A Veterans Day to Remember: WWII Museum in New Orleans

It feels like it was only yesterday that I was reading aloud from LGW to an audience of nearly 200 at the WWII Museum in New Orleans.  But, in fact, I've been in 4 places in the past 5 days: New Orleans, Brooklyn, Point Reyes, and Sonoma.  (I know, poor me.)  All this movement--this "kinedrama" as I like to call it--makes it hard for me to catch my breath, let alone write a blog post. 

Now I reflect on New Orleans from the city of San Francisco:

My patriotic morning started by getting coffee with the Navy band...

Have you ever wondered why the best WWII museum in the nation is in New Orleans?  While I was signing books during the morning festivities at the museum, I asked a docent.  The answer: New Orleanian Andrew Higgins designed the boat which made it possible for the Americans to win the war.  The boats transported troops onto beaches as quickly as possible.  This was instrumental for D-Day of course.















President Eisenhower told the historical writer Stephen Ambrose about Higgins.  Together with the President, Ambrose made it his mission to create a museum honoring Higgins.


So there we were, Tom and I, presenting this book on the exact stage where Tom Hanks spoke last year on Veteran's Day.  Big shoes to fill.



Again, I think Tom sums it all up best with one of his classic update emails!

New Orleans could not have gone better. There is so much I have to tell you. 

My mom flew out to New Orleans for the event and was telling everyone about the book. She even made the CNN camera tech guy come over and ask us about it. 

I bought new fitted shirts for the tour and they are a little small. My shirt was coming out of my pants a little bit, and my mom tucked it in for me in front of Jeremy Collins, our main contact at the museum. There is nothing better than your mom tucking in your shirt in front of another grown man.

The evening was spectacular.   There was a head count of 172 people. I got a little emotional in front of the audience. The camera man was taking photos of me getting teary eyed. At least my mom was not tucking in my shirt on stage!