The National WWII Museum

Reviews 3

TA

Tammy Wik

To be fair, I expected a lot from this museum because it had incredible ratings on TripAdvisor. Im also not that interested in WWII (not uninterested -- just not extremely interested), although I did have grandparents affected by the war (in Malta) and am interested in the Japanese experience. I also took a course that featured WWII heavily in college. Lets start off by saying that its a beautiful museum and thoughtfully put together. Also, you can save yourself time buying tickets by purchasing them online and picking them up at Will Call. I went there on Memorial Day and the line easily took 20 minutes to get through. You can order the tickets on your phone if youre in the back of the long line and youll be done ordering before you get to the front. The museum collects stories from various soldiers (mostly Caucasian) and you can listen to a particular soldiers story and follow it throughout the museum. Its an interesting approach. Unfortunately there arent many machines that allow you to listen to the stories, so if everyone in your family wants to do it, youll have to wait for each other to finish -- even worse if its a busy day at the museum. But still a good idea. And you can listen to the stories on your computer later on. What I didnt like about the museum was that it was felt biased. The exhibit on the Japanese experience began with the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor, but it didnt give any suggestion as to what prompted them to bomb the U.S. Was there prior political tension? Did the U.S. financially support one of their enemies? Were they just bent on taking over the world? I dont know. It didnt say. Not one little plaque to help me understand. I went back to the beginning of the exhibit to double check. So from the beginning, it just feels like the Japanese bombed the U.S. out of nowhere. Then, the rest of the exhibit builds on the fact that the Americans tried to get the Japanese to surrender, but they wouldnt, and ultimately, we had to bomb them into submission. Ignore the fact that one little tiny plaque mentions how an American with some Japanese knowledge managed to talk a group of Japanese soldiers into surrendering. I couldnt help but feel like some information was being left out -- perhaps the Americans had other political concerns that affected their decision making. Or perhaps someone made a mistake. It was just too clean, in my opinion. It was war -- so I know it wasnt clean. The exhibit gives the merest glimpse into the Japanese Americans that fought in the war, or, surprisingly, any of the non-white soldiers. (During Memorial Day there was a temporary exhibit on the African American soldiers. TEMPORARY! IN NEW ORLEANS!) Where are the voices of the non-Caucasians? Not to mention the Japanese internment in the U.S. that was largely glossed over. I was pleased to see one tiny exhibit featuring American propaganda that demonized their enemies, just as our enemies demonized Americans. They could have elaborated on this because its fascinating, but at least they included a bit of it. I know that this is a single museum and it cant cover everything. But this war was messy and involved many groups. I couldnt understand why it was so focused on one group of peoples perspective. I expected more diversity and more transparency. This is all to say that the perspective that they did portray was done beautifully with compelling stories. If youre into looking at WWII weapons, uniforms, airplanes, this is a great place for you. If youre looking for what isnt usually told, youll have to keep looking. Check a library.

A

A Private User

The museum itself is fairly well done, and it has lots of good information and displays. However, some of the people who run the museum are not user friendly. I got strongly rebuked 2X from the same security guy for pretty silly and anal stuff (I drank a sip of an enclosed container -- a protein smoothie -- in the "illegal" location), and my kids dared to actually touch a model so he strongly rebuked them too. Also, my tour guide spoke of doggone everything wrong we did during the Great World War II and he actually sounded apologetic for some of the actions our country took. I wanted to throw up. I am NOT SORRY that we RESCUED the world from a thousand years of darkness and tyranny. Americas victories in World War II are something to be PROUD OF, and NOT apologetic for. Outside of that I found the overall spirit of the place to be not overly friendly or patriotic. There are some good folks who work there, but some real horses rear ends too. I went as military in uniform and I did not feel respected ... I have served for 25 years now, and I am on my way back to the Middle East as I type. Also, I was less than crazy about Tom Hanks as the presenter of the World War II film. The film did not inspire me. It had really cool special effects but no MORAL as to WHY I should be proud to be an American or why, if I had to, I should fight World War II all over again. In summary, my family and I were left cold by the experience. Oh yea, parking is at least 7 bucks and admission prices are not cheap ... ===================================================================================P.S. I just read another review which said ... "It seemed like there was more focus on the Japanese side than of the American side of the War." I had the EXACT SAME IMPRESSION. I am terribly sorry that some Americans of Japanese ethnicity were put in internment camps during the War, but I am NOT SORRY WE DROPPED THE BOMBS WHICH ULTIMATELY SAVED LIVES AND ENDED THE WAR. Too much liberal drivel for me.

HA

Hank 03 Lopez

The place is confusing. There are four different buildings, none are clearly marked, there is construction going on and the areas to buy tickets are way out of the way. I visited in October 2016, and after I walked in with the intention to buy a ticket, this random elderly person was blocking and telling possible guests to go to some other part like down the block to buy tickets because the line was too long. Who is she to say? She could have been some random weirdo. Anyway, it would be up to me to decide if the line was too crowded. Well, I listened to her and, I walked down the block to some restaurant and the hostess who is beautiful in her 1940a era costume and hair was kind and led me to where I was supposed to go. So, I make my way to the other ticket booth and the price is very expensive for something that just doesnt scream worth buying. I would rather donate my money to a smaller museum related to WWII or group or charity that supports veterans. The architecture is concrete and steel, cold and uninviting. A steel factory has more personality than the museum. The best moment I got out of it for free was one section has actual planes from WWII and they are suspended in the air. The senses ignite fear of them falling yet also appreciation of the size and beauty of design and scale; I felt tiny under these beasts. Other than the planes, there was not much promoting interest. I would have loved to have seen an exhibit on helmets, clothes, uniforms, transportation, and culture at the time frame. How about movie posters or propaganda posters, something with more depth, more substance to make me want to spend a lot of money on admission. But, I couldnt find any of that at the museum. The reason I give two stars is one for the amazing planes flying in the air and the beautiful hostess who helped me out, but for the museum, the cold uninviting and confusing architecture, and the lack of exhibits with deeper substance outweigh the good.

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