Studying the war in the Pacific with The National WWII Museum.

The National WWII Museum and the New Orleans Public Library have partnered to create a Culture Pass Program that allows locals to visit America’s WWII Museum for free.

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 US 79th Infantry Division led the way in assaulting Cherbourg’s Fort du Roule on June 25, 1944, and two Americans would receive Medals of Honor for their heroic conduct.

Manning 155mm howitzers, African American gunners sacrificed themselves to defend fleeing infantry. Eleven of them were murdered by the Waffen SS, and then forgotten by the US Army.