The newly renovated Malcolm S. Forbes Rare and Iconic Artifacts Gallery provides a new opportunity for the Museum to highlight hidden gems from its vast collection of more than a quarter of a million objects and a wealth of archival materials and oral histories—only a small percentage of which can be displayed at any one time.
With the support of the Timothy Forbes Family, the Forbes Gallery includes more than 50 artifacts—from the one-of-a-kind to the ever-present, the personal to the universal—that are symbolic of the WWII era. The objects on display give fascinating insight into different perspectives of the war effort and reveal the stories behind some of the most monumental events in World War II.
The gallery also features Voices from the Front, a new interactive experience made possible by the generous support from Margie and St. Denis J. “Sandy” Villere that allows guests to hold conversations with more than a dozen members of the WWII generation. Facilitated by artificial intelligence, museumgoers can personally engage with veterans, Home Front workers, and other witnesses to the war well into the future. Voices from the Front puts real faces to history, offering unique and intimate perspectives and bridging the gap between generations.
ABOUT MALCOLM FORBES
Malcolm Forbes was the third son of Bertie Charles Forbes, a Scottish emigrant who founded the now-iconic Forbes magazine. He enlisted in the US Army in 1942 and, despite having an Ivy League education, served as a machine gunner with the 334th Infantry Regiment, 84th Infantry Division, on the front lines in Europe. Forbes rose to the rank of Staff Sergeant and received a Bronze Star for actions in Germany on November 26, 1944, when he observed and reported an unprotected gap that the enemy could exploit to encircle his battalion; he was also awarded the Purple Heart after being wounded in combat. Both medals are on display in the Malcolm S. Forbes Rare and Iconic Artifacts Gallery, along with other awards and Forbes’s war-weathered field jacket.
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Artifacts related to entrepreneur and politician Malcolm S. Forbes’s service in the European theater of World War II—including his Bronze Star, Purple Heart, and war-weathered field jacket—are featured in the entryway to the Forbes Rare and Iconic Artifacts Gallery.
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The newly renovated Malcolm S. Forbes Rare and Iconic Artifacts Gallery at The National WWII Museum in New Orleans displays more than 50 artifacts—both uncommon and seemingly ordinary—that are symbolic of the WWII era.
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The Forbes Gallery houses Voices from the Front, a new interactive experience that allows guests to hold conversations with more than a dozen members of the WWII generation. Among them are Hershel “Woody” Williams, who was the last living Medal of Honor Recipient from World War II when he passed away in 2022; his US Marine Corps uniform and Medal of Honor are on display in the gallery.
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Facilitated by AI technology, Voices from the Front allows visitors to ask any question to the video display of their chosen WWII generation member, and then hear a real-time response—pulled directly from a cache of prerecorded answers to hundreds of questions.
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A print of Joe Rosenthal’s Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of the flag-raising on Iwo Jima—made from the original negative and signed by the photographer—is on display in the Forbes Gallery.
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