‘June 6, 2000, was our D-Day,’ co-founder says of New Orleans’ National WWII Museum

NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — What is currently the National World War II Museum started out as an idea among two best friends in the 1990s.

“Over too many drinks of cheap sherry, he said, ‘Sit down, we’re going to do a small museum, a D-Day museum,'” Nick Mueller told WGNO News. “He” was Stephen Ambrose. Like Mueller, both were historians at the University of New Orleans. Ambrose had collected a series of interviews from WWII veterans, and he told Mueller that a museum would be the perfect place to show them.

From there, Mueller and Ambrose would go on to build support, raise money and eventually break ground on what was initially called the National D-Day Museum. Opening day was June 6, 2000.

The museum would go on to eventually cover six acres in the downtown area of New Orleans and would make multiple “Best of” and “Top Attraction” lists. Celebrities like Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg would contribute to the museum and participate in big events there. But it wasn’t an easy achievement for the two UNO historians.

“I can’t walk around here without thinking about, you know, all of the trials and tribulations, going broke several times in the 90s, then Hurricane Katrina, then the economic recession. It was hard,” Mueller said.

Ambrose and Mueller helped cut the ribbon on the museum’s opening day. But Mueller would have to lead the charge as its President and CEO Emeritus without Ambrose, who died of cancer in 2002.

In 2006, the museum changed its name to the National World War II Museum.

Now Mueller is planning his retirement but already knows they’re keeping a desk for him at the museum. Looking back, he has many fond memories, but his best might be an encounter with a visitor at the museum who thought Mueller was also visiting.

“He leans over and looks at me and says, ‘Isn’t this great? Have you been here before? Are you loving it?’ I said, ‘Man, I think it’s great.'”

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