Art News

Vet Reaches 10,000 Volunteer Hours at WWII Museum

NEW ORLEANS (AP).- The National World War II Museum is honoring a man who parachuted behind Nazi lines on D-Day. But Tom Blakey is being recognized for safer service: 10,000 hours as a museum volunteer. He’s the first volunteer to log that many hours for the museum in New Orleans. A ceremony was planned Saturday for Blakey, who was in the 82nd Airborne Division when he jumped at Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944. Blakey is also a member of the museum’s Speakers Bureau, traveling across the region to speak with schools, senior centers and other groups. He saw combat service from France to the Netherlands, including the surprise German offensive in the Ardennes Forest, the Battle of the Bulge.