National WWII Museum in midst of Kickstarter campaign to restore, refloat World War II boat.
The National WWII Museum in New Orleans is taking re-creation of the war’s atmosphere to the next level with a Kickstarter campaign to relaunch a restored PT boat – built by the famed Higgins Industries – that saw wartime action in the Mediterranean Sea.
The campaign met its initial goal of $100,000 in three days, and by March 21 nearly $159,000 had been pledged with 16 days to go. Actor Gary Sinise and the Pritzker Military Museum & Library are among the donors.
According to a press release on the project’s success, the museum’s goal is for visitors to be able to stand where U.S. troops of World War II once stood, “and walk the deck where the greatest generation fought for our freedom. They will also have the thrill-of-a-lifetime opportunity to ride over the waves at top speed, reliving the rush of wind and adrenaline that Navy sailors did when PT boats – the fastest Navy ships of World War II – first launched.”
The boat’s current home is the museum’s John E. Kushner Restoration Pavilion where through glass walls visitors can observe restoration work, which is nearly complete. The museum built a replica landing craft, vehicle, personnel in 2000, and among the main contributors to that project and PT-305 is Jerry Strahan, who wrote a book on Andrew Jackson Higgins and his boats. Strahan was profiled in the September 2013 issue of The American Legion Magazine.
Commissioned on Nov. 10, 1943, PT-305 was tested in nearby Lake Pontchartrain; it is anticipated that the restored boat will sail there again. During the war, PT-305 sank two armored German supply barges and carried U.S. commandos to French shores.
- Honor & Remembrance