As 1943 turned to 1944, PT-305 departed New Orleans, and she would not be back for more than six decades. 

On July 23, 1944, a celebration marked a milestone in production for Higgins Industries, which had just finished its 10,000th boat for delivery to the US Navy. 

Join curator Josh Schick and Authors Nancy Rust and Carol Stubbs as they discuss their new book, Andrew Higgins and the Boats That Landed Victory in WWII, published by Pelican Publishing.

Higgins Industries is best known for the design and construction of landing craft, dubbed “the boats that won the war,” but the multi-faceted company also contributed to the most top-secret program of the war, the Manhattan Project.

On D-Day, Higgins boats landed thousands of GIs on French shores. Often overlooked in comparison to the LCVP is its "big brother"—the Landing Craft Mechanized.

Rosemary Elfer describes working for Higgins Industries on a crew with three other “Rosies” making ailerons for aircraft wings.

In this clip, Constance talks about how she worked as a draftsman for Higgins, working on the LCVPs and other various ship designs during the war.

Two years after the renowned historian began planning a war museum and eight years before The National D-Day Museum opened, Ambrose delivered a lecture, “New Orleans in the Second World War.”