This was a fun week at the WWII Museum, let me tell you. The first big thing I got to do this week was interview Mr. Martin Loicano, Executive Director of Education and Access. I got to talk to him on his everyday job and responsibilities, difficulties of management, and the narrative of the museum.
Stewart
It was interesting to talk to Martin about what he thought the Museum’s mission was as far as the narrative about WWII it chose to support. The narrative, it seems, is one that illustrates a multidimensional war.
Historically, we see the US public choosing to seek a nationalistic narrative implying every decision our government made was for the betterment of humanity, and every veteran a hero. Although the Museum honors that public history, there is also the understanding that every nationality has good and bad people, and each party involved made decisions that both promoted the success of their people, killed innocent bystanders, or a combination of both. No party in any war is completely blameless but at the same time, there is often some underlying goodness in the hearts of labeled “evil” people.
The Germans in the denazification process post-war moved mountains to reverse what the Third Reich did, collective guilt swept the nation, and the US had just killed approximately 180,000 civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Everyone is multidimensional – even in war.
Anyway, that’s what was most interesting to me talking with Martin. On Thursday, I got to shadow Tom Czekanski, head of the Engineering and Restoration of major artifacts. I got to see authentic engines used in the war and discussed the use of radial engines over block engines due to reduction of surface area. Also, we discussed the manufacturing of water-cooling submarine engines, merlins, packards, and compressed air super-coolers. There was much development in the course of the war to keep up with technological needs of the time.
Oh! And I got to sit in two tanks!! The 15-ton Stewart and the 30-ton Sherman! It was awesome.
There are no comments published yet.