NEW ORLEANS (press release) — On March 20, The National WWII Museum will host an opening reception and program to unveil the newly renovated Malcolm S. Forbes Rare and Iconic Artifacts Gallery. The space displays of more than 50 artifacts — both uncommon and seemingly ordinary — that are symbolic of the WWII era, and houses Voices from the Front, a new interactive experience that allows guests to hold conversations with more than a dozen members of the WWII generation. A 6:30 p.m. panel discussion and Q&A will feature Museum Associate Vice President of Collections and Exhibits Erin Clancey; Tim Forbes, son of WWII veteran Malcolm Forbes; artifact donor Antoinette Cilberti; and Ambassador Theodore Britton, WWII veteran and Voices from the Front interviewee. The event is sold out, but the panel will be livestreamed.
Supported by the Timothy Forbes Family, the Forbes Gallery highlights more than 50 hidden gems from the Museum’s vast collection — from the one-of-a-kind to the ever-present, the personal to the universal. These artifacts, including several related to entrepreneur and politician Malcolm S. Forbes’s service in the European theater of World War II, have the power to evoke a wide range of emotions and experiences from a time of momentous conflict and change, allowing visitors to contemplate the stories each item tells.
Made possible through generous support from Margie and St. Denis J. “Sandy” Villere, Voices from the Front is a new interactive experience at The National WWII Museum that helps visitors connect with the WWII generation in a high-tech yet personal way. By using cutting-edge AI technology to facilitate real-time interactions with 18 veterans, Home Front workers, Holocaust survivors, and other witnesses to the war through interactive video displays, Voices from the Front puts real faces to history.
The following interviewees will be present to celebrate the opening of the Forbes Gallery and Voices from the Front:
- Ambassador Theodore R. “Ted” Britton Jr., who served in the US Marine Corps as one of the Montford Point Marines, the Corps’ first African American recruits. He later held numerous government positions, including US Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Barbados and Grenada.
- Margaret Kerry Boeke, who danced in USO shows at venues around the United States to entertain American troops when she was a teenager. After the war, she remained in the entertainment business and served as the model for Tinkerbell.
- Grace Janota Brown, a Consolidated Aircraft factory worker who made parts for Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers. While working for Consolidated, a series of photographs was taken of her and a shop foreman that were published in newspapers around the country.
- Tolley Fletcher, who served in the US Navy in Operation Torch in North Africa and in the D-Day landings in Normandy. He later spent time in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico hunting German U-boats.
- F. Lincoln Grahlfs, who served in the US Navy aboard a seagoing tug that towed equipment and supplies around the Pacific. After the end of the war, he was sent to participate in the Operation Crossroads nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll, where he suffered radiation poisoning.
- George E. Hardy, who trained at Tuskegee Army Air Field and served in the US Army Air Forces piloting P-51 Mustang aircraft with the 99th Fighter Squadron, 332nd Fighter Group. He retired from the US Air Force as a Lieutenant Colonel and is one of the last living Tuskegee Airmen.
- Paul Hilliard, who served in the US Marine Corps as a rear seat gunner and radio operator on Douglas SBD Dauntless dive bombers in Marine Scout Bombing Squadrons 241 and 341, flying 45 combat missions in the Pacific. Hilliard is the former Chairman of the Board of The National WWII Museum.
- John “Lucky” Luckadoo, who served in the US Army Air Forces piloting B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers with the 100th Bombardment Group. He was the first 100th Bombardment Group copilot to survive 25 missions and go home.
- Daniel Luévano, who served in the US Navy escorting convoys across the Atlantic. He saw many Allied merchant ships sunk and on more than one occasion assisted with pulling oil-covered seamen from the waters of the South Atlantic after their ships had been sunk by German U-boats.
- Olin Pickens, who served in the US Army with the 805th Tank Destroyer Battalion at Faïd Pass in Tunisia in 1943. Less than two weeks after joining the unit, the Germans attacked and overran their positions; the entire company was either killed or captured that day, and Pickens would spend the rest of the war in a prisoner-of-war camp.
- Robert “Bob” Wolf, who served in the US Army with the 86th Infantry Division in his battalion’s intelligence section, speaking German and often translating for officers in his unit. After the end of the war, he was redeployed to the Pacific for occupation duty, and Wolf was able to briefly attend the war crimes trials in the Philippines.
WHEN: Wednesday, March 20, at 6:30 p.m.
WHERE: Louisiana Memorial Pavilion at The National WWII Museum
945 Magazine St, New Orleans, LA 70130
Online: The National WWII Museum webpage
