since the end of the war. >> hello. my name is keith huxen and i am senior director of research and history here at the museum in neebs. we're standing in the road to berlin, permanent gallery exhibits which opened in december 2014. after several years have had development. our mission here at the national world war ii museum is to tell the american experience in world war ii, why it was fought, how it was won. and the building we're in tells the story of how it was won. here we are in the first gallery of the road to berlin. behind me, you see the political

leaders of the axis and the ally powers, the line-up, if you will, of the two sides that will engage in this great struggle. when our visitors arrive in this gallery, we believe that they will know that pearl harbor has already occurred due to exhibits on the other side of the street in our museum. so with the country already at war, we have a video that introduces them to the five major strategic elements that the united states and our allies must master in order to win world war ii. these five key strategic elements include arsenal of democracy, building a greater war machine than our enemies. technology, it's not enough just to outproduce our enemies. we have to make better equipment and weapons. control of the sea lanes. control of the air. and then the last strategic element, mastery of amphibious

landings, which was highly debated going into world war ii as a successful military strategy. all of these things combined into the eventual invasion of europe and the normandy landings in june of 1944 as the high point of the allied effort. >> roosevelt and british prime minister huddled in secret meetings. american military strategists including germany chief of staff george marshall and dwightizer hour lobbied vigorously for an immediate invasion of northern france. >> so when the united states entered world war ii after the attack on pearl harbor in december 1941, we were naseed with a strategic choice, who to fight first, japan or nazi,

germany. they believed that hitler and nazi germany were our chief enemy. the problem is that we weren't ready to fight the nazis on the continent of europe. we did look into plans to perhaps invade across the english channel into normandy in 1942 or 1943, but realized we would not have the material, resources, or the army built up that would be necessary for victory. in the meantime, the soviet union is taking a terrible pounding on the eastern front. and so franklin roosevelt and winston churchill realized they had to do something to meet joseph stalin's pleading for a second front, but it wasn't going to be in france. so where do we fight? they decided that we would land in north africa. and so we tell the story in this north african farmhouse that we're standing in, of that decision and its consequences. the problem that we're going to face after we decide to go into

north africa is, can our troops, green, young citizen soldiers aptly fight the battle hardened nazi army and win? so we're now entering the north african gallery here at the museum. and behind me over here is our weapons case. featured in this weapon are handguns, rifles, shot guns, mortars, other weapons that we are going to use to fight in europe, included in this case is the m 1 grand rifle which became the standard rifle for infantrymen in the united states army. we also have the m 11 a 1 pistol in this case, designed by john brunning, and it's going to become the standard issue, very popular pistol that's going to be issued to many u.s. army

personnel. in the museum, we try to build in environmental challenges that the u.s. faced, our forces faced around the world in world war ii. so in north africa, the desert is as big a challenge as the enemy at times. so what we have here in the gallery is an environmental treatment that not only shows the rocky desert that we're going to be fighting in, but also kaza rein pass, the battle where the united states is unfortunately going to be very, very badly whipped by the germans in the desert. many of our viewers may remember the famous scene in the movie "patton." where george patton is then brought in to try to reorganize american forces to fight in the desert and beat the germans. in this case here, we have a

tricolor french flag, many americans and others don't realize that when we landed in morocco in north africa, the french vichy government was allied with nazi germany, so we actually did have to do some fighting against the french with the initial landings. included in this case is a wafen ss cap. you can see the deaths head on it. this one is a little unique because it is a tropical wear issue that the germans are going to give the ss part of their elite troops, part of their elite forces, i should say. the ss, of course, is going to be in charge of carrying out the holocaust in europe. and one other thing i thought i would point out here, you have

life magazine's issue "war hits red oak." at kaza rein pass, 45 men from red oak iowa in the local national guard unit are going to be killed or captured by the germans. and so, this was the point where the reality of war in north africa and the european theater is going to start to come home to americans with these losses in such a small town of so many boys in one single battle. behind me is a 105-millimeter howitser. the howitser was originally designed to shoot at aircraft. but in north africa, we discovered that this was an ideal antitank website where the gun could be lowered and then fired at tanks across the deserts of north africa. it was a very effective weapon. this map introduces visitors to

the situation when the allies landed in north africa, november of 1942, you can see on the map that the allies are represented in blue, but the axis powers and the territories they control are represented in red. you get a sense of the scale of adolf hitler's power where he and benito mussolini have an empire, really more german, but have an empire that stretches all the way across europe and north africa, a sea of red. we have a long way to go in this war. this jeep actually plays an audio track that mimics what it was like to be in the retreat at kaz rein pass. after kaz rein pass, the united states is going to reorganize its forces. general george patton is going to come in and we are going to drive forward to victory in

north africa, when in may 1943, we win against the germans at the battle of el-guettar, driving germany out of north africa. unfortunately, it wasn't a complete victory, because the germans are going to escape with a lot of men and equipment into sicily and italy, to continue on the fight. and so sicily is the next stop on the road to berlin. we are now entering the sicily gallery here at the national world war ii museum. here you can see on this map, the initial landings where allied forces are going to drop parachutes and then also come in with amphibious landings in july of 1943. now, sicily is going to prove to be a very quick campaign, all told. only 38 days long, but it was filled with a lot of drama, that included the rivalry between

general patton and the british commander. however, something that i wanted to point out that is of special significance, i think, in this gallery, that we want our visitors to understand, is that war is a very messy, dirty, and often unfair business. and in those landings at sicily, we are going to see the worst friendly fire incident that american forces suffer in world war ii, better than 300 american pair troopers are going to be shot down by allied forces as they approach southern italy early in the invasion. this is something that came about because of inexperience and green troops and fear. it's part of war. and it's not an easy, glorious march to victory in world war ii, like a lot of people think it was today, when we call it the good war.

very bad things happen in that good war. here, we have an airman's cloth map of italy and tunisia. when our paratroopers in the war would drop into unknown territories, they would have these maps dyed into scarves that they would wear, and this is how they would try and maneuver the territories around them. in this space here, you can see, taking palermo -- palermo was the first european capital to fall to the allies. general george patton raced up the western side of sicily to take palermo and then headed to the east across the northern border of sicily. combining with bernard montgomery, to push against the germans and the italian forces, eventually driving them off of

the sicilian island, across the straits of sicily, into the southern boot of italy there. so you get a sense of the campaign and how it moved to this very rapid conclusion only 38 days after the landings here. we're now leaving the sicily gallery and entering the italian campaign here in the national world war ii museum. you can see on the map to my right the situation that the allies faced in september of 1943 as we begin the invasion of italy. now, the italian campaign had been urged by winston churchill, to be a soft underbelly of europe, that we could drive up the peninsula and possibly get at nazi germany and win the war. it's not going to turn out that way at all. instead, the italian campaign is going to be a long, bloody slog,

and it starts from the very beginning. the allies are going to face great challenges with the amphibious landings that we must perform to win, and it's always important as you walk through these galleries, to remember the ultimate fight we're going to have to have, which is the invasion of normandy. we're having troubles making amfishious landings in italy. that forebodes ill for the normandy landings that we know are coming at some point. so in this italian gallery, we have an environment like an italian villa. our video here tells the story of this overall campaign, that goes to the very end of the war. all the way to may of 1945, with bitter fighting that occurs. now in this gallery, you will find out stories of americans who are often marginalized at the edges of american society at

this time. japanese americans and african americans in particular, are featured in this gallery. we are committed to telling diverse stories of americans here at the museum, but we try to tell those stories within the context of the overarching narrative of the american experience in world war ii. and so in italy, visitors will find out stories about african americans who fought with the nine-second i.d. they'll find out stories about the japanese americans fighting with the 442nd regimental combat team. and they're going to find out how tough it was to fight against the elements. once again, the environment and nature plays a terrible role in this campaign where we're fighting up mountains, trying to

drive towards rome. we're standing next to a panel involving john r. fox's story. john fox was an african american fighting with the segregated 92nd infantry division. he ordered a mortar fire to come down on his position in the midst of a german attack where frankly the germans were about to break our lines. when fox was discovered a couple days later, he was surrounded by over a hundred dead germans. and so in 1998, he was eventually awarded posthumously the medal of honor. in this case over here, we have a congressional gold medal that was awarded to kuji dasha hashy, a member of the 4 frond regimental combat team, who were

japanese americans who fought in world war ii in italy. he had actually been interned at a camp in arizona before he was allowed to fight for his country. 442nd put up the most impressive record of combat of virtually any unit in world war ii. they were eventually awarded 21 medals of honor, including one that went to daniel inouye, who later became the long-time center from hawaii. ernie pyle starts to become a well known figure back in the united states with his columns detailing what life was like for the average american soldier, the dog faces, as he called them. here you can see a couple of his books from the war. "here and your war" and "brave men." i wanted to point out this artifact in between the books. you can see his zipo lighter,

this lighter was given to a young g.i. from ernie pyle, they identified with him, because he identified with them. average americans out on the battlefield having to fight. and one other artifact i thought i would point out here, that brings home the reality of what these young men and women were facing -- young men on the battle lines, of course, but you can see next to ernie pyle's book, a cigarette case and a purple heart medal. this cigarette case belonged no a young private by the name of andrew sexton, he was a medic. he was basically shot and the bullet went through the cigarette case, but was stopped on the other side of it and fell into the case, and so he later credited this with saving his life. but if you can imagine what an

experience like that must be like, certainly it brings home the reality of life and death wi that these young men and women were facing and that ernie pyle understood so well. we have here in the italian gallery, a 4.2-inch mortar. this is going to be turn out to be an extremely effective weapon for allied troops. it weighed about 330 pounds and it had a maximum range of about 4,400 yards. minimum range of 650 yards. could fire about 20 rounds a minute for a short duration of firing. it could of course fire for much longer, but it changed the rate of fire the longer you went. but if you'll follow me, over here, you can see one of the shells that the 4.2-inch mortar

would have fired in this exhibit case over here. we have in this case a number of items that are interesting. but up top, i thought i would point out we have a couple of guns that are dummy guns. these were taken from italians. kind of interesting, when you think about it, that these are toy guns captured by the americans, but toy guns, once again, the reality is, everybody's shooting with live rounds most of the time. and that reality is brought home very dramatically in this case as well. we have another purple heart, and we have below it, a coffin casket tag that belonged to anthony skonsa, who was a private and infantryman serving in italy.

he wrote his brother a letter in which he feared that he might not make it home, but begged his brother not to say anything to his parents because of these fears. and indeed, he was killed in september of 1944 while fighting in italy. so, one other element that i thought i would point out in this case here, is 05, you can see the graph cal firing table. it's a slide rule basically for the 4.2-inch mortar that we were viewing in the previous room in the gallery. so if you wanted to make adjustments to hit your enemy, this is how you would calculate that and then make the adjustments and then hopefully hit your target. behind me you see a sign, it's a fabricated sign, but something that we put throughout the museum in these galleries, to remind people of how far away we often are from victory.

here, you can see 736 miles to berlin from italy. but we tell, however, the public, is that the road to berlin will not go through italy. despite the efforts of the allies to fight up the italian peninsula, the terrain, the nazi armies, all of this is going to combine to bring us short of our goal of ultimate victory against nazi germany. we aren't able to make it over the alps. so in order to hit nazi germany directly, we're next going to visit a gallery that talks about the air war, the one place in these years of 1942 and '43, where we were able to directly strike at the heart of hitler's empire. >> we are now entering our air war gallery. now, up to this point at the

museum, we've had the visitor chronological march to north africa, sicilsicily, italy. the air war was going on throughout 1942 to 1945, and it was the one part of the war where we were constantly trying to hit nazi germany. couldn't strike them from north africa or italy physically, but we could from the air. and you can see this on our map where we're launching missions from out of north africa and especially from great britain, where the eighth air force was located. now, in this gallery with the air war, the air war went through several stages. you have some initial beginnings and then most importantly by the end of 1943, we are basically losing the air war very badly. in raids at regionsburg and

places like palesquey, other famous raids, we are losing disproportionate amounts of our bombers going up, trying to hit the heartland of nazi germany, and other industrial facilities throughout europe that the nazis were using. the reason this was so problematic for us, if you think about it, for example, a b-17 bomber, which was the work horse of the european bombing campaign had a trained -- had trained personnel in it, where you had 10, 11 men in there, that every time one of those was shot down, it was one thing to lose a plane, but another thing to lose all of those trained personnel. that was true of the other side as well. the luft wafa of the germans, had trained pilots, where this is going to be a key element of what's going to eventually happen with the air war, where

it's about ultimately replacing pilots and planes. however, by let's 1943, what we want people to understand, we had to have control of the air in order to launch the d-day invasion of normandy. we don't have it in late 1943. in fact, we're getting beaten rather badly in the air. so we tell that story in this video here, and then we're going to bring our visitors into life at abbott's airfield in england in east anglyia, where you have the eighth air force station in a quaunset hut just like what we fabricated in this gallery. now, one of the featurings in this gallery, we do suspend reality a little bit here. you can see up top our animation which depicts a flyover of thousands of b-17 bombers, b-24

liberators, other aircraft. the massive air force that we eventually build up in england to continue the fight against the germans. but what we try to tell people about in this story here is the turning point in that air war. what's going to happen in early 1944 is a huge shift. we tell the story of the berlin raid of march 6, 1944, where we're going to put up better than a thousand planes in the air. the key to this is going to be the fact that in the earlier raids i referenced, you're looking at 150, 200 aircraft up in the air, 60 of them getting shot down. once we start putting up 800 bombers, it's true, for example, on the berlin raid, we're going to lose about 69 bombers. this was one of the worst in terms of total numbers that we're going to lose, but in percentage terms, we were only

losing 6 or 7% of our bombers at this point. and the key to this was fighter protection. the p-51 aircraft is going to come online in production and p-51 is going to be probably the best fighter aircraft of world war ii. p-51 was fast. it was maneuverable, and most importantly, it could fly much greater distances, accompanying the bombers deeper and deeper into europe, and so they're able to give those bombers protection to do their job and they're going to be able to fight and kill off the luft watha as it comes up, the fighter pilots that the germans had to kill the bombers, instead find themselves being shot down in numbers that nazi germany could not sustain. >> over here we have the medal of honor that was awarded to an

aviator by the name of archibald matthews. archibald matthews had no formal training and he was aboard a b- b-17, 10 horsepower which was hit and the pilot was killed. archibald and a couple other crew members tried to land the plane, even though he was not a pilot and had no formal training. the pilot was wounded and mathies is going to have the rest of the crew bail out. he attempted to then land the plane in england, but crashed upon landing, killing himself and the pilot aboard. and for his heroism where he could have bailed out himself, he could have left the wounded pilot, but he didn't, he is awarded the medal of honor. what we have in this case is

wreckage from first lieutenant august us hamilton's p-47, which crashed in july 1944 in france. augustus hamilton actually was set to go home. his bags were packed. he had a wife, he had a newborn child, but his unit then requested a volunteer to do one last mission. he went up and is going to find himself under severe attack by a bunch of german messerschmidt 190 aircraft and he's shot down and killed. his remains were not discovered until the crash site was discovered in france in 1993. and so these are the remnants from that crash site. his plane had been named mrs.

ham lil ham after his wife and son whom he would never meet. and today there's a monument in frons at the crash site, commemorating his ultimate sacrifice and his bravery for going ahead when he could have gone home, but volunteering for one last mission in support of the cause for which he had to give his life. the key to this gallery is that starting in march of 1944, we begin to wrestle control of the air away from the luft wafa and only if we can gain control of the air can we launch the normandy invasion on d-day. we don't know what that day is going to be yet in the plans, but it's going to turn out to be three months to the day after the march 6, 1944 berlin raid.

>> on march 6, 1944, 730 bombers and 800 -- [ inaudible ] >> that road to berlin exhibit,s one. of many exhibits on displa at the world war ii museum in new orleans and here on ou c-span3's american history tv, l our c-span bus is parked right u outside the pavilion at the museum where historians and curators will be joining us for. the next couple of hours to talk about the end of the war, whicht occurred 70 years ago in hat194. joining us live on the bus is the gentleman we saw in that taped piece, keith huxen, the muse yem's senior director of t research and history. thank you very much for being with us. >> thank you for having me. >> i want to begin for those who last chance towa watchtch the t half hour, your museum is reallr part of the 21st century model where you really begin to at a experiencell what it was like. it's much more than artifacts nd