Virginia State History -- WWII Era (1940-1948)

Virginia History Series #15c © 2010

Time-line of Major Events1940 Pope-Leighey House was built in Falls Church by architect Frank Lloyd Wright and later moved to Woodlawn

Plantation south of Alexandria, VA near Mount Vernon

1940 Expansion of Ft. Belvoir, Virginia to meet anticipated War requirements; ERTC estab. at Ft. Belvoir in March 1941 for the training of Military Engineers (i.e., the Engineer Replacement Training Center)

1941 First Commercial B&W TV transmission in America

1941 March 11th President Roosevelt Signs “Lend-Lease Act” Giving Materiel Support to Countries Fighting Axis Powers

1941 95th Engineering Regiment formed at Ft. Belvoir; June 1942 sent to help build the Alcan Hiway to Alaska thru Canada

1941 On 11 Sept. 1941, Construction began on the Pentagon – It was completed 15 January 1943

1941 December 7 Japan Attacks US Forces at Pearl Harbor; December 8 US Declares War on Japan; December 11, 1941 US Declares War on Germany & Italy

1942 Ellen Glasgow of Richmond is awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Literature for In This Our Life

1942 On 8 Nov. 1942, Americans Landed in North Africa to fight with Allies against Axis Powers (Germany & Italy)

1943 Marine officer Lewis “Chesty” Burwell Puller of West Point, VA becomes a highly decorated soldier

1944 Edward Reilly Stettinius, Jr. - living in Virginia - becomes U.S. Secretary of State in FDR’s Cabinet

1944 On 6 June 1944, Allies Landed in Normandy to Fight Germans in Europe

1945 Newport News shipyard workers assembled about 400 ships of over 3,500,000 tons during the War

1945 Virginians Celebrate Victory in Europe (i.e., V-E) Day (May 8, 1945)

1945 On Aug. 6th and 9th, 1945, Atomic Bombs were Dropped on Japan; Japan Surrenders Aug. 14th

1945 USA Representative Stettinius and President Truman Sign UN Charter on June 26 at 1st Meeting in San Francisco, CA

1945 VDOT begins planning 1st Rural Interstate Highway routes in Virginia (e.g., I-81)

1946 In Irene Morgan v. Commonwealth of VA the US Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in interstate commerce violated the US Constitution (i.e., was illegal)

1947 George C. Marshall was a 1901 VMI Graduate and US Army Chief of Staff during WWII. As US Secretary of State, he introduced the American Plan for European Recovery -- called the “Marshall Plan”. Received Nobel Peace Prize in 1953

1948 April 22nd WTVR-TV (CBS 6) in Richmond began broadcasting

Pope-Leighey House. This "Usonian" house was developed by Frank Lloyd Wrightas a means of providing affordable housing for people of moderate means. Many innovative concepts, including spacious interiors, corner windows and a cantilevered roof, began here and were quickly adapted across America. Today the house can be viewed as an origin of ideas that have influenced modern American homes. In 1965 the house was relocated from Falls Church, VA to the grounds of Woodlawn Plantation near Mount Vernon.

An NTSC TV Set

This TV set picked up the first commercial NTSC TV signal, which was broadcast in the U.S. in 1941. The signal was black and white. In 1954, a new NTSC standard added color, which was transmitted as a composite video signal. (Image courtesy of www.TVhistory.TV)

[WTVR-TV (CBS 6) -- the first television station in Richmond --was the first television station in America south of Washington, DC (1948)]

1941 GE Model 90 TV Set

NBC began experimental broadcasts in New York on April 30, 1939 with a broadcast of the opening of the 1939 New York World's Fair. The broadcast was transmitted by NBC's New York television station W2XBS Channel 1 (now WNBC-TV channel 4) and was seen by about 1,000 viewers within the station's roughly 40-mile (64 km) coverage area from their Empire State Building transmitter location. NBC's experimental New York City station was licensed for commercial telecasts beginning on July 1, 1941. An actual picture of the 1939 broadcast (above) features President Franklin D. Roosevelt speaking from the New York World's Fair.

US “Rents” Naval Bases from BritainIn negotiations with Prime Minister Winston Churchill, FDR leased naval bases and airfields in British possessions across the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic coast of Canada. These talks ultimately produced the “Destroyers for Bases”agreement in September 1940.

This agreement saw 50 surplus American destroyers transferred to the British Royal Navy and Royal Canadian Navy in exchange for rent-free, 99-year leases on various British military installations.

US “Rents”Naval Bases

Antigua - Naval Air Station, Sea Plane BaseBritish Guiana - Naval Air Station, Sea Plane BaseJamaica - Naval Air Station, Sea Plane BaseSt. Lucia - Naval Air Station, Sea Plane BaseBermuda - Naval Air Station, Sea Plane BaseNewfoundland - Three Army Air Force Bases (Pepperell, Goose Bay and Stephenville), Naval Operating Base Argentia and numerous Marine and Army Bases and Detachments, 88 in totalTrinidad - Naval Operating Base, Naval Air Station, Sea Plane Base, Lighter Than Air (Blimp) Base and Radio Station

Surplus US Destroyers

Construction programs at Fort Belvoir, Virginia were accelerated in 1940 with the outbreak of World War II in Europe and Japanese expansion in Asia and the Pacific. The United States decided to begin preparing for the possibility of joining the conflict, and one of the actions performed was the expansion of Fort Belvoir by adding 3,000 acres north of U.S. Route 1 (i.e., “North Post,”) to make room for the new Engineer Replacement Training Center (ERTC), established at Fort Belvoir in March 1941. This wave of temporary construction occurred in an attempt to house approximately 24,000 enlisted men and officers. Starting in Oct. 21, 1940, the military constructed 643 new buildings at Ft. Belvoir including a 55-building, 800 patient hospital complete with central heating plant and enclosed walks connecting the wards and buildings.

Ft. Belvoir 1941

Training 1943

95th Engineering Regiment

The African American-manned 95th Engineer Battalion (General Service) was formed in April 1941 at Fort Belvoir, Virginia as part of the U.S. Army buildup preceding World War II.

Unlike many construction units, the 95th received considerable training, participating in the Carolina Maneuvers and receiving practical experience at Camp A. P. Hill, Virginia, and Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

Expanded to regimental size following Pearl Harbor, it was sent to Canada in June 1942 to assist in building the Alcan Highway

(Right) 95th in Training at Camp A. P. Hill, VA; (Below) Alcan Highwaybuilt from Washington State To Alaska thru Canada

First Army Maneuvers in the Carolinas. These nine musicians, and formerly members of leading colored dance orchestras, were members of the 41st Engineers Regiment, Fort Bragg, N.C., and played with the Regimental dance orchestra. They are L to R: Pfc. Louis W. Carrington, Richmond, Va; Sgt. Rufus Wagner, Atlantic City, N.J., formerly with Blanch Calloway’s orchestra; Pvt. Elmon Simon, Norfolk, Va., formerly with Tiny Bradshaw; Pvt. Teddy Wood, Richmond, Va., formerly with the Roseland Ballroom orchestra of New York City; Cpl. Milton S. Bell, Richmond, Va., formerly with Johnson’s Happy Pals; Sgt. Wilburn Pogue, Washington, D.C., formerly with Duke Ellington and Ethel Waters; and Sgt. Frank Wess, formerly with Blanch Calloway; and in the foreground are (left) Charles L. Anderson of Virginia, formerly with Don Albert; and Pfc. George Wolfe, Atlantic City, N.J., formerly with Ethel Waters. [South Carolina. October 20, 1941.]

Marine Corp Base Quantico, Virginia

Marine Corps Base Quantico, sometimes abbreviated MCB Quantico, is a major United States Marine Corpstraining base located near Triangle, Virginia, covering nearly 100 square miles (260 km2) in southern Prince William County, northern Stafford County, and southeastern Fauquier County.

The base is known as the "Crossroads of the Marine Corps."

Movie star Tyrone Power (below left) enlisted in the Marine Corps, completed boot camp in San Diego, and then attended Officer's Candidate School (OCS) at Marine Corps Base Quantico, VA where he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant on June 2, 1943.

Frederick and Peggy Branch (right) 1st African American Commissioned 2nd Lt. (11.10.1945 at Quantico, Virginia)

Quantico trained 15,000 Marine lieutenants and numerous officers from other services, who became leaders during WWII

Turner Field 1942

America’s Lend-Lease Program

America tried very hard to stay out of World War II. Many Americans wanted the nation to remain neutral. In the 1930s, Congress passed several Neutrality Acts that prevented sales/shipments of war materials from going to any fighting countries. America did this so that none of the other countries would think that America was taking sides in the war. The Neutrality Acts also forbade American citizens from traveling on ships that belonged to fighting countries except at their own risk. To get around the Neutrality Acts and help Great Britain continue fighting against Germany, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Lend Lease Act, which effectively ended US neutrality and allowed America to lend or lease weapons, ammunition, ships, tanks, airplanes, and other tools of war to allied forces. If the allied forces damaged any of the weapons they would replace them or pay for them after the war.

With a Black Band on his Arm, Franklin D. Roosevelt Signed the “Lend-Lease Act” on March 11, 1941 (i.e., morning his mother’s recent passing)

The Lend-Lease Act of March 11, 1941, was the principal means for providing U.S. military aid to foreign nations during World War II. The act authorized the president to transfer arms or any other defense materials for which Congress appropriated money to "the government of any country whose defense the President deems vital to the defense of the United States." Britain, the Soviet Union, China, Brazil, and many other countries received US weapons under this law.

By allowing the president to transfer war matériel to a beleaguered Britain--and without payment as required by the revised Neutrality Act of 1939--the act enabled the British to keep fighting until events led America into the conflict. It also skirted the thorny problems of war debts that had followed World War I.

Lend-Lease brought the United States one step closer to entry into the war. Isolationists, such as Republican senator Robert Taft, opposed it. Taft correctly noted that the bill would "give the President power to carry on a kind of undeclaredwar all over the world, in which America would do everything except actually put soldiers in the front-line trenches where the fighting is."

Noteworthy Critics and Opponents of Lend-Lease Included: former Governor Alf Landon (R-KS), Senator Burton K. Wheeler (D-MT), Senator Robert Taft (R-OH), and Charles Lindbergh (Member of the America First Committee – i.e., a pro-neutrality pressure group)

US Goods

Lend-Lease Goods to Other Countries 1941-45 (Estimates in $millions)

A critical program for winning the war, Lend-Lease came to an abrupt end with its conclusion. As Britain needed to retain much of the Lend-Lease equipment for postwar use, the Anglo-American Loan was signed through which the British agreed to purchase the items for approximately ten cents on the dollar. The total value of the loan was around £1,075 million. The final payment on the loan was made in 2006. All told, Lend-Lease provided $50.1 billion worth of supplies to the Allies during the conflict, with $31.4 billion to Britain, $11.3 billion to the Soviet Union, $3.2 billion to France and $1.6 billion to China.

Country/Area Support from Lend-Lease

------------------------------------------------------Britain $ 31.4 Billion

Soviet Union $ 11.3 Billion

France $ 3.2 Billion

China $ 1.6 Billion

------------------------------------------------------Central & So. Am. $ 501 Million

Middle East $ 68 Million

Yugoslavia $ 32 Million

Africa $ 177 MillionLend-Lease Airplanes in Europe

According to James M. Burns, the U.S. crossed the threshold from peace to war in July 1941 as:

• the war widened in Europe,

• the US’s Atlantic “lifeline” (i.e., lend-lease convoys) came under attack,

• the British sought more aid,

• public opinion changed to favor more intervention, and

• defense production pulled the U.S. out of the great depression.

US Lend-Lease B-17 Bombers Arrive in Britain July 24, 1941

FDR and Churchill at Atlantic Conference in Newfoundland Aug. 9-12, 1941

1941 Attacks on the US’s Atlantic “Life-line”

Sept. 11 - FDR radio speech (below right) declared attack on USS Greer was "piracy" :

as was the Aug. 17 sinking of US-Panama freighter "Sessa" killing 24 of 27 crew

and the Sep. 5 sinking of US freighter "Steel Seafarer" clearly flying a US flag

Sep. 11, 1941 - Following the Greer incident off Iceland, President Roosevelt orders all US naval vessels to attack any ship that threatens American shipping or foreign shipping under American escort.

FDR delivering his radio speech with black armband mourning the recent death of his mother Sara Roosevelt

USS Greer

Oct. 31, 1941 - USS Reuben James (DD 245) with a crew of 115 was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-552 while escorting a convoy to England from Halifax, Nova Scotia. She was the first U.S. vessel destroyed by the Axis Powers.

Japanese Advances in Asia

(above left) Map of Japanese occupation of Manchukuo (i.e., north-eastern China) in 1940; (below left) Poster of Manchukuo promoting harmony between Japanese, Chinese, and Manchu. The caption says: "With the help of Japan, China, and Manchukuo, the world can be in peace." The flags shown are, left to right: the flag of Manchukuo; the flag of Japan; and, the "Five Races Under One Union" flag.

“Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere”was a concept created and promulgated during the Sho-wa era by the government and military of the Empire of Japan. It represented Japan’s desire to create a self-sufficient "block of Asian nations led by the Japanese and free of Western powers".

The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere comprised Japan, Manchukuo, China, and parts of Southeast Asia, that would, according to imperial Japanese propaganda, establish a new international order in Asia for countries that would share prosperity and peace, free from Western colonialism and domination

Japan’s Actions -- Prelude to war

1931 • Japan overruns Chinese Manchuria, quits League of Nations. Aug. 1937 • Japanese troops attack Chinese city of Shanghai and face three months of fierce opposition from Chinese. July 1939 • Japanese troops move into northern Indochina. Sept. 27, 1940 • Japan signs the Tripartite Pact, aligning itself with Germany and Italy (i.e., the Axis Powers – signing at right)Jan. 1941 • Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, who assumed command of the Japanese CombinedFleet in 1939, proposes an attack on Pearl Harbor. Preparation of attack plans begins in March. June 1941 • Japan now occupies all of Indochina. In response, the U.S. freezes Japanese assets and cuts off oil exports to Japan on July 24. Aug. 1941 • Japan negotiates with U.S. for removal of sanctions, but decides to go to war with U.S. and Great Britain if talks are not successful by October. Sept. 24, 1941 • U.S. intercepts intelligence between Tokyo and the Japanese Consulate General in Honolulu, asking spies to report positions of U.S. ships at Pearl Harbor. Oct. 17. 1941 • General Hideki Tojo, war minister and leader of military extremists, becomes Prime Minister of Japan.

Japan’s Actions – Prelude to War (Cont.)

Nov. 5, 1941 • Admiral Yamamoto orders the attack on Pearl Harbor. Nov. 26, 1941 • The Japanese First Air Fleet leaves Japan’s Kurile Islands for Hawai'i. The fleet takes a route rarely used by merchant ships, and avoids radio transmissions to remain undetected. Dec. 6, 1941 • In Washington D.C., U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt makes a final appeal to the Emperor of Japan for peace. There is no reply. Late this same day, the U.S. code-breaking service begins intercepting a 14-part Japanese message and deciphers the first 13 parts. The Americans believe a Japanese attack is imminent, most likely somewhere in Southeast Asia. Dec. 7, 1941 • About 9 a.m. Washington D.C. time, U.S. officials decode the last part of the Japanese message, stating that diplomatic relations with the U.S. are to be broken off. About an hour later, another Japanese message is intercepted. It instructs the Japanese embassy to break off talks with the U.S. at 1 p.m. Washington time. The U.S. War Department then sends out an alert to Hawaii military officials. Technical delays prevent the alert from arriving until noon Hawaii time, four hours after the attack has already begun.

Almost at the same time, Japanese warplanes strike the Philippines and two U.S. islands: Wake and Guam, which are later occupied. The Japanese also invade Thailand and Malaya. Later that month, Japanese troops invade Burma and Hong Kong.

Admiral Kichisaburō Nomura (left), the Japanese Ambassador to the United States, and special envoy Saburō Kurusu (right) smile with reporters (who don’t know of their attack) as they leave a brief meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull on December 7, 1941, just after Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. [Kurusu was interned by the United States at the Homestead in Hot Springs, Virginiauntil an exchange of diplomatic personnel was arranged in June of 1942. On August 20, 1942, Nomurareturned to Japan. ]

Part of the Japanese plan for the attack on Pearl Harbor included breaking off negotiations with the United States 30 minutes before the attack began. Diplomats from the Japanese Embassy in Washington, including the Japanese Ambassador, Admiral Kichisaburo Nomura, and special representative SaburoKurusu, had been conducting extended talks with the State Department regarding the U.S. reactions to the Japanese move into Indochina in the summer.

Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor, Honolulu, Hawaii (Dec. 7, 1941)

The explosion in the center of this aerial photo, taken from a Japanese airplane, is a torpedo strike on the USS West Virginia.

USS West Virginia Torpedoed and Sinking in Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941, just as the USS Shaw exploded.

Sailors at Naval Air Station, Ford Island Watch the USS Shaw Exploding from Their Damaged Airfield

188 US Aircraft Were Destroyed in the Attack on Pearl Harbor (Most of them on the Ground)

USS Arizona burned for two days after being hit. The wreck remains at the bottom of Pearl Harbor and is a war memorial to the 1,177 sailors/marines who died in its sinking.

President Franklin Roosevelt addresses a joint session of Congress asking for a declaration of war against Japan, December 8, 1941

FDR Signs Declarations of War Against Japan 12.8.1941 and Germany 12.11.1941

“World War II changed Virginia forever, reshaping its landscape, reconfiguring its economy, and transforming its people. Where there had been sleepy cities, the war awakened massive development. Where there had been clearly defined paths for women, the war opened new opportunities. Where there had been strict segregation between the races, the war raised questions about such laws and practices. In some respects World War II accelerated changes already underway in Virginia--the naval buildup in Norfolk, for example, began well before 1941.

Virginians participated in nearly every aspect of the war. Its soldiers fought across the Pacific and landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day with the 29th Infantry Division. Virginia citizens built aircraft carriers, destroyers, submarines, and bombs. Virginians on the coast--men and women--stood guard in watch towers, patrolled beaches, and spotted airplanes. The war came remarkably close to home in 1942 when German U-Boats sunk Allied ships at the opening of the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia.

[From the film "Virginia Fights WWII“, there are over 1,600 photographs at the web site “Ground Beneath Our Feet: Virginia Fights WWII”. Some of these images are from the personal collections of the individuals interviewed for the film. Others are from the National Archives, the Library of Virginia, and other institutions holding World War II Virginia images.]”

Pentagon Construction (1941-43)

Construction commenced on 11 September 1941, and continued rapidly during the winter of 1941-42 in Arlington Co., VA. Architects for the project had little or no lead time; sometimes construction actually outpaced planning. On 1 December 1941, 4,000 men were laboring on the building in three shifts. One section was completed by the end of April 1942 and the first tenants moved in. The basic shell and roof were finished in one year, and the building was completed by 15 January 1943.

The Pentagon was the largest office building in the country at that time covering 29 acres with 17.5 miles of corridors. At its peak the Pentagon housed nearly 33,000 workers.

Construction of the Pentagon Completed (1/15/1943)

Homeland Security & Support for the War Effort

The country was on a “war footing”meaning that the people and their industries were mobilized to produce war materials and to support the troops overseas. This mobilization included rationing of vital materials (e.g., metals, rubber, food) and minimal use of everything in domestic activities so that the maximum amount of resources were available for use in the war effort.

On the “home front”, security against attack was a vital concern – especially in coastal areas that might be attacked by sea or air (e.g., in Tidewater Virginia). Land-based civil defenses and a network of Coast Guard operations were organized for security in the Chesapeake bay area.

Dedicating New “Spotter Tower” at Emporia, VA

Women Air Raid Wardens – CG Spotter at Beach

American Red Cross Canteen Corps, Newport News, VA, 1942

Boy Scouts Recycling Aluminum.

Rationing Food Store

Rubber Tire Recycling Depot

Movie Star Rita Hayworth sacrificed her metal bumpers for the war effort

To learn how to shop with point stamps, these youngsters in a Fairfax County, Virginia grade school have set up a play store, complete with point value table and informational material on point rationing.

Entertainer Bob Hope Selling War Bonds with members of the US Coast Guard Women’s Reserve (SPARS)

In 1942, Congress created a new branch of the Coast Guard called the U.S. Coast Guard Women's Reserve. Eventually known as SPARs, after the Coast Guard motto ("Semper Paratus, Always Ready"), over 10,000 women joined the ranks between 1942 and 1946

People at table in Fredericksburg, VA with movie star “Greer Garson” (2nd from left) at a war bond rally

USO Dance at Norfolk, VA

Bayview School children work on a Victory Garden (2 April 1943)

Elias Codd promotes war bond sales at his delicatessen (1945)

Recruitment Posters Extolling Service Opportunities for Women in WWII

Women Flyers Ferrying Bombers

German Sailors Abandoning U-Boat Sinking in the Chesapeake Bay

Rescued German POW Sailors Assembled on Virginia’s Docks

German U-Boat Prisoners Eating in US Navy Mess Hall

German POWs Working at the Cavalry Remount Facility in Front Royal, VA

POWs Working at Eggleston Plantation, Chesterfield Co., VA

USS Spencer (a Coast Guard Cutter that saw service on convoy duty in the North Atlantic) is credited with sinking the German U-225 on February 21, 1943 and the U-175 on April 17, 1943 with the loss of one crew member due to gunfire and with the rescue of 22 U-boat survivors.

German U-boat POWs Marching Under Guard on a Virginia Base as US Sailors Watch

Newport News & Hampton Roads (HR) Growth & Development

World War II brought boom times to shipbuilding and military installations (e.g., Fort Eustis) in Newport News and Hampton Roads.

This greatly affected all of Warwick County and the Peninsula. Warwick County began growing as upper-and middle-income residents moved from the urbanized parts of Newport News to newly forming suburbs.

Commercial development followed the population movement and small strip shopping centers sprang up along Warwick Boulevard, the County's main transportation artery.

Newport News/HR area map (top) and Shipyards (below)

The HMS Mauretania (passenger liner turned troop transport ship) is shown here docked at the C&O Pier, at Newport News, Va. in September 1942. On board, were 2,036 German prisoners of war who were turned over to the Canadian military.

Newport News Ship Building (Left) – Hampton Roads Point of Embarkation for Overseas Deployment of Men and Materials (Top Rt) – Troops Boarding Ships at HR (Btm-Rt)

Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia, is one of the largest shipyards in the world; specializing in repairing, overhauling and modernizing ships and submarines. It's the oldest and largest industrial facility that belongs to the United States Navy

The Emergency Shipbuilding Program (late 1940-September 1945) was a United States government effort to quickly build Simple cargo Ships (i.e., “Liberty Ships”) to carry troops and materiel to allies and foreign theatres during World War II. Run by the U.S. Maritime Commission, the program built almost 6,000 ships for WWII.

SS Patrick Henry Manufactured at

Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard, Baltimore, MD

1st Of the

EC2-S-C1 type

“LIBERTY SHIPS”

September 1941

Liberty Ships (EC2-S-C1 type):

Patrick Henry (1st Liberty Ship), Charles Carroll, Francis Scott Key, Roger B. Taney, Richard Henry Lee, John Randolph, George Calvert, American Mariner, (AGM-12), Christopher Newport, Carter Braxton, Samuel Chase, George Wythe, Benjamin Harrison (VA Signer of the US Declaration of Independence), Francis L. Lee, Thomas Stone, Richard Bland, George Calvert (II), Thomas Nelson (VA Signer of the US Declaration of Independence), John Witherspoon, Robert Treat Paine, St. Olaf, Jasmine, Esek Hopkins, Peter Minuit, Alexander Macomb, Henry St. G. Tucker, EleazarWheelock, Thomas Ruffin, William Johnson, Richard Bassett, Oliver Ellsworth, Theodore Foster, James Gunn, John Henry, Samuel Johnston, William Mac Lay, William Patterson, Luther Martin, William Wirt, Reverdy Johnson, John H. B. Latrobe, Richard H. Alvey, John P. Poe, Bernard Carter, John Carter Rose, Andrew Hamilton, Benjamin Chew, William Tilghman, Jared Ingersoll, William Rawle, Horace Binney, John Sergeant, Thomas McKean, William Paca, Benjamin Rush, Joseph Stanton, John Walker, Pierce Butler, Tristram Dalton, Jonathan Elmer, William Few, William Grayson, John Mitchell, John W. Brown, James M. Wayne, William B. Woods, Joseph R. Lamar, Thomas Todd, Robert Trimble, John Catron, John McKinley, John A. Campbell, John M. Harlan, Howell E. Jackson, Edward D. White, Horace H. Lurton, Henry W. Grady, James W. Wetmore, Frederick Bartholdi, John B. Gordon, Edward P. Alexander, Robert Battey, Patrick H. Morrissey, Samdee, Joe C. S. Blackburn, John B. Lennon, George G. Crawford, David B. Johnson, Howard E. Coffin, R. Ney McNeely, (YAG-1955), Benjamin H. Hill, Joseph M. Terrell, Robert R. Livingston, Samalness, Isaac Shelby, Samfairy, Samfoyle, Samfinn, Samvigna, Samselbu, Samleyte, Samaustral, Samingoy, Samlorian, Samoland, Donald W. Bain, Augustine B. McManus, James B. Duke, W. P. Few, Alexander S. Clay, F. Southall Farrar, James W. Cannon, Frank Park, Eugene T. Chamberlain, Thomas B. King, R. Walton Moore, Niels Poulson, Arthur J. Tyrer, Cassius Hudson, Lunsford Richardson, Johan Printz, Charles S. Haight, R. J. Reynolds, Duncan L. Clinch, Abigail Gibbons, Charles W. Stiles, Murray M. Blum, Laura Bridgman, Richard Randall, Edward R. Squibb, John H. Hammond, Albert K. Smiley, Nelson Morris, George W. Norris, Arthur M. Hulbert, M. E. Comerford, Felix Riesenberg, Robert J. Banks, Vadso, William F. Jerman, William Cox, George R. Poole, Harold O. Wilson, James Bennett Moore, Halton R. Carey, Harold Dossett, Patrick S. Mahony, Richard A. Van Pelt, Belgian Equality, Charles C. Randleman, Roy James Cole and Patrick B. Whalen.

SS Thomas Nelson

SS Benjamin Harrison

In 1941- 42, the Nazis were sinking so many supply ships Allied victory was in doubt. The Allies decided that ship production would simply have to outpace the number of vessels sent to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Enter the Liberty Ships. which were American-made troop transport and cargo ships designed to make only one solitary ocean voyage – from America to overseas. Eighteen ship yards in America built an astounding 2,742 of the 10,000 ton vessels called “Liberty Ships” from 1941 through May of 1945 -- one at the Kaiser shipyard was built in only 4 days. [Two hundred twenty-nine Liberty ships were lost in WWII]

The Liberty Ship SS JOHN W. BROWN is one of only two remaining WWII Liberty Ships, the other one being the SS JEREMIAH O’BRIEN which is in SF

Building WWII Aircraft Carriers in Virginia

Commissioned/Carrier Class Built at Service8/24/1942 USS Santee ACV-29 Norfolk, VA North Africa, Layte Gulf, PI 12/31/1942 USS Essex CV-9 Norfolk, VA Pacific (e.g., Rabaul, Gilberts, Tarawa,

Kwajalein, Marshall Isl, Marianas, Okinawa, Tokyo)4/14/1943 USS Yorktown CV-10 Norfolk, VA Pacific (e.g., Midway, Wake Isl., Gilberts,

Tarawa, Kwajalein, Marshall Isl., Marianas, Palau, New Guinea, Guam, Leyte Gulf, Tokyo)

8/16/1943 USS Intrepid CV-11 Norfolk, VA Philippines11/29/1943 USS Hornet CV-12 Newport News, VA Saipan1/31/1944 USS Franklin CV-13 Norfolk, VA Mainland Japan5/8/1944 USS Ticonderoga CV-14 Newport News, VA Leyte Gulf, PI, So. China Sea, Tokyo Bay9/14/1944 USS Shangri-La CV-38 Norfolk, VA Okinawa, Mainland Japan4/16/1945 USS Boxer CV-21 Newport News, VA No Service in WWII; Served in Korean War6/3//1945 USS Lake Champlain CV-39 Norfolk, VA No Service in WWII; Brought Troops

Home from Europe

USS Boxer

USS Ticonderoga

USS Ticonderoga_CV-14_Listing from a Kamakazi Airplane Attack in Leyte Gulf, PI (21 Jan 1945)

A Kamikaze crashed through her flight deck and his bomb exploded just above her hangar deck. Several planes stowed nearby erupted into flames. The ship's company fought valiantly to save the threatened carrier. The Captain ordered magazines and other compartments flooded to prevent further explosions and to correct a 10° starboard list; and, he instructed the damage control parties to continue flooding compartments on Ticonderoga's port side. That operation induced a 10° port list which neatly dumped the fire overboard. Firefighters and plane handlers completed the job by dousing the flames and jettisoning burning aircraft. After transferring wounded men to hospital and planes to other carriers, she left the Pacific for repairs at Puget Sound Navy Yard in Bremerton, WA

Camp LEE, VIRGINIA, was built at the outset of World War I. Over 134,000 soldiers trained there during WWI. It was torn down in 1920 and made into a wildlife sanctuary for the Commonwealth of Virginia. Camp Lee was reactivated in 1940 and became a bustling center of activity. Here was located the Quartermaster Replacement Training Center, a Quartermaster Board for research and development, and a Technical Training Center for producing doctrinal literature and training aids.

By mid-1941, 10,400 trainees were qualifying every three months in basic military duties and technical subjects. Over 300,000 soldiers trained here during the course of World War II.

Camp Pickett, located near Blackstone, Va., was initially the home of the 79th Infantry Division and other Second U.S. Army units. The terrain at Camp Pickett was suited to a varied training program. The surrounding countryside was rolling and wooded, with numerous lakes and streams. The soil was a red clay that became a quagmire when wet. On 19 June 1942, Camp Pickett became the base for the Medical Replacement Training Center as trainees were marched there over the 42 miles from Camp Lee.

In 1942, the War Department authorized the center to expand enrollment by 5,000 trainees per cycle. On 14 December 1942, one white battalion was converted to a Negro battalion to accommodate the increasing number of Negro trainees assigned to the training center which continued to enroll trainees until mid-1943. With a declining rate of activations, the Medical Department's demand for replacement training was reduced and the Medical Replacement Training Center was ordered to close in October 1943 after the last training class graduated.

Training and Camp Pickett, Va [The official dedication of Camp Pickett took place July 3, 1942 -- the 79th anniversary of Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg. In addition to military and political VIPs, members of the Pickett family attended ]

This stadium at Camp Pickett, VA (i.e., a 41,000+ ac base near Blackstone, VA) was built by German prisoners of WWII and is still in use by the Army, as well as by schools that hold football camps there today.

K-9 Training Center, Front Royal, VA

1st Coast Guard and Army Graduation Class Front Royal Dog Training Center (1942)

Fort Eustis is a US Army installation located in Newport News, Virginia

Camp Abraham Eustis became Fort Eustis and a permanent military installation in 1923. It housed a federal prison, primarily for bootleggers, during Prohibition. Fort Eustis was reopened as a military installation in August 1940 and became the Coast Artillery Replacement Training Center.

WWII German POWs being transported to Ft. Eustis in March 1946 for “Re-orientation”

POWs at Ft. Eustis, VA (clockwise: going to theater, attending church, listening to lecture)

Aside from the loss of lives suffered by the community, arguably the most significant local impact of the war occurred in 1944 when the U.S. Defense Plants Corporation built a factory to manufacture rayon tire cord in Scottsville, VA. The plant held its ground-breaking ceremony in April of 1944. The cornerstone was laid on May 24 by Governor Colgate W. Darden, Jr. (1942-1946), assisted by Scottsville Mayor Percy Harris. Factory production commenced late in 1944. Funded in part by the Scottsville Lions Club, Albemarle County, and the town of Scottsville, the plant was operated by the United States Rubber Company. Within one year of opening, it employed 350 people. Almost overnight, Scottsville was transformed from a rural village to an industrial town—a change that had lasting influence on the character of the community.

At the end of WWII in 1945, Uniroyal purchased and operated the plant

The U.S. Naval Torpedo Station in Alexandria, Virginia manufactured Mark III torpedoes in the 1920s and mostly Mark XIV torpedoes during World War II.

Production on the Mark XIV, a submarine borne torpedo, and the Mark III aircraft torpedo resumed at an intense rate in WWII; in fact, men and women worked around the clock and were given only two days off a year. Gradually as space was needed, ten additional buildings were added to the complex.

U.S. Naval Torpedo Station, Alexandria, Virginia [Heads of departments pose with the final torpedo manufactured by the Torpedo Station, circa Summer 1945. The Naval Torpedo

Station in Alexandria, Virginia was one of only three United States Navy factories to manufacture torpedoes during World War II. During World War II, this Torpedo Station

employed 6,000 munitions workers who built the Mark XIV torpedo ]

John F. Kennedy’s “USS PT-109” (Left) Stowed on board the "Liberty Ship" Joseph Stanton, at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Virginia, 20 August 1942. Note heavy bracing at the PT boat's stern and on her deck, to prevent movement as she is transported to the Pacific. Also note her torpedo tubes, engine mufflers and 20mm gun mount, with "109" painted on it. (Top Rt – Crew) (Btm Rt – PT 109)

Patrol Torpedo Boat (PT-109)

Langley Aeronautical Laboratory was located at Langley Field in Elizabeth City County, Virginia, just north of the town of Hampton and some 100 miles south of Washington, D.C. The original east area consisted of 23 acres. The west area, developed in the early 1940s, consisted of 750 acres, 430 owned by the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA) [currently called NASA] and 320 by the army air corp. Runways, some utilities, and other facilities (e.g., Huge Wind Tunnels) were used by the NACA and the military jointly.

U.S. Army Air Corps Curtiss P-40 fighters of the 33rd Pursuit Squadron, 8th Pursuit Group at Langley Field, Virginia (USA) in 1941.

A giant of the skyways prepares for flight training at Langley Field, Va. The four powerful engines of the YB-17 bomber are warmed up before a take off (May 1942)

Art Mack in “Four Leaf Clover”, just back from Berlin, May 8, 1944

Arthur W. Mack enlisted in the National Guard, was taken into the Army in 1941, and was sent to Norfolk, VA. There he met a civilian Army typist from North Carolina named Tess. They married in 1942 and he was accepted for pilot training at Langley. After completing flight training at Langley, Mack became the captain of a B-17 (with a crew of ten) and flew 25 missions from England over Germany.

In 1944, he won the Distinguished Flying Cross for safely bringing his heavily damaged B-17 back from a bombing run over Germany.

War in Europe (Against Germany & Italy)

North African Campaign

From Gibraltar, Lt. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower took command of the Allied invasion of North Africa. American forces, convoyed directly from the United States, landed along the Atlantic coast of French Morocco, near Casablanca. Meanwhile, American and British troops sailing from England landed in Algeria. After some negotiations, French units in North Africa joined the Allied forces.

Major Battles at Tebessaand Kaserine Passes (circled)

Eisenhower’s Headquarters

American Landings in North Africa - 8th November 1942 (under command of General Eisenhower from Gibraltar)

While the Allies tightened their grip on Morocco and Algeria, their troops raced to reach strategic positions in neighboring Tunisia. A month earlier the British in Egypt under Lt. Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgomery had mounted a powerful attack on the Germans at El Alamein, sending Rommel (leather coat with staff) and his German-Italian Panzer Army reeling back into Libya.

Allied forces raced for the coast of Tunisia hoping to trap Rommel between the Americans and Montgomery's troops. The Germans poured troops into Tunisia by air and sea; and, Instead of catching Rommel, the Allies faced a protracted struggle. On 14 February 1943, the Axis commanders sent German and Italian forces through the passes, hoping to penetrate the American positions in Tunisia and either envelop the British in the north or seize Allied supply depots.

German forces quickly cut off and overwhelmed two battalions of American infantry positioned too far apart for mutual support, and the experienced panzers beat back counterattacks by American reserves, including elements of the U.S. 1st Armored Division.

U.S. troops began evacuating airfields and supply depots on the plain and falling back to the western arm of the mountains. Dug in around the oasis town of Sbeitla, American infantry and armor managed to hold off the Germans through 16 February, but defenses there began to disintegrate during the night, and the town lay empty by midday on the 17th. From the oasis, roads led back to two passes, the Sbiba and the Kasserine. By 21 February the Germans had pushed through both and were poised to seize road junctions leading to the British rear.

1st Armored Division turned back German probes toward Tebessa, and British armor met a more powerful thrust toward Thala, where four battalions of field artillery from the U.S. 9th Infantry Division arrived just in time to bolster sagging defenses. On the night of 22 February the Germans began to pull back. A few days later Allied forces returned to the passes.

The first American battle with German forces had cost more than 6,000 U.S. casualties, including 300 dead and two-thirds of the tank strength of the 1st Armored Division.

In March, after the British repulsed another German attack, the Allies resumed the offensive. The U.S. II Corps, now under the command of Maj. Gen. George S. Patton, attacked in coordination with an assault on the German line by Montgomery's troops.

American and British forces in the south met on 7 April as they squeezed Axis forces into the northeastern tip of the country. The final drive to clear Tunisiabegan on 19 April 1943.

On 7 May 1943, British armor entered Tunis and American infantry entered Bizerte. Six days later, the last Axis resistance in Africa ended with the surrender of over 275,000 Axis prisoners of war. Patton (lt) Montgomery &

Patton (rt)

General George S. Patton, who attended VMI in 1907 (cadet picture) and graduated from West Point in 1909, came from a long line of soldiers, including General Hugh Mercer of the American Revolutionary War.

His great-grandfather, John M. Patton, was a governor of Virginia.

His grandfather, Colonel George S. Patton, was killed during the Battle of Winchester in the Civil War.

A great-uncle, Waller T. Patton, died of wounds received in Pickett's Charge during the Battle of Gettysburg.

Two other great-uncles, John M. Patton and Isaac Patton, served as colonels in the Confederate States Army, while yet another great uncle, William T. Glassell, was a Confederate States Navy officer.

Campaign in Sicily & Italy

On the night of 9-10 July 1943, an Allied armada of 2,590 vessels launched one of the largest combined operations of World War II -- the invasion of Sicily.

Over the next thirty-eight days, half a million Allied soldiers, sailors, and airmen grappled with their German and Italian counterparts for control of this rocky outwork of Hitler's "Fortress Europe."

When the struggle was over, Sicily became the first piece of the Axis homeland to fall to Allied forces during World War II. More important, it served as both a base for the invasion of Italy and as a training ground for many of the officers and enlisted men who eleven months later landed on the beaches of Normandy.

Landing Troops on Sicily

Sicily

The Allied invasion of Sicily, code named “Operation Husky”, was a major World War II campaign, in which the Allies took Sicily from the Axis (Italy and Nazi Germany). It was a large scale amphibious and airborneoperation, followed by six weeks of land combat. It launched the Italian Campaign.

American Landing Area British Landing Area

Patton’s Americans Won The “Race” to Massina

Patton Landing in Gulf of Cela (Left)

Montgomery Landing in Gulf of Noto(Right)

British

AmericansTaking Palermo

Battles in Sicily – from Landings in Gulfs of Cela and Noto to Massina on the Northern Tip of the Island

In this Our Life is the story of AsaTimberlake. When Asa was 12, his father lost a battle to keep a big corporation from buying his successful family-run tobacco company in their Virginia town. So the old man killed himself, and Asa, who had intended to live a life of comfort, began working in the stemming room of his father's former company. He marries the daughter of a respected family and has two daughters, although he must have wanted sons: Ms. Stanley, who marries Craig, an idealistic liberal lawyer; and Ms. Roy, who marries Pete, a reckless doctor who eventually kills himself when Ms. Roy falls in love with Craig, which drives her sister Stanley to insanity.

The book is about modern times (in 1942), the loss of the individual, and the destiny of our lives.

Ellen Glasgow of Richmond, VA won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction with her 1942 Novel “In This Our Life”

War in Italy

The invasion of Italy was a sequel to the conquest of Sicily. When Messina (in Sicily) fell to the Allies, they had accomplished the basic aim of clearing the enemy from Africa and opening the Mediterranean to Allied shipping.

The invasion of Italy initiated a new and offensive phase of strategy which culminated in the invasion of western France and the final defeat of Germany.

American Invasion Forces Headed to Salerno

US General Mark Wayne Clark on board USS Ancon during the landings at Salerno, Italy, 12 September 1943.

Allied invasion of Italy was the Alliedlanding on mainland Italy on September 3, 1943, by General Harold Alexander's 15th Army Group (comprising Mark Clark's U.S. Fifth Army and Sir Bernard Montgomery's British Eighth Army) during World War II.

The main invasion force landed around Salerno on the western coast in Operation Avalanche, while two supporting operations took place in Calabria (Operation Baytown) and Taranto (Operation Slapstick).

Americans

British

Americans Landing at Salerno

War in Italy

The landing at Salerno got bogged down and Germans put up a determined defense which was finally overcome.

Thereafter, the Americans marched on Rome as the Germans left and moved further up the peninsula.

Despite an Italian armistice on September 8, the Germans continued to fight on determinedly. The strategic failure of the Allied landing at Anzio was due to low priorities and other Allied deficiencies. Meanwhile, the German defense of Cassino was particularly tenacious. Nevertheless, the Allies advanced relentlessly northward, smashing through the Gustav Line and the Gothic Line. The Germans surrendered in Italy on May 2, 1945.

Americans

British

Eighth Evac Hospital, Aerial Photo at Pietramala, Italy, 1944⁄1945 (Founded and staffed by Univ. of Virginia Physicians and Nurses) [8th EVAC HOSP Service: MTO 18 Nov 42 – 21 Nov 42 French Morocco – 19 Jun 43 Tunisia – 9 Jul 43 Sicily -21 Sep 43 Italy (inactivated 30 Sep 1945)]

8th Evacuation Hospital at Pietramala, Italy (14 Oct 1944 - 1 Apr 1945). This place was called the 'coldest spot' on the II Corps front (i.e., most forward Hospital) during the battle for the Gothic Line (i.e., Germany’s last defensive line in northern Italy) and the offensive against Bologna

Central European Campaign

For the Americans, the war in Central Europe began on 6 June 1944 (known as D-Day). The Western Allies invaded northern France with several Allied divisions reassigned from the campaigns in Italy and southern France. These landings were successful, and led to the defeat of the German Army units in France and Germany itself.

Paris was liberated by the local resistance assisted by the Free Frenchforces (i.e., led by Charles de Gaulle –circled btm rt) on 25 August and the Western Allies continued to push back German forces in Western Europe during the latter part of the year.

An attempt to advance into northern Germany spear-headed by a major airborne operation in the Netherlands ended with a failure.

Americans heading for Omaha Beach on D-Day 6 June 1944 (above) – Charles de Gaulle Liberating Paris (circled below)

Allied forces advance over Siegfried Line into Germany

Operation Market Garden (September 17–25, 1944) in the Netherlands (i.e., the largest airborne operation of all time – it failed to capture bridges over the Rhine)

British Tanks on Nijmegen Bridge

Airborne

8th AF Bombing Wulf factory at Marienburg, Germany

(Above) Synthetic Oil Plant at Zeitz. Germany after American Bombing (1944)

Cologne Cathedral (Still Standing after allied air raids)

Effects of Bombing Hamberg, Germany

German POWs March in Streets of Moscow (1945)

Russians Capture Berlin May 1945

Red Army Guards with German POWs

Russians Who Stormed Berlin (1945)

Russians at German Reichstag

“Holocaust” is the name given to the systematic persecution and killing of millions of Jews, other minorities, and dissidents throughout Europe by German Nazis.

The policy was carried out in stages: 1. Legislation to remove the Jews from civil

society before the outbreak of World War II;

2. Concentration camps were established in which inmates were used as slave labor until they died of exhaustion or disease;

3. Where the Third Reich conquered new territory in eastern Europe, specialized military units called “Einsatzgruppen” murdered Jews and political opponents in mass shootings; and,

4. Jews were confined in overcrowded ghettos before being transported by freight trains to extermination campswhere the majority of them were systematically killed in gas chambers.

Every arm of Nazi Germany’s bureaucracy was involved in the logistics of the mass murders, turning the country into what one Holocaust scholar has called "a genocidal state"

1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

Executions of Russian Jews by German army mobile killing units (Einsatzgruppen)

Hungarian Jews arrive at Auschwitz (1944)

On April 30, 1945, as Russian troops fought to within yards of his subterranean bunker, Adolph Hitler put a pistol to his head, pulled the trigger and closed the curtain on the Third Reich. Before his death, Hitler married Eva Braun and anointed Admiral Karl Donitz as his successor with orders to continue the fighting. Hitler was unaware that the German surrender had already begun.

The Russians say they buried Eva Braun and Hitler, later digging them up and moving them. Then in the 1970s, digging them up again and destroying the remains to prevent Hitler from becoming a martyr.

The last official photo of Adolph Hitler prior to his suicide (April 30, 1945). He is shown greeting and decorating one of the boy soldiers used in the last days of the defense of Berlin.

Hitler Outside His Bunker – Eva Braun’s photo taken in better times at Berchtesgadenn

General Wilhelm Keitel (center) Surrendering to the Allies in Berlin, Germany (May 7, 1945)

Keitel Signing Surrender

Victory in Europe (i.e., V-E Day – Celebrated on May 8, 1945)

Sailors Celebrating V-E Day in Virginia

VE-Day on The Streets of Virginia

Truman at Potsdam. The Potsdam Conference was held at Cecilienhof, the home of Crown Prince Wilhelm Hohenzollern, in Potsdam, occupied Germany, from 17 July to 2 August 1945.

Seated Participants: British Prime Minister Clement Attlee, President Harry S. Truman, and Communist Party General Secretary Joseph Stalin gathered to decide how to administer punishment to the defeated Nazi Germany, which had agreed to unconditional surrender nine weeks earlier, on May 8 (V-E Day).

The goals of the conference also included the establishment of post-war order, peace treaty issues, and countering the effects of war in Europe.

Occupation zone borders in Germany (after 1945). The territories east of the Oder-Neisse line are under Polish and Soviet administration/annexation -- are shown as white -- as is the likewise detached Saar protectorate. Berlin is the multinational area within the Soviet zone (Circled)

Asia-Pacific War (Against Japan)

For Americans World War II in Asia began only after the Imperial Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbour on December 7, 1941. But in fact, war had already been raging in Asia for a decade.

Most scholars agree that the war in Asia began on September 18, 1937 when the Imperial Japanese Army attacked and occupied Manchuria, in northern China. Japan later launched an all-out invasion of China on July 7, 1937. The term “Asia-Pacific War” can be used to embrace both the Asian phase of the war, from 1931 to 1941, and the Pacific phase of World War II, from 1942 to 1945.

Battles in the Pacific

The Battle of Midway is widely regarded as the most important naval battle of the Pacific Campaign. Early in the War from 4-7 June 1942, approximately one month after the Battle of the Coral Sea and six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States Navy decisively defeated an Imperial Japanese Navyattack against Midway Atoll, inflicting irreparable damage on the Japanese Navy.

Midway Atoll, several months before the battle. Eastern Island (with the airfield) is in the foreground, and the larger Sand Island is in the background to the west.

MikumiBefore Sinking

US Dive Bombers Attacking Mikumi

Planes on USS Enterprise Prepare for the Attack

USS Yorktown

Pacific Campaigns

There were two major offensive campaigns in the Pacific theater of the War. The first drove from Tarawa up the Gilbert and Mairana Islands to Iwo Jima and Okinawa. The second drove from the Solomon Islands (e.g., Guadalcanal) thru New Guinea up thru the Philippines and into Malaysia.

As islands nearer mainland Japan were conquered, the allies built or repaired and used former Japanese airfields to launch attacks on Japanese positions closer to their mainland and on the Japanese homeland itself (e.g., Tokyo).

The Japanese were a tenacious foe and many of the battles had heavy casualties on both sides.

1st Marine Division on Guadalcanal

Tarawa

The Battle of Tarawa was fought in the Pacific Theatre of World War IIfrom November 20 to November 23, 1943. It was the second time the United States was on the offensive (the Guadalcanal Campaign in the Solomon Islands had been the first), and Tarawa was the first offensive in the critical central Pacific region.

The fighting was fierce, bloody, and in close combat many GIs were wounded or killed.

The 4,500 Japanese defenders were well-supplied and well-prepared, and they fought almost to the last man, exacting a heavy toll on the United States Marine Corps.

Very few Japanese surrendered and were taken as prisoners.

Japanese Prisoners of War

Close Combat on Tarawa

Pilots pleased over their victory during the Marshall Islands attack, grin across the tail of an F6F Hellcat on board the USS LEXINGTON, after shooting down 17 out of 20 Japanese planes heading for Tarawa. Comdr. Edward Steichen photo, November 1943

Mariana Islands Campaign (Rota, Tinian, Saipan -- Circled)

From Tinian, B-29 bombers from the 509th Composite Group carrying the atomic bombs Little Boy and Fat Manwere launched against Hiroshima and Nagasaki. [The atomic bombs had been delivered to the island by the USS Indianapolis on 26 July 1945]

West Field on Tinian (8 July 1945)

Tinian was captured by the United States in July 1944 in the Battle of Tinian. The island was transformed into the busiest airbase of the war, with two B-29 airfields (West and North) having six 8,500 foot (2700 m) runways. North Field is overgrown; but, the West Field runways are still in use as the Tinian International Airport.

The Battle of Saipan was fought on the island of Saipan in the Mariana Islandsfrom 15 June 1944 to 9 July 1944. In fierce fighting to the last man, the US Marinesand Army Infantry, commanded by Lt. General Holland Smith, defeated the 43rd Division of the Imperial Japanese Army, commanded by Lt. Gen. YoshitsuguSaito.

Marines at Red Beach and behind a tank fighting up the island

PhilippinesIn July 1944, President Roosevelt summoned MacArthur to meet with him in Hawaii "to determine the phase of action against Japan." Nimitz and MacArthur agreed that the next step should be to advance on the southern and central Philippines.

MacArthur emphasized the moral and political issues involved in a decision to liberate or bypass Luzon. Although the issue was not settled, both Roosevelt and Leahy were convinced of the soundness of MacArthur's plan. In September, Halsey's carriers made a series of air strikes on the Philippines. Opposition was feeble and Halsey concluded that Leyte was "wide open" and possibly undefended, and recommended that projected operations on Luzon be skipped in favor of an assault on Leyte Gulf.

MacArthur Landing in Leyte Gulf Said: “I have Returned” (10/20/1944)

New GuineaIn early November 1944, MacArthur's plan for a westward advance along the coast of New Guinea toward the Philippines was incorporated into plans for the war against Japan approved at the Cairo Conference. These landings along the Northern Coast of New Guinea took place from Feb – July of 1945.

On December 18, 1944, Douglas MacArthur (left) was promoted to the new five star rank of General of the Army — one day later Chester W. Nimitz (right) was promoted to Fleet Admiral, also a five star rank

On December 26, 1944, MacArthur issued a communiqué announcing that "the Philippine campaign can now be regarded as closed except for minor mopping up”.

MacArthur recieved the Medal of Honor "For conspicuous leadership in preparing the Philippine Islands to resist conquest, for gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action against invading Japanese forces, and for the heroic conduct of defensive and offensive operations on the Bataan Peninsula. He mobilized, trained, and led an army which has received world acclaim for its gallant defense against a tremendous superiority of enemy forces in men and arms. His utter disregard of personal danger under heavy fire and aerial bombardment, his calm judgment in each crisis, inspired his troops, galvanized the spirit of resistance of the Filipino people, and confirmed the faith of the American people in their Armed Forces."

Iwo Jima is an uninhabited island of the Japanese Volcano Islands chain. It is located 650 nautical miles south of Tokyo. It is famous as the site of the February–March 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima where the iconic photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima (2/23/1945) was taken. The U.S. occupied Iwo Jima until 1968, when it was returned to Japan; and, a “flag raising” sculpture stands at the Marine memorial site in Washington, DC.

The Marine invasion of Iwo Jima was to capture airfields on the island which could then be used in the impending invasion of the Japanese mainland.

Okinawa Island Campaign March 31, 1945 Marines Reinforcing their Beach-head on Okinawa

The Battle of Okinawa, was the largest amphibious assault in the Pacific War. The 82-day-long battle lasted from early April until mid-June, 1945.

The battle has been called the "Typhoon of Steel" referring to the ferocity of the fighting, the intensity of gunfire involved, and to the sheer numbers of Allied ships and armored vehicles that assaulted the island. The battle resulted in some of the highest casualties of any World War II engagement. As the Allies got closer to the Japanese mainland, the fighting got bloodier.

Japanese Prisoners

Lewis “Chesty” Burwell Puller of West Point, VA was the only Marine to be awarded five Navy Crosses. (The Navy Cross being second only to the Congressional Medal of Honor) During his career, he fought in World War 2 and the Korean War, and participated in some of the bloodiest battles in Marine Corps history. Puller is also attributed with the quote: "All right, they're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us..[So,].they can't get away this time." [Left: “Chesty”; Top Middle: Young “Bad-ass”; Col. “Chesty”; Gen. with MacArthur in Korea]

WWII Congressional Medal of Honor Winners from Virginia

STREET, GEORGE LEVICK, III Rank and organization: Commander, U.S. Navy, U.S.S. Tirante. Place and date: Harbor of Quelpart Island, off the coast of Korea, 14 April 1945. Entered service at. Virginia. Born: 27 July 1913,Richmond, Va.

Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as commanding officer of the U.S.S. Tirante during the first war patrol of that vessel against enemy Japanese surface forces in the harbor of Quelpart Island, off the coast of Korea, on 14 April 1945.

VANDEGRIFT, ALEXANDER ARCHERRank and organization: Major General, U.S. Marine Corps, commanding officer of the 1st Marine Division. Place and date: Solomon Islands (Guadalcanal), 7 August to 9 December 1942. Entered service at: Virginia. Born: 3/13/1887, Charlottesville, Va.

Citation: For outstanding and heroic accomplishment above and beyond the call of duty as commanding officer of the 1st Marine Division in operations against enemy Japanese forces in the Solomon Islands during the period 7 August to 9 December 1942.

In 1945, Corporal Desmond T. Doss of Lynchburg, Virginia, was presented the Medal of Honor by President Truman for outstanding bravery as a medic, during the conquest of Okinawa earlier that year.

Doss was a pacifist based on his religion, 7th Day Adventist, and refused therefore to kill or carry a weapon; but, he served as a medic and was very brave.

He saved at least a dozen lives at the extreme risk of his own despite multiple wounds, including a compound fracture of his arm that he bound to the broken stock of a rifle while helping others. Doss was the first conscientious objector to win the Medal of Honor. He served with the 77th Infantry Division.

Desmond T. Doss pictured atop Okinawa cliff where he saved lives

The Land War Elsewhere in Asia [i.e., the China, Burma, India (CBI) Theater]

Between 1942 and 1945, there were four main areas of conflict in the Pacific War:

• China,

• Central Pacific,

• South East Asia, and the

• South West Pacific.

U.S. sources refer to two theaters within the Pacific War: the Pacific Theater of Operations (PTO) and the China, Burma, India Theater (CBI)

China, Burma, India Theater (CBI) refers to US forces operating in conjunction with British and Chinese Allied air and land forces in China, Burma, and India. Well-known US units in this theater included the Flying Tigers, transport and bomber units flying over the Himalayas (i.e., the Hump), the 1st Air Commando Group, engineers who built the Ledo Road, and the 5307th Composite Unit (i.e., Merrill's Marauders)

Flying Tigers – Flew Supplies to China Over the Hump

After Rangoon was captured by the Japanese and before the Ledo Road was finished, the majority of supplies to the Chinese were delivered via airlift (i.e., Flying Tigers) over the eastern end of the Himalayan Mountains known as the Hump. (Above) U.S.-built Army trucks wind along the side of a mountain on the Ledo supply road when it opened from India into Burma.

The Ledo Road from the railhead at Ledo in India to the Mong-Yu road junction with the Burma Road where trucks could continue to the Chinese frontier and Kunming, China. The road was built by 15,000 American soldiers [60 percent of whom were African-Americans with over 1,100 Americans dying during the road’s construction]

Merrill's Marauders or Unit Galahad, officially named the 5307th Composite Unit (provisional), was a United States long range penetration special forces unit in the South-East Asian Theater of World War II which fought in the Burma Campaign.

The unit became famous for its deep-penetration missions behind Japanese lines, often engaging Japanese forces superior in number. Along with six Ranger Battalions, they are considered the only World War II-era Army light infantry unit comparable to the present-day United States Army Rangers.

The 5307th composite unit just prior to departing Ledo, India for Burma in February 1944.

Ledo – Burma Road 1944-45 to Chen-Yi and Kweiyang, China. A Convoy is shown ascending the famous twenty-one curves at Annan, China (3/1945)

Merrill's Marauders using Army pack mules on Road to Burma from Ledo, India

On August 28, 1941, Harry Hopkins asked Edward Reilly Stettinius to take over from him the administration of the government’s Lend-Lease program, which was rapidly growing in scale. On September 2, 1941, Stettinius became the Administrator of Lend-Lease Aid to the Allies. In 1943, he wrote a book, Lend-Lease: Weapon for Victory

In 1943, Roosevelt appointed Stettinius Under Secretary of State. In that capacity, he headed the U.S. delegation to the Dumbarton Oaks Conference with representatives of the other Great Powers in the summer of 1944 – and is credited with succeeding in brokering an agreement on the structure of the future United Nations Organization. In November 1944, the U.S. Senate confirmed Stettinius as the replacement for Secretary of State Cordell Hull, who had to retire due to ill health. In Feb. 1945, he attended the Yalta Conference with FDR.

After the War, Stettinius served as the US Representative to the UN, retired to his family estate on the Rapidan River in Culpeper Co., Virginia, and served as rector of the Univ. of Virginia in Charlottesville.

Edward R. Stettinius (left)

Stettinius with Anthony Eden (British Foreign Minister) and AverellHarriman (US Ambassador to Russia) at Yalta Peace Conference, Feb. 1945 (below)

The conference at Yalta held in the Crimea on February 4-11, 1945 brought together the Big Three Allied leaders. During this conference, Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt discussed Europe's postwar reorganization. The main purpose of Yalta was the re-establishment of the nations conquered and destroyed by Germany. Behind the Big Three are their “foreign ministers” (Boxed Lt to Rt): Stettinius, Eden, and Molotov)

According to Stettinius, American Foreign Policy Goals were:

1. Support for our armed forces to win the world war ASAP;

2. Prevent Germany and Japan from ever again acquiring the power to wage war;

3. Establish a United Nations organization capable of maintaining the peace;

4. Promote a great expansion of our productivity and trade throughout the world in order to maintain “full employment”and higher standards of living in America and the world;

5. Encourage development everywhere of the institutions of a free and democratic way of life. Stettinius & French General de Gaulle (1944);

Signing Pan Am Pact; Meeting with FDR & Advisors on Cruiser Quincy after Yalta Conference (1945)

FDR Dies Suddenly

After Yalta on March 29, 1945, Roosevelt went to Warm Springs, Georgia to rest before his anticipated appearance at the founding conference of the United Nations in SF.

On the afternoon of April 12, Roosevelt said, "I have a terrific pain in the back of my head." He then slumped forward in his chair, unconscious, and was carried into his bedroom. The president's attending cardiologist, Dr. Howard Bruenn, diagnosed a massive cerebral hemorrhage(stroke). At 3:35 p.m. that day, Roosevelt died.

FDR suffered from Polio; but, was rarely seen in his wheelchair

FDR frequently took to the water as treatment for his polio

FDR supported charity events to fight polio and created the National Assoc. for Infantile Paralysis to find a cure

Eddie Cantor came up with the idea to name FDR’s fight against polio the successful “March of Dimes”(which later bore FDR’s likeness.)

Franklin Roosevelt built this little cottage near the warm springs where he sought treatment for his polio, before and during his administrations. He died there of a stroke in 1945.

Q So why is President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s image on the face of the US dime (10 cent piece)?

A After Roosevelt’s death, the US Mint and US Government decided to commemorate his life on a coin. The reason the dime was chosen was two fold. First, the country wanted to honor the late President by remembering that he had served his country for 12 years and successfully brought them through the Great Depression and World War II. The second reason was to celebrate FDR’s efforts to find a cure for polio through the “March of Dimes” campaign. (Dr. Jonas Salk developed the first polio vaccine in 1955)

The Roosevelt dime was first issued in 1946, the year after FDR's death in 1945.

Before 1946, the dime featured the head of Lady Liberty wearing a Phrygian cap. The Winged Liberty Head on the dime was replaced by the head of FDR in 1946.

President Harry S. Truman and the “Bombs”

To end the war in the summer of 1945, Harry S. Truman, with the concurrence of Britain and Canada, decided to drop atomic bombs on Japan.

The first fell on Hiroshima on August 6; the second on Nagasaki on August 9.

Meanwhile, the Soviet Union entered the war against Japan, moving its troops against Japan's army in northern China.

On August 15, Japan surrendered.

For some people, such as the POWs interned in Japan and troops set to invade mainland Japan, the atomic bombs seemed like lifesavers.

To some, however, the dropping of atomic bombs on mainly civilian populations seemed like a war crime.

“Little Boy” (left) dropped on Hiroshima “Fat Man” (right) dropped on Nagasaki

The crew and their “Enola Gay”, the B-29 bomber that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, August 6, 1945

Bombing of Hiroshima (8/6/1945)

“Little Boy”

“Enola Gay”

B-29 named “Bockscar” whose nose art: the "fat man" silhouettes represent four pumpkin bomb missions (black) and the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki (a red symbol, fourth in the line of five symbols)

Crew C-15. front row: Dehart, Kuharek, Buckley, Gallagher, Spizer; back row: Olivi, Beahan, Sweeney, Van Pelt, Albury

Art painted on the aircraft after its mission

Bombing of Nagasaki (8/9/1945)

“Fat Man”

President Truman Announces Japan’s Surrender

Norfolk, VA Celebrates End of WWII – V-J Day (August 14, 1945)

MacArthur Accepts Japan’s Formal Surrender Aboard USS Missouri and Signs for Allied Forces (9/2/1945)

“The World War II Memorial honors the 16 million who served in the armed forces of the U.S., the more than 400,000 who died, and all who supported the war effort from home. Symbolic of the defining event of the 20th Century, the memorial is a monument to the spirit, sacrifice, and commitment of the American people. The Second World War is the only 20th Century event commemorated on the National Mall’s central axis." [Photo from the Washington Monument looking toward Virginia]

Truman and Stettinius Signing UN Charter at 1st

Meeting in SF, CA (June 26, 1945)

US Representatives (Mrs. Roosevelt and Stettinius) arrive at 1st UN Meeting in SF

E.R. Stettinius Addressing 1st

UN Meeting

On June 26, 1945, the finished UN Charter was open for signatures. The US, China , France , the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom ratified the charter while a majority of the other Countries signed and agreed to it. The United Nations was officially “Chartered” on October 24, 1945.

Members of the United Nations (1945)

Members Non-Members

Building the Rural Interstate Highways (1945) [The Federal Aid Highway Act, approved December 20, 1944 authorized a Federal appropriation of $500,000,000 for each of the first three post-war years. The Federal Public Roads Administration requested each State Highway Department to proceed at once with recommendations of routes for inclusion in the system without any limitations upon their freedom of action]

Irene (Morgan) Kirkaldy (b. 4/9/1917 – d. 8/10/2007), was an important predecessor to Rosa Parks in the successful fight to overturn segregation laws in the United States. Like the more famous Parks, but eleven years earlier, in 1944, the 28-year-old African-American woman was arrested and jailed in Virginia for refusing to give up her seat to a white person on an interstate Greyhound bus.

In a 1946 landmark decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-1 that Virginia's state law (i.e., a “Jim Crow” law) enforcing segregation on interstate buses was illegal. The ruling did not end segregation in intrastate commerce.

The bus driver stopped in Middlesex County, Virginia, and summoned the sheriff, who tried to arrest Morgan. She tore up the arrest warrant, kicked the sheriff in the groin and fought with the deputy who tried to drag her off the bus.

Irene Morgan was arrested and fined ten dollars. At 90, she died of Alzheimer’s disease at her home in Gloucester, Va.

Morgan v. Commonwealth of Virginia (June 1946)

Significance: Court Finds That Mandatory Segregation On Public Motor Carriers Traveling Between States Violates the Commerce Clause of the US Constitution

Appellant's Claim:That forced segregation on buses traveling between states is unconstitutional.

Chief Lawyers for Appellant:William H. Hastie and Thurgood Marshall

Justices for the Court’s Finding:Hugo Lafayette Black, William O. Douglas, Felix Frankfurter, Frank Murphy, Stanley Forman Reed (writing for the Court), Wiley Blount RutledgeJustices Dissenting:Harold Burton (Robert H. Jackson and Harlan Fiske Stone did not participate)

Morgan v Commonwealth of VA was a significant step on the road to overturning the rule of "separate but equal" that had been the law of the land ever since Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). Irene Morgan, an African American woman, got on a Greyhound bus in Gloucester County, Virginia, bound for Baltimore, Maryland. Morgan was asked to sit at the back of the bus, as the laws of Virginia dictated she must. When she refused, she was taken off the bus and arrested.

The Women's Armed Services Integration Act of 1948, signed into law by President Harry Truman on June 12, 1948, gave women permanent status in the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps and made them entitled to all veterans benefits. The act placed a two percent ceiling on the number of women in each of the services, restricted promotions to one full colonel or Navy captain as Chief of the Nurse Corps and/or Service Director, and limited the number of female officers who could serve as lieutenant colonels or Navy commanders.

On July 26, 1948, Truman issued a then-controversial Executive Order that called for "equality of treatment for all persons in the armed services, without regard to race, color, religion or national origin.” Though African Americans in uniform had fought and died for the United States throughout its history, rarely had they been treated as equals to whites. Truman’s “Integration Order” was a milestone.

Charles McGee, a Tuskegee Airman, Retired as an AF Colonel

George C. Marshall was born into a middle-class family -- the son of George C. Marshall, Sr. and Laura Bradford Marshall. Marshall was a descendant of an old Virginia family, as well as a distant relative of former Chief Justice John Marshall. George C. Marshall graduated from the Virginia Military Institute(VMI) in 1901.

As Chief of Staff, Marshall organized the largest military expansion in U.S. history, inheriting an outmoded, poorly-equipped army of 189,000 men and, partly drawing from his experience teaching and developing techniques of modern warfare as an instructor at the Army War College, he coordinated the large-scale expansion and modernization of the U. S. Army. Though he had never actually led troops in combat, Marshall was a skilled organizer with a talent for inspiring other officers.

Nominated by President Franklin Roosevelt to be Army Chief of Staff, Marshall was promoted to full General and sworn in on September 1, 1939, the day German forces invaded Poland, which began World War II. He would hold this post until the end of the war in 1945.

In early 1947, President Truman appointed Marshall Secretary of State. He became the spokesman for the State Department's ambitious plans to rebuild Europe. On June 5, 1947 in a speech at Harvard University, he outlined the American plan. The “European Recovery Program” was its formal name; but, President Truman insisted that the recovery program be called the “Marshall Plan.”

The Marshall Plan would help Europe quickly rebuild and modernize its economy along American lines. The Soviet Union forbade its satellite states to participate. Marshall was again named TIME's Man of the Year for 1947, and received the Nobel Peace Prize for his post-war work in 1953.

As Secretary of State, Marshall strongly opposed recognizing the State of Israel. Marshall resigned from the State Department because of ill health on January 7, 1949, and the same month became chairman of American Battle Monuments Commission. In September 1949, Marshall was named president of the American National Red Cross

Map of Cold-War era Europe showing countries that received Marshall Plan aid. The blue columns show the relative amount of total aid given per nation.

While serving as Secretary of State between 1947 and 1949 under President Harry Truman, Marshall coordinated the European recovery plan—called the Marshall Plan—that sped European economic recovery after the war. In December 1953, he received the Nobel Peace Prize for his leadership in that effort and for his work to promote world peace. Marshall remains the only soldier ever to receive this award. (Marshall Foundation, Lexington, VA)

Marshall Receives 1953 Nobel Peace Prize

[WTVR-TV (CBS 6) in Richmond began broadcasting]

WTVR-TV, CBS 6 is a CBS affiliate owned by Local TV Holdings, LLCand licensed through Community Television of Virginia, LLC. WTVR-TV was located, on West Broad Street in Richmond, VA and is the South's First Television Station.

WTVR signed on April 22, 1948. Its the first TV station granted a license south of the Mason/Dixon line. At 1,049 feet above sea level, the WTVR tower was the tallest freestanding structure in the country at that time, and now the tower stands as a familiar historic Richmond landmark. WTVR-TV now broadcasts solely in digital (DTV) from its transmitter on Sesame Street in Richmond, Va.

References:Ballard, Robert D., “National Geographic: The Search For Kennedy's PT 109” (DVD - 2002)

Benedict, Terry (Director) “The Conscientious Objector - A True Story of an American Soldier -- Desmond T. Doss” (DVD -- 2004)

Burns, James M., Roosevelt: The Lion and the Fox. New York: Harcourt, 1956.

Center of Military History, “A Brief History of the U.S. Army in World War II”, US Army, Wash., DC (1992)

Federal Highway Administration, Paintings by Carl Rakeman at [www.fhwa.dot.gov/interstate/artgallery.htm]

Gilliam, George H. “Ground Beneath Our Feet: Virginia Fights WWII” (2001) Images at [http://www.vahistory.org/WWII/image_archive/index.php]

Gray, Cindy, “Japanese Internment at the Homestead in Hot Springs, VA”, Bath County Chamber of Commerce

Honolulu Advisor Web Site at [http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/specials/pearlharbor60]

National Archives (WWII Photos) at [http://www.archives.gov/research/ww2/photos/]

Navy Military Web Site (i.e., Navy.mil) at [http://www.navy.mil/navydata/ships/destroyers]

Stettinius, Jr., E. R. , Lend-Lease: Weapon for Victory, The Macmillan Co., NY, (1944)

Stettinius, Jr., Edward R., Roosevelt and the Russians: The Yalta Conference, Edited by Walter Johnson, Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1949

Walker, Richard L., The American Secretaries of State and Their Diplomacy, Vol. 14, E. R. Stettinius, Jr.,(Ferrell, Robert H., Editor), Cooper Square Publishers, Inc., 1965

Walker, Richard L., The American Secretaries of State and Their Diplomacy, Vol. 15, John Marshall, (Ferrell, Robert H., Editor), Cooper Square Publishers, Inc., 1965

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