The National WWII Museum today received an individual gift of $20 million from longtime advocate and former Board Chairman Boysie Bollinger. 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 National WWII Museum is on the cusp of its 15th Anniversary, and as staff members prepare for the occasion, they’re also celebrating an extraordinary new record – 73,449 Museum visitors in March 2015, a 31 percent increase from March 2014. This new high point for attendance in a single month comes on the heels of two recent achievements for the Museum – more than 515,000 visitors in 2014, a 14 percent increase from the previous year, and the opening of the latest pavilion on the growing campus, Campaigns of Courage: European and Pacific Theaters.

The National WWII Museum today received a $75,000 contribution from Whitney Bank. The gift will be used to support the Museum’s researchers and historians in their ongoing educational and preservation efforts, as well as honor the longtime Museum volunteer group affectionately known as the “A-Team.”

On July 4, 2015, The National WWII Museum will open a new special exhibit called Fighting for the Right to Fight: African American Experiences in World War II. With generous funding from The Coca-Cola Foundation, the exhibition will feature artifacts, photographs, oral histories and associated educational programming to highlight some of the extraordinary achievements and challenges of African Americans during World War II, both overseas and on the Home Front.

Actor and humanitarian Gary Sinise, along with his Gary Sinise Foundation, and The National WWII Museum are partnering to give a group of 55 Southern California veterans the opportunity to visit the Museum that honors their service. The veterans will arrive in New Orleans on June 24 to kick-off two days of exploring the Museum alongside Sinise.