As WWII vets pass, memories preserved

Keeping interest alive
After the war, Hoffman married and went into a 40-year career in banking. "Many people were uncomfortable having a woman take care of them," she said. "But my boss was modern enough to hire me and count my time in service as the same as a college education."

Many veterans bring families to see the museum's treasured relics of what for many were the most meaningful years of their lives. Before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005, the museum averaged about 300,000 visitors a year. It's about 180,000 now.

Founded as the D-Day Museum by the late University of New Orleans author and historian Stephen Ambrose in 2000, and designated the nation's official World War II Museum by Congress in 2004, the museum has outgrown its original vision as a small facility to store war memorabilia. It began with exhibits focusing on the Normandy invasion, then expanded to include the war in the Pacific.

The museum, funded by state, federal and private money and grants, recently began a $300 million expansion. When completed, its seven buildings will cover almost six acres.

And it's not just veterans pointing to the museum's huge "Gooney Bird" transport plane, and checking out landing craft, tanks and Jeeps.

"A lot of time I find myself talking to kids 7 or 8 who are big World War II buffs," Morgan said. "I was born 24 years after the war and I got interested in it at about that age. Now I'm finding kids doing the same thing."

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