Alexandria progeny directs us to "The Final Mission"

Mac Allen, at right, today's WW II Museum greeter.  (No, that's not Stan's purse on the floor.)

Today's greeter on the front steps of the nationally-acclaimed World War II Museum in New Orleans had a father in the Greatest Generation who grew up in Alexandria, Minnesota. Mac Allen and Stan had a big laugh over that small world coincidence. Stan grew up in Alexandria too, though his generation was only Pretty Good.
Mac has visited Alexandria over the years on a regular basis, but he wouldn't live there, he says. . . "it's cold, you know."
His father grew up on Fillmore Avenue (named after that famous president, Millard) and then attended St. Olaf College in Northfield. His son, Mac, served in the Armed Forces for 37 years, retiring to New Orleans, where he's now a volunteer at the museum.

Lawrence Savadkin

Paul T. Wines

Mac directed us to "The Final Mission," a simulated mission in a submarine, The USS Tang, that destroyed more Japanese shipping than any other boat in World War II. On the Tang's final mission, one of its torpedoes malfunctioned, or boomer-anged, made a U-turn and tragically destroyed the submarine. Only nine of the crew survived and were picked up by the Japanese and imprisoned.
Visitors enter the bowels of the submarine mockup and experience many of the sounds and physical sensations of the submarine: rumbles, vibrations, hisses, orders barked and responses given. Smoke fills the chamber at the end of the event.
When the visitors enter, they are assigned the name and the position of one of the actual members of the crew. Stan drew Lt. Lawrence Savadkin and Kathleen drew Lt. Paul T Wines . They served side-by-side at their respective periscope positions.

It drives exactly like a
Sherman Tank.

As Stan and Kathleen exited the submarine, they learned that Lt. Savadkin had survived (he died in 2007) as did the captain, but Lt. Wines had perished, along with 78 others. It was a surprisingly moving experience, giving participants a little sense of the danger, anxiety and heroism shared by these young men of the Silent Service.
The exhibit is housed in the Boeing Building, a separate edifice where magnificent flying machines are suspended in a six-story hangar, filled with artifacts, movies, equipment exhibits and a big old Sherman tank.
This is our second day at the museum complex. We'll be back. There's so much more to see, maybe the movie in their I-Max theater. Here's their promo:
"Beyond All Boundaries, showing exclusively in The National WWII Museum’s Solomon Victory Theater, is a 4D journey through the war that changed the world. Narrated by executive producer Tom Hanks, Beyond All Boundaries features dazzling effects, CGI animation, multi-layered environments and first-person accounts from the trenches to the Home Front read by Brad Pitt, Tobey Maguire, Gary Sinise, Patricia Clarkson, Wendell Pierce and more."

It sounds good. We'll just jump on the No. 11 bus on Magazine Street, give the driver 40 cents, and be there in no time. Who knows? Maybe that nice man with the Alexandria history lesson will still be there.

Vintage restored planes hang in suspended animation in the cavernous Boeing building.
Visitors take catwalks to observation positions on four levels. High-tech interactive hands-on displays
aid in the understanding of the intricacies of the operation of these deadly machines.