Visitors often ask, “Why is the Museum in New Orleans?” The answer to this simple question requires an understanding of the city’s involvement in World War II, politics, and American memory.

The Allied capture of Rome in June 1944 marked the fall of the first Axis capital but was ultimately overshadowed by the D-Day landings in Normandy.

Early on the morning of June 6, 1944, photojournalist Robert Capa landed with American troops on Omaha Beach. Before the day was through, he had taken some of the most famous combat photographs of World War II.

A look at the personal objects American soldiers collected during the D-Day landings, revealing how everyday items became lasting symbols of war, survival, and memory.

More than eighty years after the B-24D Liberator named Heaven Can Wait crashed off Awar Point in Papua New Guinea, four of its crew have been accounted for and will finally be returned to the United States.

During World War II, American fighter pilots coped with the dangers of combat through dark humor and evocative aircraft nicknames like “Live Bait” and “Flak Bait,” reflecting their bravery, their gallows wit, and the intensity of their experiences.

In recognition of 25 years of collecting at the Museum, our curators have highlighted pieces with special significance.

Volunteers have helped keep things running smoothly at the Museum since it opened in 2000—and a very special group has been here from the very beginning.

Through partnership, research, and remembrance, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) and The National WWII Museum help ensure that no family is forgotten and no hero is left behind.

The Oyneg Shabes Archive, created by historian Emanuel Ringelblum and other Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto, meticulously documented their lives, suffering, and resistance during the Holocaust, ensuring their stories would survive even as they faced annihilation by the Nazis.

The liberation of Mindanao was, in some respects, an unnecessary campaign militarily, but it had important political implications, as it enabled the United States to fulfill its promise of independence to the Philippines. 

Women warrant officers made up a small portion of the Women’s Army Corps but were trailblazers who created opportunities for women in the US Armed Forces for decades to come.