Military

New York State was a center of industry during World War II. New York aviation companies designed many of the greatest combat aircraft of the era, and bustling armies of women and men helped quickly churn them out by the thousands. More than one fourth of all US warplanes came from New York drawing boards during the war. These planes saw combat service everywhere, holding the line in the deserts of North Africa and flying from aircraft carriers plying the vast Pacific Ocean. Others operated over the frozen tundra of Alaska and Siberia. New York aircraft flew tons of fuel, ammunition, and supplies over the treacherous Himalayan Mountains into China, relentlessly hounded enemy submarines and ships, and battered Axis strongholds all the way to victory.

West Virginia in the Civil War chronicles the role West Virginians played in the Civil War through the use of vintage photograph

West Virginia, ""Child of the Storm,"" was the only state formed as a result of the Civil War. West Virginia witnessed battles, engagements, and guerrilla actions during the four years of the Civil War. The struggle between eastern and western Virginia over voting rights, taxation, and economic development can be traced back to the formation of the Republic. John Brown's 1859 raid on the United States Arsenal at Harpers Ferry played a major role in the Civil War, which started in western Virginia with the destruction of Baltimore & Ohio Railroad property. When Virginia voted to secede and join the slave-holding Confederacy, the counties of western Virginia formed the pro-Union government known as the Restored Government of Virginia in Wheeling. West Virginia in the Civil War chronicles the role West Virginians played in the Civil War through the use of vintage photographs.

A pictoral history of Willow Run - a relative unknown location that became the world's most famous bomber factory during World War II.

In May 1940, Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt called for the production of 50,000 military airplanes. He then drafted the president of General Motors, William Knudsen, to mobilize industry in the United States. The automotive companies were called upon to produce a massive fleet of bombers, as well as tanks, trucks, guns, and engines. By the Willow Run, a sleepy little creek near Ypsilanti, Michigan, Ford Motor Company built the world's most famous bomber factory, which was the ultimate manifestation of the automotive industry's role in building armaments during World War II. By the spring of 1944, Willow Run was producing a four-engine B-24 bomber each hour on an assembly line.

Originally a World War II infantry training center, followed by a brief stint as a US Air Force base, Camp Wolters was redesignated a US Army installation in July 1956, and its primary mission was to train helicopter pilots.

Mineral Wells offered an ideal climate and terrain for flight training with predominately clear skies, rolling open ranch land, high bluffs, and the Brazos River valley. An integral part of Mineral Wells’ economy, the flight school expanded in the 1960s due to escalation of the Vietnam War. During the war, with the exception of the US Navy, all helicopter pilots receiving primary flight training passed through Fort Wolters. During its 17 years of operation, over 40,000 pilots were trained, which included international students from 33 countries. The last Fort Wolters pilots graduated in 1973, and it was formally closed in 1975 and was converted into an industrial center.

Wes J. Sheffield is an aviation/aerospace professional and historian. He has taught history at Dallas Baptist University and is an active member of the West Texas Historical Association, serving as the organization’s social media editor. His interest in Fort Wolters began while employed with Bell Helicopter, where he met and later interviewed former Vietnam War helicopter pilots while writing a narrative history of Fort Wolters, US Army Helicopter School. 

Valley Forge offers a variety of historical views and background into the site that became Pennsylvania's first state park. Highlights include Washington's Headquarters and the patriotic and inspiring Washington Memorial Chapel, as well as Revolutionary War artifacts that have found a home in Valley Forge. Thousands of books exist on the history of the American War for Independence, but few describe the events and people who have struggled to preserve that story of independence for people everywhere, as Valley Forge does.

In World War II Hawaii, experience the untold stories of Hawaii at war where children worked the pineapple fields and women served in armed volunteer units. Makeshift bomb shelters were constructed, trenches dug around public buildings, and barbed wire strung on beaches. This tropical paradise transitioned into an active war front where over one million servicemen and tens of thousands of civilian defense workers came through and changed Hawaii forever. 

Within hours of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, martial law was declared in Hawaii. Schools were taken over by the military, and neighborhoods were evacuated. All communication was censored, and every citizen was fingerprinted and registered. The US government burned over $2 million and replaced it with newly minted currency that had “Hawaii” stamped on it in case of invasion by the Empire of Japan.

Dorothea N. Buckingham is a librarian, author, and World War II historian. John C. Buckingham is a retired US Marine Corps officer, author, and active docent with Pearl Harbor museums. Through this collection of rarely seen images, taken mainly from the Hawaii War Records Depository, they present daily life in Hawaii during World War II as it has never been seen before.

Located on the waterfront in historic Fall River, Massachusetts, Battleship Cove, a nonprofit maritime museum and war memorial, is home to the largest and most diverse collection of preserved US Navy ships in the world.

It is the commonwealth's official memorial for the events of September 11, 2001, and the official veterans' memorial for World War II and the Korean, Vietnam, and Persian Gulf Wars. Beginning with the opening of the battleship USS Massachusetts in 1965, the ""Fall River Navy"" has continued to grow. The vessels include the submarine Lionfish, destroyer Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., and PT boats 617 and 796. Having hosted nearly six million visitors from all over the world, Battleship Cove is one of the most popular attractions in southeastern Massachusetts. It now stands at the threshold of a new era in its ambitions to modernize for the 21st century.

Powerful: this single word aptly describes a naval vessel known as a battleship. The USS Alabama (BB-60) was the last of four South Dakota-class battleships built for World War II.

She is well armored and designed to survive an attack while continuing to fight. Her main battery, known as "Big Guns," consisted of nine 16-inch guns; each could launch a projectile weighing as much as a small car that could hit a target 21 miles away. Her crew numbered 2,332 men, none of whom were lost to enemy fire, earning her the nickname "Lucky A." She served as more than just a battleship: she carried troops, supplies, and seaplanes and served in the Pacific and Atlantic; her doctors treated patients from other ships; she was the wartime home for a major-league ballplayer; the movie setting for Hollywood films; and she traveled home to the state of Alabama with the help of schoolchildren.

Fort Holabird was a US Army facility near Baltimore, Maryland and began as a training center for a relatively new military technology, the motor vehicle, it would later bear witness to intrigue as a center of US Army intelligence and counterintelligence.

Fort Holabird was a US Army facility near Baltimore, Maryland. Opened as Camp Holabird in preparation for World War I, Holabird trained vehicle drivers and mechanics. After World War II, Holabird became home to the US Army Intelligence School. It was around this time the facility was renamed Fort Holabird. The intelligence school relocated to Fort Huachuca, Arizona, in 1971, and Fort Holabird closed in 1973. Holabird has an amazing history. It began as a training center for a relatively new military technology, the motor vehicle. Holabird would later bear witness to intrigue as a center of US Army intelligence and counterintelligence. Holabird is also remembered by many Vietnam-era draftees as an induction center.

Author David B. Lari is an attorney, historian, US Army veteran, lifelong resident of Maryland, and a graduate of the University of Baltimore. The sources of these photographs include the US National Archives, the US Army Heritage and Education Center, the National World War I Museum and Memorial, the Dundalk-Patapsco Neck Historical Society and Museum, and the Kansas Historical Society.

Proud Marines and military aficionados know some of the tales of Parris Island military base, and now you can experience its history first-hand through this pictorial history of the infamous island.

Located near the Palmetto State's historic city of Beaufort, the United States Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South Carolina is one of the world's most famous military bases. Having trained Marine recruits since World War I, the base is the oldest major post of the Marine Corps. It is also the first base commissioned exclusively to train United States Marines, and therefore may truly be called ""The Cradle of the Corps."" Parris Island takes the reader on a visual journey through documented photographs that highlight the base's touchstones. Before the American Revolution, the island was partially owned by Col. Alexander Parris, who became the island's namesake. Plantations flourished on Parris Island until the end of the War between the States. A small detachment of Marines first arrived in the late 1800s. It was not until 1915, however, that the Marines arrived for good. Since then, the base has rapidly expanded, first during World War I and more so during World War II. Over the years, much of the physical appearance of the base has changed; yet, through this collection of photographs, former Parris Island Marines will have a chance to relive some of their memories while new recruits can watch the progression of their base unfold.

Dive into the military history of Hill Air Force Base as author George Larson explores why this base in northern Utah has played such an important role in supporting the conflicts in both World Wars as well as in Korea and Vietnam, and has helped to develop the United States Air Force into what it is today.