VICTORY Principles: Leadership Lessons from D-Day by Colonel Leonard Kloeber, Jr.

Congratulations to the Super Bowl XLIV Champions, New Orleans Saints, on their victory over the Colts on Sunday in a well–played and hard-fought game. The underdog Saints came to win, and brilliantly executed their vision of a game plan prepared by head coach, Sean Peyton and his team. The Colts were a tough opponent and had some excellent players, but in the end, the New Orleans Saints prevailed.  They are now the undisputed champions for 2010. The City of New Orleans is rightfully celebrating not only their victory, but also the more important concept that they are back in business after smarting from the disaster of hurricane Katrina several years ago. In this sense, the Saints have brought more to the City than just a football championship, but the momentum to continue to rebuild and succeed. That’s priceless.

However, New Orleans also has had other successes over the years that might not be so well known, such as the founding and the building of the National WWII Museum for which they can also be proud.  The National WWII Museum is a national treasure. Under the leadership of Dr. Stephen Ambrose, the celebrated historian who wrote the The Band of Brothers, The Victors, and D-Day as well as several other books mostly about WWII, the Museum was originally founded as the National D-Day Museum in 2000. In writing about the WWII experiences of soldiers, sailors, airmen, and people on the home front, Ambrose sought to honor their contributions to the victory in WWII. Then in September of 2003, the US Congress designated it as the National World War II Museum which broadened the mission of the enterprise to include all of the many efforts made by Americans at home and abroad during that era. One such American was New Orleans native, Andrew Higgins, who designed and built the flat-bottomed “Higgins Boats” used to storm the shores at Normandy and in the Pacific. None other than the Supreme Commander, General Eisenhower, credited the Higgins boats as one of the most important contributions to the war effort. Now you can learn more about what happened during the war at the Museum which will host the International Conference on WWII in March of this year. To find out more about it visit their website by clicking on the link National WWII Museum at the sidebar on our site.

Higgins Boat approaching Omaha Beach