The public, Museum staff and representatives from all branches of military service will gather at 10:00 a.m. in the Louisiana Memorial Pavilion on Andrew Higgins Drive for day-long observances that include performances by the Marine Corps Band and the Museum’s Victory Belles, a eulogy for a WWII soldier read by a student scholar from New Orleans and a moment of silence in tribute to those killed in action.

The National WWII Museum, in partnership with the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) and 89.9 WWNO-FM, will host a special lecture and book signing for noted writer and historian Robert M. Edsel. The author will discuss the dramatic American effort at the end of World War II to save priceless treasures from the Nazis – the subject of an upcoming major motion picture starring George Clooney and Matt Damon.

It’s a week of thrills when a free traveling exhibit detailing the extraordinary story of WWII’s African-American pilots known as the Tuskegee Airmen opens at Lakefront Airport on Wednesday, May 22 and runs through Saturday, May 25.

US Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-New Jersey), the last remaining WWII veteran serving in the Senate, passed away at the age of 89, leaving behind only two WWII veterans in the US House of Representatives: Ralph Hall (R-Texas) and John Dingell (D-Michigan). Lautenberg was the final member among 115 US senators who had served in the military during WWII.

Marking the 70th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy, France, next year, The National WWII Museum will host an exclusive, educational travel program aboard Silversea Cruises’ luxurious <em>Silver Cloud</em> cruise ship.