious invasions of the Pacific War.  Since the “Higgins Boats” vital to D-Day operations were designed, built, and tested in New Orleans by Higgins Industries, the city was the natural home for such a project.  Of equal importance, New Orleans was the home of historian Stephen Ambrose, who spearheaded the effort to build the museum and wrote the book which inspired the miniseries “Band of Brothers”.

The movie “The Imitation Game” is a true story about a mathematician/code breaker who was able to devise a code breaking machine that could decipher the wartime German code system.  This is one of the Enigma Machines.  An Enigma machine was any of a family of related electro-mechanical rotor cipher machines used in the twentieth century for enciphering and deciphering secret messages.  In actuality, Polish mathematicians were the first to break the German enigma codes…causing the Germans to ramp up the complexity of their hardware. 

The WW II Museum contains a scattering of weapons ranging from bayonets and daggers to bombers, cannons and tanks.  These particular vehicles were on display in the courtyard area next to the Solomon Movie Theater where we viewed the film “Beyond All Boundaries”.

Among the vehicles on display are the M-5A1 Light Tank, an under gunned but fast moving light tank that was used throughout the war; an M-4 Sherman Tank; an M-3 Half-Track troop carrier, and; a jeep with a .50 cal. machine gun towing a pigeon coop/dove cote.  Pigeons were still used to send messages during WWII.

 

We sometimes forget just how big the war effort was… The military equipment production output was stunning!  Just for the vehicles shown above, 25,000 M-5A1’s, almost 50,000 M-4’s, over 50,000 M-3’s and over 640,000 Jeeps were produced by the end of the war… As for that 2.5 ton truck shown above, over 800,000 of them were built!

This was one of the strangest exhibits that we saw in the Museum.  As you can see from the label in the photo, it’s “Rupert”, D-Day’s smallest soldier!

Early on D-Day morning "Ruperts" would be dropped with several real paratroopers east of the invasion zones.  These dummies were dressed in paratrooper uniforms, complete with boots and helmets.  To create the illusion of a large airborne drop, the dummies were equipped with recordings of gunfire and exploding mortar rounds.  The real troops would supply additional special effects, including flares, chemicals to simulate the smell of exploded shells, and amplified battle sounds. This operation, code-named "Titanic," was designed to distract and confuse German forces while the main airborne forces landed further to the west.

This imaginative mission actually went according to plan.  Although one German general did figure out what had happened, another ordered the 12th SS Panzer division to deal with a supposed parachute landing on the coast near Lisieux which was found to consist solely of dummies!  Another “Rupert” drop diverted a German Brigade from the 915th Grenadier Regiment and the 352nd German Infantry Division reserve away from the Omaha and Gold beaches as well as the 101st Airborne Divisions drop zones!

The Museum's most poignant exhibits were the personal narrations scattered throughout the facility.  In these static or live displays with videos, either the printed word or the actual recording of a service member’s narration of events was presented to the listener.  There might be a group of 5 service members or war effort support workers with photos like this shown in an alcove.  Visitors can pick and choose which one they’d like to listen to… These exhibits really make the viewer more understanding about what our troops and citizens went through during this horrendous conflict.

As I’ve posted previously, my family was greatly impacted by World War II.  My father was killed in action against a German machine gun nest in Czechoslovakia on May 6, 1945…just 2 days before the end of the War in Europe.  I was not quite 2 years and 10 months old…

There is a plethora of newspaper headlines scattered throughout the National WW II Museum.  These headlines and articles cover everything from wartime production, to battles won and lost, invasions, political ramifications and of course, finally to the Allied victory in both Europe and the Pacific.  This seemed like an appropriate ending photo for this posting...

Here are some cold miserable statistics to consider.  These are the actual or estimated deaths for some nations as the result of WWII:

·       413,000 US military personnel and civilians.

·       495,000 British military personnel and civilians.

·       595,000 French military personnel and civilians.

·       Up to 3,120,000 Japanese military personnel and civilians.

·       5,700,000 million Polish military personnel and civilians.

·       Up to 10,500,000 German military personnel and civilians.

·       Up to 20,000,000 Chinese military personnel and civilians.

·       Up to 28,000,000 Russian military personnel and civilians.

·       6,000,000 European Jews died in the Holocaust during the War.

The total estimate of war related deaths as the result of World War II ranges up to 85,000,000!  By way of comparison, that is the equivalent of the current total populations of California, Texas and Florida, our 3 most populous states...

The National World War II museum is a must when visiting New Orleans.  It certainly isn’t “party central” like the city can be, but it is vital to the understanding of American and world history.  To learn more about this museum and to buy tickets, you can go to http://nationalww2museum.org/.  To paraphrase General McArthur, "We shall return!"

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for joining us on a brief tour of this important museum! 

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Railroad Depots Along the Way to New Orleans...

It’s been awhile since we hit the road and I had the opportunity to find and photograph some old railroad depots.  Actually, Laurie takes most of the pictures once we find the depots…

This is the entrance to the grounds of the Depot Museum in Fort Payne Alabama.  It is not, as one might expect, a railroad museum.  Instead, the depot and another building contain extensive examples of Native American basketry, pottery, and artifacts plus memorabilia from the Civil War, World War I and II, as well as the Vietnam War.   There is also a collection of dioramas plus antique furniture, books, antique pictures and many other artifacts.  Admission is just $3.00 for adults and $1.00 for students.  To learn more, go to http://www.fortpaynedepotmuseum.com/.

In addition to the depot itself, the railroad ‘relic’ on exhibit is a caboose.  Cabooses became obsolete when computer systems became capable of absorbing the duties of safe train functions by the addition of electronic trackside detectors.  This particular caboose was designed for local and yard service only so it’s a bit unusual.  It has a potbelly stove, ice box, a toilet, sink and a water tank.  There also is a small table on which the employees did paperwork and ate their meals.

The Fort Payne Railway Depot was built in 1891.  This outstanding and unusual Richardsonian Romanesque building was constructed using locally quarried pink and white sandstone.  It served as a depot for the Alabama-Great Southern Railroad for about 85 years.  When the Norfolk-Southern Railway announced plans to dismantle the depot back in 1985, a group of preservation-minded citizens bought the property. 

The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places 100 years after it was built. 

Originally the town was the site of a major Cherokee village and for a time it served as the home of Sequoyah, who invented the Cherokee’s written language.  Then US Army Major John Payne built a fort here to intern the Cherokee until they could begin the forced march to Oklahoma…”The Trail of Tears”. 

Circa 1889 – 1891, the town of Fort Payne underwent a major industrial boom based on the promotion of the coal and iron ore in the area…and the resulting speculation by investors.  The depot and nearby structures comprise the “Boomtown Historic District’.  At the turn of the 21^st century, about 7,000 persons were employed in local mills manufacturing socks. (Almost half of US production) Since then, Chinese imports have drastically reduced output.  The town currently has a population of roughly 14,000.  

We love to see railroad depots that have been repurposed after the railroads ceased service.  This depot now serves as the City Hall for Livingston Alabama.  This very old Southern Railway depot was originally built around 1850 to serve the passenger and freight services of the railroad system running between Atlanta, Birmingham, and New Orleans.  The left side of the building was used for freight and the right side for passengers.

 

Livingston was incorporated at about the time that Andrew Jackson was inaugurated as President!  As green as this area of Alabama is, available water was a serious problem for settlers in the early days.  The town was settled next to a spring…and in the latter part of the 19th century Livingston became widely known as a health spa because of the water from its unique Bored Well.  This well was bored by an old blind mule which pulled an auger around and around until an artesian well was hit in 1857.  A pavilion covers the well in courthouse square today.

Today, the town of Livingston has a population of about 3,300 residents.  It is also the home of the University of Western Alabama with its 5,200 students.  There are several historic buildings and sites in Livingston which we’ll try to check out on a future trip.

This is the front of the 101 year old (but busy) railroad depot in Laurel Mississippi.  This passenger station was originally built in 1913 by the New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad, which in turn was acquired in by the Southern Railroad in 1916. 

This is a trackside view of Laurel’s depot.  What!!  Who are those people sitting on the bench?  Can it be…? Yes, they are ‘passengers’ waiting for the “Crescent” passenger train that runs from New Orleans to New York City.

The city of Laurel has a population of almost 19,000.  Located in the southeast region of Mississippi known as the Pine Belt, Laurel was established in 1882 and first flourished during the growth of the timber industry in that region.  In the early 20th century, oil and poultry replaced lumber as the main product of the area. The lumber industry in Laurel received a needed boost in 1924 when William Mason of Laurel invented a process for steam-pressing wood chips into sheets, now known worldwide as Masonite.  In 1942, oil was discovered in Laurel, and today there are more than 150 companies providing regional service for oil and gas drillers.

Laurel's depot is served by 2 Amtrak trains daily.  One traveler I talked to told me that he uses the train to commute to Birmingham Alabama a couple times a month for business.  He catches the early train to Birmingham and the late train back to Laurel and he can work on the train.

The city took over the depot from the Norfolk Southern Railway in 1994.  The structure was sound but the interior was significantly decayed.  The building was open to vandalism and it was an eyesore.  Restoration of this 1913 brick structure included functional redesign of the existing rooms and adding an Amtrak waiting area, replicating and repairing as many of the historic characteristics as possible.  The original terrazzo floor in the main room was restored, turn-of-the-century style light fixtures were installed, and the original wooden benches repaired. The building now serves as a depot but also as a community meeting place and event center for weddings, etc.  It was set up for a Christmas gathering when I peered inside the windows…

While I admit that I've seen much worse Amtrak facilities, I don’t know if this can be considered a ‘true living passenger depot’.  This is it…benches on either wall of this room and a few Amtrak schedules on the wall.  No ticketing or baggage services are offered…

Of course, even though it was just coming from New Orleans the train was about 40 minutes late… I hung in there though just because I haven’t seen very many Amtrak trains stopping for passengers in small town America.

Notes:

·       Laurel has been the birthplace of several celebrities.  These include Lance Bass of the pop group NSYNC, actors Ray Walston and Parker Posey, and Olympic gold medalist Ralph Boston.  Laurel was also the childhood home of world-renowned opera legend Leontyne Price.

·       Laurel is also home to the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art.  It houses a significant art history library, as well as works by such noteworthy American artists as Winslow Homer, Albert Bierstadt, Frederick Kensett, John Singer Sargent and Mary Cassatt.  The Museum also houses a collection of fine European paintings, as well as 142 Japanese Ukiyo-e woodblock prints from the 18th and 19th centuries.

This was the climactic moment with passengers actually boarding the train in Laurel Mississippi!  The first stop south of Laurel is Hattiesburg and the next stop north is Meridian Mississippi.  This depot actually served 5,264 passengers in 2013! 

That’s about it for now… Just click on any of the photos that you’d like to enlarge.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out some memories from the past!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

On the Road to New Orleans…

Time for a road trip!  Laurie and I decided to meet Dawn Marie down in New Orleans for some fun and food just before Christmas.  It was our present to each other and a new experience for Laurie.  She hadn’t been to New Orleans since she was conceived…if you get my meaning! 

I’d visited New Orleans several times for fun back in the early to mid-70’s and had been back a couple of other times for business conferences.  My last visit had been just 2 years before Hurricane Katrina and I was curious about the status of the city’s recovery…

We decided to drive to Laurel Mississippi on our 1^st day.  That would mean that we’d have a minimal drive into New Orleans on our 2^nd day, giving us some time to visit the city’s new WWII Museum.

As usual, I spent some time researching the restaurants in each town or city on our itinerary.  Laurel Mississippi offered 2 interesting dining choices but after we arrived in town I learned that one of our choices wasn’t open for dinner. Hence, this is The Loft on Central Avenue which is located in the old historic downtown section of Laurel.  

  

The Loft on Central Avenue was a ‘happening place’ on this Thursday night!  It’s a big restaurant so we didn’t have any trouble getting a table but the place was filled with Christmas office party groups…

I believe that this building was previously an old bank and the décor was definitely ‘loft-like’ with what might be faux plaster patches over the brick walls.  If my research is correct, the Loft used to actually occupy the loft of this building…

This is our "appetizer!"  Yikes!  For some reason it’s called the Norwood Appetizer… It consists of Cajun Flavored BBQ Shrimp surrounded by toasted French bread for dipping in the sauce.  This huge pile of shrimp floating in the sauce with all of the French bread cost only $12.00!

In this case, superlatives completely escape us!  Laurie and both agreed that we would be willing to roll in this sauce… This was the best appetizer that we’ve had in many years!  Terrific!  Super!  Spectacular!  Amazing!  Despite the fact that we had entrees coming, we demolished this platter of goodness… There wasn’t a drop of sauce, a smidgen of shrimp or a bite of bread left when we finished.

For her entrée, Laurie ordered the Creole Shrimp Pasta. ($17.00) It came with a modest but OK dinner salad and a roll…which was used to mop up some more of the appetizer's sauce.  Laurie said that her entrée was very good…but it was tough following up on our appetizer.  She couldn’t finish her pasta, so I helped her...It was excellent! The sauce and shrimp were full of delicious spicy Creole flavour! 

For my dinner, I selected the Steak Alfredo. ($16.00) This consisted of strips of ribeye steak cooked medium rare on a bed of Penne (my choice) Pasta Alfredo.  The steak was pretty good but I thought that the Alfredo sauce was perhaps a bit too thin and a little bland for my taste.  But don’t get me wrong…I did enjoy my entrée.

This photo of our shared dessert is blurred…and in my opinion…deservedly so.  Our waitress ‘got lost’ a lot after another customer confronted her on a problem and it took her forever to come up with our bread pudding. ($6.00) When we got it, it was just a blob of bread pudding on a plate...without the caramel topping.  Finding and applying the topping was a major time consuming project!  After all of that effort, I thought that the bread pudding was way too mushy…although Laurie said that it was OK in her opinion but not warm enough for her tastes.

Despite a couple of issues, The Loft on Central Avenue in Laurel Mississippi was a winner! (I concur with TripAdvisor’s ratings which showed 28 Excellent or Very Good reviews vs. 2 Poor or Terrible reviews prior to our trip) We will return…and probably share an entrée along with that Norwood Appetizer!  This restaurant is located at 535 Central Avenue.  Phone: 601-518-0404.   The Loft on Central Avenue can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/theloftoncentral.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by and sharing our dinner with us!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave 

Laurie’s Birthday Dinner!

Laurie’s birthday is in December…but she really starts celebrating it and using it for ‘gifts’ for herself as early as October.  She actively promotes her birthdays as occupying the entire time period between Thanksgiving and December 23^rd.  Who am I to disagree?!!  After all, ‘Happy wife, Happy life!”

You guessed it!  This is a ‘selfie’ of us before going out for her birthday dinner… Are we ‘hip’ or what!  I’m not telling you how old she is… Suffice it to say she married a much older man.

FYI, this is about as dressed up as I get these days.  I’ve worn a suit once and a sport jacket once since retiring…  

This is the Cru Bistro and Wine Bar in Farragut and Knoxville’s Turkey Creek Shopping Center.  We’d heard some good things about it from some friends and Laurie suggested that we give it a try for her birthday…rather than just going to one of our ‘safe’ restaurant choices.  I liked the idea as I needed some more blog material!

This is the bar side view of the interior of Cru Bistro and Wine Bar.  It has a little of that ‘loft industrial look’ mellowed out with the lighting and wood accents.

It was Laurie’s birthday so of course, alcoholic libations were in order!  Laurie really liked her dirty martinis with tw0 olives but I stuck with my usual unimaginative Miller Lite beer. 

The pricing for the drinks was right up my alley!  The cost of a dirty martini was only $5.00 and my beer was $2.00…

We both ordered Caesar Salads with our dinners.  Laurie thought that hers was pretty good but I thought that the salad was very bland.  Question: a Caesar salad with cherry tomatoes and Kalamata olives?  Also, what was the purpose of the dry tasteless bread? (…a giant crouton referred to on the menu as a crostini)

I had to request fresh ground pepper for our salads…it should have been an ‘automatic’ for the waiter.  I also noted that there wasn’t any salt and pepper on the table for general use, perhaps serving as a statement by the chef?

I ordered the Dijon Pork Tenderloin for my entrée. ($17.00) It featured slices of pork tenderloin in a Pommery Mustard Cream with Green Beans and Benton’s Bacon in Yukon Potato Hash.  The pork tenderloin was very nice and the green beans were cooked perfectly. 

The Yukon Potato Hash was OK but it wasn’t as distinctive as I might have expected with Benton’s Bacon as a distinctive and featured ingredient.  I just couldn’t pick up the flavor of the bacon in the hash… The other problem was that the waiter didn’t know what was in the hash.  He went back to the kitchen and asked but either he wasn’t told or he forgot to tell me that it contained bits of red bell pepper.  I was lucky that they had little impact on the taste of the hash.  

Laurie wasn’t very hungry and she wanted to save room for dessert, so she ordered the Chicken Quesadilla from Cru’s Small Plate selection. ($10.00)  I believe that it consisted of grilled chicken, Cheddar-Jack Cheese and Black Bean Salsa with Avocado Cilantro Sour Cream.

Laurie thought that her quesadilla was excellent!  When researching the restaurant’s website for this posting, this item seems to have been dropped from the menu and replaced with a shrimp version for $15.00. 

For dessert, I ordered something that I’d never had before.  I like peanut butter, I like chocolate and I like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups so this seemed like a sure thing… It’s the Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cream Pie. ($6.00) It was luscious, but for my taste it was way too much of a good thing!

Laurie went with one of her favorite stand-by desserts…the Crème Brulee Infused with Orange and Vanilla. ($6.00) It was very good indeed!

When I got home and took another look at my receipt, I noticed one other little problem.  Laurie’s Caesar Salad was $7.00 as it didn’t come with an entrée.  My Caesar Salad should have cost $5.00 as an accompaniment to my entrée…but I was charged $7.00.  Not a big deal…but careless on the waiter’s part.

Despite any negatives, we did enjoy dining at Cru Bistro and Wine Bar…and we will return.  There are many other items on the menu to try out…maybe even some wine!  Cru Bistro and Wine Bar is located at 11383 Parkside Drive in Knoxville Tennessee.  Phone: 865-671-6612.  Website: http://crubistroandwinebar.com/.

On the way home we stopped and Laurie took this photo of the Christmas decorations in Farragut’s Creekside Park.  It was very colorful and festive!

When we got home, we took this photo of our ‘boss’…J.D. on his new Christmas blanket.  When we had company over during the Holidays and had to move his blanket so folks could sit on the couch, he was not a happy camper!

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

Why Not Ruby Tuesday?

Maybe our local Ruby Tuesday Restaurant is an exception, but we like it just fine… The company has been struggling a bit as of late but if all of their restaurants were as competent as our local outpost, they should have plenty of customers.  Of course the fact that the company’s headquarters is nearby in Maryville Tennessee, may be a positive driving factor…

(Note to East Tennesseans: Ruby Tuesday was founded by a University of Tennessee graduate!)

This is not the restaurant that we frequent in Lenoir City Tennessee… I took this photo from Wikipedia as we hadn’t taken a recent exterior photo of ‘our’ location.  Most of the restaurants have a ‘look’ much like this one.

Ruby Tuesday Inc. is an American multinational foodservice retailer that owns, operates, and franchises Ruby Tuesday restaurants.  The company has 850 restaurants in 47 states and 15 countries.  The international locations include such diverse countries as Egypt, Greece, Hong Kong, Iceland and Saudi Arabia.

Note: The restaurant's name was taken directly from The Rolling Stones song, "Ruby Tuesday", which was popular during the time of the first restaurant's inception.  The song was a number-one hit in the United States.

OK, on to the food!  This is the Thai Phoon Shrimp, a half-pound of tender, crispy shrimp tossed in a sweet and spicy chile sauce. ($9.99) Laurie and I really like this appetizer!  We order it almost every time that we dine at Ruby Tuesday…

When ordering dinner, we frequently take advantage of Ruby Tuesday’s nice salad bar.  It comes with dinner as one of your sides.  This was my overloaded salad plate.  Everything was fresh and it was really a meal in itself…

For my entrée, I ordered the Herb-Crusted Tilapia. ($12.99) The Tilapia was crusted with panko bread crumbs and then topped with lemon-butter sauce.  My second side was the grilled zucchini.  I really liked both the Tilapia and the zucchini!

For her dinner, Laurie ordered the Chicken Bella. ($13.59) Her entrée consisted of sautéed baby portabella mushrooms and artichokes in a Parmesan cream sauce over a fresh, grilled chicken breast.  For her sides, she chose the onion rings and the grilled zucchini.  She really enjoyed her meal!  It was all fresh and nicely seasoned…

FYI… If you go on-line, you may be able to find coupons for Ruby Tuesday.  Commonly, they’re “Buy one meal and get 50% off the second meal at the same or lower price”. 

“Our” Ruby Tuesday is located at the interchange with US 321 and I-75 in Lenoir City Tennessee.  The address is 120 Interchange Park Lane.  Phone: 865-986-0973.  Ruby Tuesday’s website can be found at http://www.rubytuesday.com/.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by and sharing dinner with us!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave