The famed .50 caliber killing machine, used in every conflict from World War II to Somalia.

The roaring thunder of the .50 caliber machine gun was enough to make small children cry and cower in fear. Planes ripped through the sky overhead, dropping their loads below and sending balls of fire into the sky. Young men screamed and shot at each other with automatic weapons while the thumping mortars pounded the beach in front of us.

Thousands of us had risen from our beds early that foggy morning to watch both the Nazis and Japanese declare war on New Orleans. Poised as one of the largest and most spectacular reenactments of D-Day and the bombing of Pearl Harbor, it was a rare chance to watch all hell break loose and go home uninjured. We looked on as D-Day and Pearl Harbor unfolded before us.

Japanese planes bombing and firing upon the beach

It was on June 6^th in 1944 when more than 150,000 men in 5,000 ships and landing crafts waited to attack a 50 mile stretch of the Normandy coast of France. It was by far the largest armada in history with a previously unknown level of cooperation between allied nations to defeat a common enemy. It was on that dark day that the Allies assaulted the 5 beaches code-named Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. It took till nightfall for all 175,000 men to come ashore at a cost of almost 5,000 casualties. It took more than a year to reach and defeat Germany in 1945.

Many Americans fail to see an association with New Orleans and the D-Day of World War II. Little to do with spicy cooking, bayous, or Mardi Gras, it all revolved around a unique form of transportation that was invented in the Big Easy. As World War II kicked into high gear, the US Government began looking for landing crafts that could be carried on ships and lowered into the water. Several types were used during the war but none were as popular as the LCVP (Landing Craft Vehicle Personnel). New Orleans boat builder Andrew Higgins' company would eventually build more than 20,000 LCVPs during the war. Higgins operated eight factories in New Orleans, employing more than 30,000 people at the height of the war who built 700 boats per month. Higgins Industries had the first workforce in New Orleans to be racially integrated with men, women, blacks, the elderly and handicapped being paid equal wages according to their abilities.

Marines in Higgins boats storming the beaches of Normandy

More commonly known as "Higgins Boats", the LCVPs were used in other invasions in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, and the Pacific, carrying up to 36 troops or a Jeep. President Dwight Eisenhower would later say that the Higgins boats "won the war for us." World War II buffs and armchair historians can now view and climb on replicas of Higgins boats at the New Orleans D-Day Museum, a four-story warehouse in the Arts District. A former home of the Louisiana Brewery, the 16,000 square foot gallery of the museum is divided into four interactive exhibits with oral histories, artifacts, documents, and photographs. The main attraction is a series of exhibits about the days leading up to D-Day, June 6^th, when the Allies landed on the beaches of Normandy.

Although its meaning is often disputed, most recognize that the "D" in D-Day stands for "Day". It's a system of coding used by the military where "D-5" means five days before D-Day, "D-4" means four days before D-Day, and so on. Others say that it means "Day of Decision", "disembarkation", or "departed date". Regardless of how one interprets its meaning, D-Day has become a big ordeal in New Orleans much due to the help of Dr. Stephen Ambrose. A professor of history at the University of New Orleans, he is the founder of the museum and has collected more than 2,000 oral histories from World War II veterans.

Resting after a hard day's fighting

Questions?
If you want more information about this area you can email the author or check out our North America Insiders page.