Military Museums - New Orleans and Monroe Louisiana

After spending yesterday at the World War II Museum we travel 300 miles to Monroe Louisiana to spend the night in the parking lot of this museum.

Little did we know the history of this place.  

In World War II this was a very large base for training bombers and navigators.

 

General Claire Lee Chennault was instrumental in founding the Flying Tigers who trained and fought with the Chineses against Japan before the outbreak of World War II.

The Japanese started expanding into China in 1931, their atrocities prompted General Chennault to form a volunteer group who fought against the Japanese well before Pearl Harbor.

We were so lucky to meet the general's granddaughter, Nell.

She had many stories of her grandfather and his influence.

Yesterday:  New Orleans 

and the World War II museum- just one of the best museums of WWII

New Orleans - City Tour, French Quarter,

 Cemeteries

There are 41 in New Orleans.

In the old days they tried traditional caskets and burial procedures.  Since the water table is so variable they found that flooding caused caskets to pop out of the ground, so they did what seemed like a solution - bury them above ground.

The sites are owned by a family, and the whole family is buried there.  They have a casket made from the thinnest of metal and over time the metal rusts away, deterioration takes place, and there is room for plenty of other family members.

Today a new ‘family plot’ (made from marble or granite) costs $100,000, but it is deeded property and will be passed down to other family members.

Even cremation solutions

Jackson Square New Orleans founded by the French

The Battle of New Orleans was won close to this site.

We had our cafe au lait and beignet at a second location - no crowds!

love the buildings in the French Quarter

I had to see the Preservation Hall 

It is so 'no-frill' that it was hard to see it.

They have been closed for 15 months, and now open (only with reservations and vax and masks)

Yard Art

"PUN CENTRAL"

Well, it is October and they love to decorate for Halloween.

They also love to have fun.

see the Spinal Column 

All sorts of freak shows around here!

New Orleans - Swamp Tour

 

We thought we would tour on an 'air boat' but not quite!

We did see bald eagles, turtles and many alligators.

There is an alligator hunting season.  This was a hunters cabin -

until Hurricane Ida.

After posing, he split.

New Orleans - Sea Plane ride

A wonderful tour.

We were lucky to be able to do this tour since they have just been able to open up recently after Hurricane Ida, and their area was not hit too badly.

It was so interesting to hear them describe how they experienced the hurricane - watching the debris blow past their building, and wondering if they should evacuate. They spent one night at their daughters house, but had to return to work the next day as their planes were needed in helping in the recovery process. 

We have been to New Orleans before, but never realized that they had a downtown with high rise buildings (ha!)

The structure in the foreground is a pumping station ( the largest in the world) that

was put in after Hurricane Katrina.  It  pumps 10,000 gallons of water per second.

 This storm surge wall  and the pumping station were installed after Katrina and has helped control the flooding significantly.

They say that Ida was as bad as or worse than Katrina, but the damage has been much less.

Blue tarps distribution- it is interesting how some neighborhoods have so many and others were not hit too hard.

It is always so amazing to witness the devastation.

This area probably had over 5 feet of water just a month ago.

We have helped in several of these disasters with Samaritan's Purse and it is interesting to see it from the air.

Here's where this boat landed!

(reminds me of the lava in Hawaii surrounding a solitary house)