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The 2006 Student
On-Line Essay Contest Winners:
Second Place
Overlord II – Reconstruction
Charlotte Erin Aines
Loyola Academy
Wilmette, IL
I think that for 2006 the biggest challenge for the National
D-Day museum is to see to its own rebirth and ensure the
continuation of its own existence. This crucial first
year of its designation as “America’s National
World War II Museum” makes it imperative that the
museum’s focus be on sustaining itself first. The
museum cannot continue its mission of good work and historical
legacy in future years, if it does not have a solid and
secure base of operations to do so this year. In thinking
about what must be done, the geography of New Orleans
and Hurricane Katrina clearly show it is all about the
water; anticipating it, controlling it, and navigating
on it.
I think World War II provides a rich sea of ideas that
lend itself to the New Orleans environment. I have three
ideas from this conflict that I think would be relevant.
When stirred to action, I believe as Americans know how
to accomplish any task we set our minds to. These three
ideas can be done, if we only choose to do them. Move
the City Inland – At least a major portion of it,
and include the museum. Let’s think the unthinkable
and do the right thing – the tough thing, just like
the D-Day invasion itself. New Orleans remaining working
areas right now are back to where the limits of the city
roughly stood back in the mid-1800’s, as originally
dictated by nature. The city’s forefathers seemed
to be a bit wiser then, and knew not to build too close
to the water. Water, sand and mudflats are simply never
static, so why try to build in this transient environment
in the first place? You would never build your home on
a set of railroad tracks, because it is simply a matter
of time until a train comes along to wipe you out. So
why rebuild the city and endanger the museum by putting
it right back in the path of nature’s railroad tracks?
I think nature simply needs to scrub itself clean and
renew the land once in awhile. It uses wind and water
to do the job. Why park the museum right in the middle
of the flush? In World War II, the Germans, the Russians,
the Japanese, and even a few key American factories, packed
up and moved entire massive industrial complexes further
inland to put them out of the range of long-range bombing.
History shows this strategy worked, and even when these
areas were eventually captured by Allied troops, they
were found intact.
Resurrect Higgins Boats – Lots of them; newer,
bigger and more powerful ones, and in all shapes and
sizes. If you’re going to move a city that is
at the intersection of a great river and a great ocean,
you’re going to need lots of special purpose,
shallow water boats and ships that can run up on shore.
How about an entire custom built harbor area, just
for boats and ships that can unload through folding
bow ramp doors? Further, arrange to maintain this
area even after the city rebuilds, and start using
this port area for a new type of commercial cargo
ship that can unload right on shore. Vehicles and
cargo could drive right off into town or onto special
access ramps on the Interstate. In the event of another
hurricane and some associated damage, this amphibious
landing area is protected and pre-designated, like
a landing beach, for rescue forces to land. The Higgins
boat and the idea of rapid supply from the sea was
Louisiana’s contribution that won the war. I
think its contribution to history is not yet over.
Bring back the Mulberry - The Allied D-Day planners
seemed to know there was only so much stuff you could
bring across an open beach, left unprotected to open
sea. The Mulberry’s were clever floating chunks
of engineering that were part dock, part breakwater,
and part levee. In addition to rebuilding the New
Orleans levee system, why not augment the levees with
an outer defense ring of moveable floating Mulberry-like
structures? When connected, they would create a road
that leads out to sea to help ships that require deeper
water to unload. In normal weather they would also
act as an outer breakwater. In the event of a hurricane,
extra sections could be towed in place to create a
third or fourth outer ring, to break up waves and
storm surge. This would give New Orleans a flexible
and customized defense against the weather, instead
of sitting behind just one levee and waiting to get
hit at the weakest point.
In studying history and the great carnage in New Orleans,
it occurs to me there is one great truth here. That is,
that there is really no such thing as ever owning land
on the shores of the great rivers and oceans of the world.
Any great river or ocean is only letting you borrow the
land for awhile, until it comes back to reclaim it. I
propose a second Operation Overlord, this one to move
and build a bigger and better museum, so that the museum
can never be reclaimed by nature again. The D-Day museum
is a national historical treasure, and it must be protected
at all costs. We must make any effort to do so. I feel
that as American’s we can do anything we set our
minds to. By exerting a strong resolve, backed by focused
leaders, and cleverly applying some of the lessons of
World War II, the museum, and the great City of New Orleans
can be well prepared for all future adversity. With its
own existence secure, the museum can better focus on its
own mission of preserving the hard fought lessons and
priceless history of our forefathers, for the generations
yet to come.
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