S.Amdt. 719

SA 719. Ms. LANDRIEU submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill S. 1050, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2004 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe personnel strengths for such fiscal year for the Armed Forces, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

On page 291, between lines 14 and 15, insert the following new section:

SEC. 1039. DESIGNATION OF AMERICA'S NATIONAL WORLD WAR II MUSEUM.

(a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings: (1) The National D-Day Museum, operated in New Orleans, Louisiana by an educational foundation, has been established with the vision “to celebrate the American Spirit”. (2) The National D-Day Museum is the only museum in the United States that exists for the exclusive purpose of interpreting the American experience during the World War II years (1939-1945) on both the battlefront and the home front and, in doing so, covers all of the branches of the Armed Forces and the Merchant Marine. (3) The National D-Day Museum was founded by the preeminent American historian, Stephen E. Ambrose, as a result of a conversation with President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1963, when the President and former Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Forces in Europe, credited Andrew Jackson Higgins, the chief executive officer of Higgins Industries in New Orleans, as the “man who won the war for us” because the 12,000 landing craft designed by Higgins Industries made possible all of the amphibious invasions of World War II and carried American soldiers into every theatre of the war. (4) The National D-Day Museum, since its grand opening on June 6, 2000, the 56th anniversary of the D-Day invasion of Normandy, has attracted nearly 1,000,000 visitors from around the world, 85 percent of whom have been Americans from across the country. (5) American World War II veterans, called the “greatest generation” of the Nation, are dying at the rapid rate of more than 1,200 veterans each day, creating an urgent need to preserve the stories, artifacts, and heroic achievements of that generation. (6) The United States has a need to preserve forever the knowledge and history of the Nation's most decisive achievement in the 20th century and to portray that history to citizens, visitors, and school children for centuries to come. (7) Congress, recognizing the need to preserve this knowledge and history, appropriated funds in 1992 to authorize the design and construction of The National D-Day Museum in New Orleans to commemorate the epic 1944 Normandy invasion, and subsequently appropriated additional funds in 1998, 2000, 2001, and 2002, to help expand the exhibits in the museum to include the D-Day invasions in the Pacific Theatre of Operations and the other campaigns of World War II. (8) The State of Louisiana and thousands of donors and foundations across the country have contributed millions of dollars to help build this national institution. (9) The Board of Trustees of The National D-Day Museum is national in scope and diverse in its makeup. (10) The World War II Memorial now under construction on the National Mall in Washington, the District of Columbia, will always be the memorial in our Nation where people come to remember America's sacrifices in World War II, while The National D-Day Museum will always be the museum of the American experience in the World War II years (1939-1945), where people come to learn about Americans' experiences during that critical period, as well as a place where the history of our Nation's monumental struggle against worldwide aggression by would-be oppressors is preserved so that future generations can understand the role the United States played in the preservation and advancement of democracy and freedom in the middle of the 20th century. (11) The National D-Day Museum seeks to educate a diverse group of audiences through its collection of artifacts, photographs, letters, documents, and first-hand personal accounts of the participants in the war and on the home front during one of history's darkest hours. (12) The National D-Day Museum is devoted to the combat experience of United States citizen soldiers in all of the theatres of World War II and to the heroic efforts of the men and women on the home front who worked tirelessly to support the troops and the war effort. (13) The National D-Day Museum continues to add to and maintain one of the largest personal history collections in the United States of the men and women who fought in World War II and who served on the home front. (14) No other museum describes as well the volunteer spirit that arose throughout the United States and united the country during the World War II years. (15) The National D-Day Museum is engaged in a 250,000 square foot expansion to include the Center for the Study of the American Spirit, an advanced format theatre, and a new United States pavilion. (16) The planned “We're All in this Together” exhibit will describe the role every State, commonwealth, and territory played in World War II, and the computer database and software of The National D-Day Museum's educational program will be made available to the teachers and school children of every State, commonwealth, and territory. (17) The National D-Day Museum is an official Smithsonian affiliate institution with a formal agreement to borrow Smithsonian artifacts for future exhibitions. (18) Le Memorial de Caen in Normandy, France has formally recognized The National D-Day Museum as its official partner in a Patriotic Alliance signed on October 16, 2002, by both museums. (19) The official Battle of the Bulge museums in Luxembourg and the American Battlefield Monuments Commission are already collaborating with The National D-Day Museum on World War II exhibitions. (20) Congress made available $4,200,000 in fiscal year 2002 and $3,000,000 in fiscal year 2003 in Department of Defense appropriations Acts for the purpose of planning the expansion of The National D-Day Museum to tell the untold stories from the campaigns of World War II, and to design new exhibits on the war on land, at sea, and in the air, the China-Burma-India theatre, the Japanese invasion of Alaska's Aleutian Islands, the roles of women and African-Americans in World War II, and other relevant subjects. (21) For all of these reasons, it is appropriate to designate The National D-Day Museum as “America's National World War II Museum”. (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this section are, through the designation of The National D-Day Museum as “America's National World War II Museum”, to express the United States Government's support for--(1) the continuing preservation, maintenance, and interpretation of the artifacts, documents, images, and history collected by the museum; (2) the education of the American people as to the American experience in combat and on the home front during the World War II years, including the conduct of educational outreach programs for teachers and students throughout the United States; (3) the operation of a premier facility for the public display of artifacts, photographs, letters, documents, and personal histories from the World War II years (1939-1945); (4) the further expansion of the current European and Pacific campaign exhibits in the museum, including the Center for the Study of the American Spirit for education; and (5) ensuring the understanding by all future generations of the magnitude of the American contribution to the Allied victory in World War II, the sacrifices made to preserve freedom and democracy, and the benefits of peace for all future generations in the 21st century and beyond. (c) Designation of “America's National World War II Museum”.--The National D-Day Museum, New Orleans, Louisiana, is designated as “America's National World War II Museum”.