Name: Griffiss Air Force Base
Brand: Peter M. Leonard
SKU: 9780738556710
Price: 18.74 USD
Availability: InStock

Griffiss Air Force Base

9780738556710

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Located strategically in the center of the state, the city of Rome is deeply rooted in military history. Home to several pre-Revolutionary War fortresses, it was in Rome that the stars and stripes was first raised in battle on August 3, 1777. In 1941, the location and resources in and around the city made it an ideal location for an air depot. Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, construction of the Rome Air Depot became a major priority for the war department. The mission of the depot was storage and aircraft maintenance or repair. In 1947, the name was changed to Griffiss Air Force Base, in honor of Lt. Col. Townsend Griffiss, a Buffalo native and the first aviator killed in World War II. The base hosted many missions over the years, from electronics and communications research to the air defense missions of fighter jets and the alert missions of the B-52 bombers, until the base was deactivated in 1995.

Cleveland in World War I

9781467116930

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This photographic history documents Cleveland's substantial contributions to the war effort at home and abroad during World War I.

Cleveland's contribution to the war front began on May 25, 1917, with the Lakeside Hospital Unit becoming the first American detachment to land in Europe. On the home front, the war accelerated the growth of Cleveland, which became the fifth-largest city in the nation by the end of the decade. When war broke out, Cleveland's growing industries could no longer depend on the labor emigrating from Europe. At the same time, 40,000 Clevelanders would eventually leave the workforce and serve in the military. Women replaced them in jobs that were not available in the past. Scores of African Americans left the South, and this Great Migration led to significant economic, social, and political developments in the coming years. Cleveland's ethnic neighborhoods included many who had come from the nations and regions of the Central Powers. Americanization programs taught immigrants English and patriotism.

Dublin and the Tri-Valley

9781467131063

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In 1941, the Navy sought West Coast locations for bases to ship men, material, and equipment into World War II's Pacific theater. The Dublin and Livermore area offered wide-open spaces with good transportation routes to the San Francisco Bay area. Near Dublin, the Navy built Camp Parks, Camp Shoemaker, and Shoemaker Naval Hospital. Camp Parks prepared Seabees to build and maintain airfields, ports, and hospitals from Guadalcanal to Japan. Hundreds of thousands of other sailors and WAVES came to Camp Shoemaker on their way from basic training to postings on ships, bases, and stations throughout the Pacific. Shoemaker Hospital saw them again when they returned injured or ill. Farther east, the Navy built Livermore Naval Air Station to train thousands to fly.

California Cavalry

9781467131100

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California was home to the one of the first Native American cavalries and one of the first African American cavalries, commonly known as the Buffalo Soldiers. It was in California where the country saw the last official military cavalry in operation. California Cavalry displays the history of cavalry battalions and regiments, detailing a critical and controversial period and the eventual change from horse to mechanized technology. This book attempts to approach the topic of the cavalry in California both from indigenous and from military perspectives. Geographic regions are expanded beyond California to give context and continuity to the movement of military operations.

Fort Ontario

9780738502847

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Join authors George and Carol Reed as they recount the history of Fort Ontario through vintage images in this pictorial history.

In the earliest days when lakes, streams, and rivers served as highways through the wilderness, the nation that ruled the mouth of the Oswego River dominated North America. The convergence of the Oswego and Lake Ontario was a key point on the most navigable water route from the east into the interior of the continent. It was there that Fort Ontario was built. Just as quickly, however, the fort was destroyed, as competing armies seized control of this valuable point. Time after time the fort was rebuilt, and over the years it acquired a history as unique as its location. Fort Ontario: Guardian of the North is the first history of this remarkable and resilient fort, credited with being the oldest continuously garrisoned post in the United States. The book chronicles the many transformations of Fort Ontario from the time it was built in 1755 up to its present-day status as a New York State Historic Site. With paintings, maps, photographs, and informative text, the book brings back the fort's years as a company post, its World War I role as a major army hospital, and its World War II years as a shelter for Jews fleeing the Holocaust--the only wartime refugee shelter in the history of the United States.

Fort Story and Cape Henry

9780738518220

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On April 26, 1607, the English colonists anchored at the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay and came ashore to the historic piece of land they named Cape Henry. Then, in 1917, a military post was established and fortified to protect the southern portion of the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay during World War I; it was named Fort Story. Expanded and heavily fortified to meet the demands of the Second World War, the post served as a principal installation for the Harbor Defenses of Chesapeake Bay. The big guns fell silent after that conflict, and the post became the "Home of Army Amphibians" with over-the-beach operations. Today Fort Story continues to provide a superb training installation for the Army Transportation Corps and Special Operations.

Fort Dix

9780738509099

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Chronicling the history of life central New Jersey's Fort Dix army camp from 1917 to the present day.

Located in central New Jersey, Fort Dix has been training soldiers since its founding in 1917. More than three million men and women have passed through its gates since it was built as one of the original 16 army camps to train and mobilize soldiers for World War I. The fort, once known as Camp Dix, has experienced many changes over the years.

This unprecedented photographic history traces the evolution from a wooden cantonment to the installation of brick and fiber optics, from a horse-dominated transportation system to a motor vehicle system, and from training recruits to serving Army Reserve and National Guard soldiers. Along the way, Fort Dix depicts the influence of the 78th Division, the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Women's Army Corps, Desert Storm, and the humanitarian work of resettling the Kosovo refugees.

McClellan Air Force Base

9780738547626

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McClellan Air Force Base has been a part of California's military and aviation history since the mid-1930s. Originally named Pacific Air Depot in 1935, the base's name was changed to the Sacramento Air Depot in 1938, and it became a repair facility for such fighter planes as the P-38 and P-39. During World War II, the base saw significant use in outfitting and supplying munitions for various fighters, including the B-17. Many armed-services personnel departed from McClellan for the Pacific theater, including in part Jimmy Doolittle's famed detail of B-25s, which attacked Tokyo in 1942. After the war, the base stored many types of aircraft, including the B-29 bomber series, and in 1948, changed its name to McClellan Air Force Base, continuing its mission of overhauling and retrofitting planes throughout the cold war.

Portsmouth Harbor's Military and Naval Heritage

9780738536477

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Including more than two hundred vintage photographs and illustrations, Portsmouth Harbor's Military and Naval Heritage chronicles the history of the Piscataqua River's naval shipyard and harbor defenses. Long before it became home to one of the U.S. Navy's first federal shipyards, the harbor at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Kittery, Maine, was protected by gun batteries, mainly at Fort Point, New Castle, New Hampshire. By the end of World War II, modern concrete batteries mounting guns of ever longer range had been constructed at this and three other forts straddling the river's mouth. These fortifications reflected the increasingly important role of the shipyard, dedicated after 1917 to building submarines that contributed significantly to the World War II victory.

Rock Island Arsenal

9781467112703

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In July 1862, Pres. Abraham Lincoln signed legislation to create Rock Island Arsenal, envisioning a supply and maintenance facility. After the Civil War, Rock Island became home to a great national arsenal. It made everything soldiers needed and supplied saddles, rifles, canteens, haversacks, artillery, tanks, and ammunition to the Army on the frontier and around the world. Rock Island Arsenal, located on an island in the Mississippi River, has long been the center of the local Illinois-Iowa community and the largest employer in the area. Beginning as a modest wooden fort, the arsenal grew to become the largest public-works project of the 19th century, the home of a National Historic Landmark, and the host of numerous historical events. Rock Island Arsenal still bustles as a center of Army logistics and is critical to sustaining the nation's armed forces in peace and war.

The United States Army at Fort Knox

9780738517919

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Located in north-central Kentucky, Fort Knox is one of the army's major installations and is home to several commands, including the United States Army School and Center and the United States Army Recruiting Command. The fort's history dates to 1903, when a series of military maneuvers was held by the United States Army in West Point, Kentucky. When World War I required the establishment of additional military training facilities, Camp Knox was created. The post closed as a permanent installation in 1922, but it remained an active training center for army programs and, briefly, a national forest. On January 1, 1932, Camp Knox was made a permanent installation again and has since been known as Fort Knox. In 1940, the Armored Force was established, paving the way for the continuing evolution of armed warfare. The United States Bullion Depository chose its location because of its proximity to this post.

Hagerstown in the Civil War

9780738586977

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Wedged strategically between the Mason-Dixon Line and the Potomac River, Hagerstown was destined to play a significant role in the Civil War. A diverse community, most residents gravitated toward the blue while some sided with the gray. Slavery was not a major presence in western Maryland, yet some local residents owned slaves along this route on the Underground Railroad. The intriguing story of Hagerstown during the Civil War is captured in this volume of vintage photographs, portraits, drawings, and other illustrations. Learn the stories of participants, both local and from across the country, whose wartime experiences in Hagerstown forever affected them. From the secretive arrival of John Brown in June 1859, to recent efforts to commemorate this history, the reader will come to understand the rich heritage that can be found in Hagerstown.

East Texas in World War II

9780738584645

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Texas made a remarkable contribution to the American war effort during World War II . Almost 830,000 Texans, including 12,000 women, donned uniforms, and more than 23,000 Texas fighting men died for their country. America's most decorated soldier, Lt. Audie Murphy, and most decorated sailor, submarine commander Sam Dealey, both were Texans. Texas A&M, an all-male military college, placed 20,000 men in the armed forces, of which 14,000 were officers--more than any other school in the nation, including the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, the supreme commander of Allied Forces in Europe, was born in Denison in northeast Texas. Adm. Chester Nimitz, commander in chief of the Pacific Fleet, was born and raised in Texas. Almost 1.5 million soldiers, sailors, and fliers trained at scores of Texas bases. Texas oil fueled the Allied war effort, while Texas shipyards and defense plants provided a flood of war machines and munitions during the war effort.

Camp Forrest

9781467115476

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Camp Forrest was a training, induction, and combatant prisoner-of-war (POW) facility located on the outskirts of Tullahoma, Tennessee.

It was a self-sustaining city where over 70,000 soldiers were stationed and approximately 12,000 civilians were employed throughout World War II. In 1942, the camp transitioned to an enemy alien internment camp and was one of the first civilian internment camps in the United States. By the middle of 1943, it had transitioned into a POW camp and housed primarily German and Italian prisoners. After the war ended, the base was decommissioned and dismantled in 1946. In 1951, the area was recommissioned and expanded into the US Air Force's Arnold Engineering Development Complex. Few remains of this important World War II facility exist today; however, the images within provide a glimpse into the effects and realities of a global war on American soil.

Remembering Georgia's Confederates

9780738518237

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Found on monuments throughout the South, the sentiment "Lest we forget!" represents the theme of Remembering Georgia's Confederates. Dedicated to the men and women who served Georgia when her heart belonged to the Confederate States of America, this volume remembers the state's Confederate past--a time of passion, devotion, honor, courage, faith, perseverance, sacrifice, and loss. Georgia, rich in its heritage, boasts numerous locales to visit, learn about, and remember its role in the Confederacy: the battlefields and their interpretive centers, the coastal forts, the prison camp, the world's largest painting, the world's largest Confederate memorial, a pair of locomotive
engines, a number of Confederate cemeteries, and various homes, museums, and history centers.

Cincinnati

9780738533452

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Cincinnati: The World War II Years explores a significant chapter in the history of greater Cincinnati: the time before, during, and immediately after World War II. The book, spanning from 1937 to 1955, examines trends in the social, political, and cultural history of the city and surrounding communities. Events transpiring in Cincinnati mirrored changes that the United States experienced during this pivotal period--the Great Depression, isolationist impulses, the mobilization for war, and the postwar economic boom. Because Cincinnati's war years so closely reflect larger national trends of the time, the story of this city's home front experience serves as an insightful case study of the national war experience.

Asheville and Western North Carolina in World War II

9780738543420

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World War II served as a rallying call in Asheville and Western North Carolina, putting the citizens back to work. Asheville's two strongest economic sectors, tourism and medicine; its beautiful isolation; and advanced hospitals served the nation's needs during the Second World War. The United States secreted German and Japanese businessmen, federal agencies, and valuable art in these mountains, and recuperating soldiers found solace in the camps and inns. Meanwhile our citizens-black and white men, women, and children-offered themselves up for service. Images of America: Asheville and Western North Carolina in World War II tells their stories, from Pearl Harbor's bombing to the study of the long-term effects of radiation on the Japanese, from the far Pacific to stateside support groups and local sacrifices.

Asheville and Western North Carolina in World War II

Camp Glenn

9781467107181

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In 1906, the North Carolina state legislature established Camp Glenn as the permanent summer training camp for the North Carolina National Guard. The camp's chosen site, located three miles west of Morehead City, was ideally situated on a sandy stretch of firm, high, and well-drained land overlooking Bogue Sound. A large parade ground adjoined the camp, and it was level as a floor and could accommodate the entire North Carolina National Guard. Although it was first established as a target practice field, in later years, the camp became the first US Coast Guard air station and later a US Navy base. Camp Glenn was the mobilization site for National Guard troops sent to the Mexican border during the 1916 Punitive Expedition against Pancho Villa led by Gen. John J. "Black Jack" Pershing. Citizen soldiers who trained at Camp Glenn also fought in World Wars I and II protecting North Carolina's coastline and battling for the United States in Europe.

Fort Logan

9780738575827

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For most Colorado citizens, Fort Logan usually brings to mind the large national cemetery of the same name. Often unrealized is that nearby, there are fine, substantial brick buildings that mark the remains of a once-bustling military post. Fort Logan began in 1887 and became a part of the US Army's new network of urban-type forts with strategic rail links. Located in the beginning about eight miles southwest of Denver, it variously housed important infantry, cavalry, and engineer units and later served as a key recruit and discharge center. It also once attracted Denverites to elaborate parade ceremonies, stirring band concerts, and competitive athletic events. After World War II, it became property of the State of Colorado and today is the site of the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Fort Logan.

Fort Benning

9781467102803

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Established outside Columbus, Georgia, in October 1918 by the United States Army as Camp Benning, the base was moved to its permanent location, nine miles south, in June 1919. In 1922, the post was made permanent and was named Fort Benning. Created as the new location of The Infantry School of Arms, Fort Benning became the training post for many of the country's future leaders, as well as a major part of the military experience for hundreds of thousands of American soldiers.

The post's current size, more than 180,000 acres, has long made it recognized as one of the largest infantry bases in the world. Named for Gen. Henry L. Benning of Columbus, the installation has had a major impact on the economic and social life of nearby Columbus. Images of America: Fort Benning features vintage photographs and postcards, mostly from 1918 to 1978, showcasing the first 60 years of the base's 85-year history. Included are scenes of the temporary encampment on Macon Road and the early wooden encampment on the Main Post. The permanent buildup from the late 1920s to the early 1940s is shown in photographs of The Infantry School, the Officers' Club, Main Post Chapel, Doughboy Stadium, Gowdy Field, the Jump Towers, Lawson Field, the Cuartel Barracks, and the officers' quarters, as well as Riverside, the Commandant's Home, formerly the Bussey Plantation. Activities and events include military reviews, visits of presidents, and the National Infantry Museum's dedication. Generals who served there and are featured include Bradley, Eisenhower, Marshall, and Patton. This centennial edition features a new foreword by Don Sando, deputy to the commanding general.

Tulsa

9780738590523

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Still reeling from the hungry days of the Great Depression, America was ill-equipped when the nation entered the Second World War. Referred to as the "sleeping giant" by the Japanese, the United States awoke from its slumber with a vengeance and soon began creating a veritable tidal wave of production that turned the country into the "Arsenal of Democracy." Tulsa, Oklahoma, was one of the cities at the forefront of this massive wartime buildup. From bomber plants to aviation training schools, to civil defense and the construction of military bases, to the thousands who served in uniform across Europe and the Pacific, Tulsa gave everything it had and then some. This was a different breed of people that nonetheless stood firm in the face of adversity and came together as a community. Tulsa: The War Years takes the reader back to the time when people did without for the greater benefit of all and sometimes sacrificed everything for the sake of victory.

Nacogdoches in World War II

9780738579733

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Nacogdoches, the oldest town in Texas, has a long and colorful history starting in 1716, when the first mission, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de los Nacogdoches, was founded. The people of this rich area have since come together countless times to survive challenges. During World War II, patriotism brought everyone closer as the young men of the area left to fight for their country. College enrollment declined drastically until a masterstroke by its president brought the nation's first WAC school to the campus. An unexpected ice storm killed valuable timber, bringing Nazi POWs to the area to harvest the pine trees. On the home front, everyone got involved in the war effort. They knitted, rolled bandages, collected scrap metal, bought war bonds, grew victory gardens, and participated in rationing and blackouts; but most of all they sacrificed their sons. They came together during those years and still come together today to celebrate the historic town's past and to honor its veterans of all wars.

Fort Pulaski

9781467113731

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Forts are a lasting tribute to the prominence of the US military, and Fort Pulaski stands among these magnificent fortresses. Overlooking the mouth of the Savannah River and the Atlantic Ocean, Fort Pulaski is named in honor of Gen. Casimir Pulaski, Revolutionary War hero and father of the US Cavalry, which endured some of the most damaging artillery combat in early American warfare. In addition to its unfortunate notoriety for serving as the first fort where a rifled cannon was successfully tested in combat against masonry forts, it played a part in other significant events, including a baseball game during the Civil War where one of the first photographs of the sport was taken with the newly invented camera. Ultimately, the fort was considered important enough to be preserved and designated a national monument.

Kirtland Air Force Base

9781467128872

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In late 1939, the US Army leased from the City of Albuquerque 2,000 acres adjacent to the municipal airport to house a small Air Corps detachment servicing transient Army and Navy aircraft. From these humble beginnings, construction began on Albuquerque Army Air Base on January 7, 1941. Starting as a B-17 training base in the months prior to World War II, the airfield would contain a bombardier school, glider replacement center, and four-engine transition school. On February 25, 1942, at the special request of Gen. Henry "Hap" Arnold, Albuquerque Army Air Base was renamed after Col. Roy C. Kirtland, one of the early Army aviation pioneers. Today, Kirtland Air Force Base has evolved into a military base different in many respects from its predecessor installations--Oxnard Field, Sandia Base, and Manzano Base. The base's presence is significant to Albuquerque's economic and social life, as well as housing several of the nation's most important defense research and development organizations.

Aberdeen Proving Ground

9780738544366

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Through the lens of over 200 vintage images, uncover the history and contributions made at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.

Situated in southeastern Harford County and edged by the Chesapeake Bay and the Bush and Gunpowder Rivers, the U.S. Army bases known as Aberdeen Proving Ground, Edgewood Arsenal, and Fort Hoyle have been home to ordnance, chemical, technology, and artillery commands. The photographs in this volume include scenes of the fertile farmlands of Aberdeen, Edgewood, and Michaelsville, and their transformation, which began in 1917, into the military base known today as Aberdeen Proving Ground, or APG. Views of daily life on base include the ""Toonerville"" Trolley, a small-scale train that shuttled commuting personnel between the main gate and the buildings on post. The images document changes in the ways wars have been fought and changes in society as a result of war. Brave officers voluntarily tested the effects of mustard agent and other chemical weapons on protective clothing and gas masks. Local women sewed gas masks for troops and civilians. Women moved into key jobs on base during World War II, manufacturing and maintaining tanks and weapons systems as the need for great numbers of troops depleted the workforce of civilian males. APG scientists led the way into the computer age when they developed ENIAC, the first electronic digital computer.

US Coast Guard Training Center at Cape May

9780738597669

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The US Coast Guard Training Center at Cape May tells the story of the Center from Navy Section Base 9 to the only recruit training center in the US.

Commissioned as Navy Section Base 9 in 1917, the US Coast Guard Training Center at Cape May stands on the site of a former amusement park that bordered the Atlantic Ocean a few miles east of Cape May in southern New Jersey. Dirigibles, submarines, and minesweepers were based here during World War I. Because of its proximity to the ocean and Delaware Bay, the base was used by Coast Guard patrol boats and cutters to chase rumrunners during Prohibition in the 1920s. An airfield was established adjacent to the base in 1926, and in 1940, both combined to become Naval Air Station Cape May. The station protected the coast line from German U-boats during World War II. The Coast Guard took over the facility in 1946, and in 1948, the base became the only recruit training center in the country, today graduating more than 4,000 recruits per year.

Camp Abbot

9781467128612

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Today, Sunriver is an idyllic community in Central Oregon, but during World War II, it was the site of Camp Abbot, the westernmost engineer replacement training center of the US Army Corps of Engineers. Under the leadership of Col. Frank Besson, the US Army trained 90,000 men at the camp from 1943 through 1944. Mimicking the European landscape, the surrounding terrain and the swift-flowing Deschutes River were deemed perfect for training young soldiers how to build and demolish bridges. Located about 15 miles south of Bend, the quickly built installation included administration buildings, a hospital, over 50 barracks, mess halls, training grounds, recreation facilities, and a chapel. There, among pine trees and sagebrush, soldiers endured subfreezing winters and 100-degree summers.

Detroit in World War I

9781467114691

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World War I was the catalyst that ushered in themes that would define the 20th century: industrialization, urbanization, and the struggle for equality between social classes, gender, and race. During this time, from 1914 to 1918, Detroit was a city rapidly on the rise, with spectacular economic, industrial, and population growth. These were years when some of the city's most beautiful structures were built, when its industry practices became the international standard, and when its population exploded with new, hopeful emigrants from across the globe. The war provided a unifying theme to a city struggling to define itself and caused its people to come together in new and unexpected ways to support the war effort at home and abroad, often stepping into unfamiliar roles outside of societal norms. Detroit in World War I offers a visual exploration of a city and a people caught in a time of dynamic change--from the men who served the cause to the communities they left behind--who rose to the challenge splendidly and helped create one of the 20th century's most remarkable and vibrant cities.

Fort Morgan

9780738505749

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Fort Morgan has stood sentry on the Gulf of Mexico for almost 200 years. This pictorial history illustrates the people and events that have shaped its history.

Following the War of 1812, the United States embarked upon a major building program to improve the nation's seacoast defenses. A project was begun on Mobile Bay that would take almost twelve years to complete, plagued by harsh conditions, a lack of resources, and financial burdens. The end result, completed and opened in March of 1834, was Fort Morgan. Fort Morgan has played many key roles in the nation's military. During the Civil War, Fort Morgan provided covering fire for blockade runners entering and leaving Mobile Bay. The fort fell into disrepair after the Civil War as military planners thought it had outlived its usefulness. Between 1895 and 1904, five modern reinforced concrete batteries rose from the sands. At the peak of operations between 1910 and 1918, more than one hundred structures dotted the Mobile Bay landscape. This unique pictorial retrospective explores the growth and change at Fort Morgan, allowing the reader a chance to step back in time to the days when our nation's military fortifications provided a sense of security and protection to every citizen. Included are images culled from the Fort Morgan Museum, the National Archives and Records, and private collections. These vintage photographs depict every aspect of the fort's history, from the damage caused by the Union siege guns to the days following World War II when the fort was temporarily turned into a resort, and from the Confederates who worked to strengthen Mobile's lower defense line to the devastation of the hurricanes in 1906 and 1916.

Weber County in World War II

9781467127851

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After the United States joined World War II in 1941, the men and women of Weber County heeded the call to fight for victory at home and overseas. Over 10,000 Northern Utahns served in the armed forces, while back at home, new military installations, such as Defense Depot Ogden and Hill Air Force Base, employed thousands more. Women's clubs held bond drives, high school students learned first aid and harvested crops, and children gathered scrap metal; it was a community-wide response that changed Weber County forever.

Barksdale Air Force Base

9780738514284

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Established in 1933 as the "World's Largest Airport," Barksdale Air Force Base covers 23,000 acres of Northwest Louisiana and is one of our nation's greatest military assets today. It was originally named for a true American airpower pioneer, Lt. E. Hoy Barksdale, and now has a population of over 7,000 military and civilian citizens. Barksdale has cultivated some of America's best Air Force leaders and national heroes and is the proud home of the legendary B-52 bomber.

Images of America: Barksdale Air Force Base covers the history of the base from 1924 to the present with over 200 moving black-and-white photographs, many that have never been published before. This vivid history of United States military aviation includes everything from World War II to the Korean War, from the skies over Vietnam to alerts in the Cold War, from the sands of the Persian Gulf to the mountains of Kosovo, and on into the present-day War on Terrorism.

Camp Merritt

9781467125871

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Camp Merritt, located in Bergen County, New Jersey, was authorized by the federal government in August 1917 as a critically needed embarkation base for processing US Army soldiers bound for the battlefields of Europe during World War I. The site of the camp, which now encompasses parts of five towns, was chosen for its proximity to roadways, railroads, and the Hudson River, which enabled the rapid movement of large numbers of troops and equipment to the nearby shipping port of Hoboken. As the war progressed, the size and scope of the base expanded; it was closed on June 30, 1920. During its lifetime, the camp processed over one million soldiers and nurses both going to and returning from war zones.

Rantoul and Chanute Air Force Base

9780738583082

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Join Mark D. Hanson as he chronicles the long-standing and cohesive relationship between the farming town of Rantoul and the Chanute Air Force base.

Rantoul and the former Chanute Air Force Base are inseparably intertwined as primary players in a single historical narrative. Rantoul was first founded as an agriculturally based community in 1848 near an area known as Mink Grove. The settlement boomed with the coming of the Illinois Central Railroad in 1854; a railroad championed by the town's namesake, Robert Rantoul Jr. Disaster followed in 1899 and again in 1901 with devastating fires. Then, in 1917, a U.S. Army flying field was built on the outskirts of Rantoul. Named after the aviation pioneer Octave Chanute, Chanute Field, later Chanute Air Force Base, became a premier technical training facility. A mutually beneficial relationship quickly developed between these civilian and military establishments that would last for over 75 years. Chanute Air Force Base closed in 1993, ushering in yet another new era for the village of Rantoul.

Randolph Field

9781467132336

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Once touted as the "West Point of the air" in the pre-Air Force Academy years, Randolph Field/Air Force Base is famous for its Spanish Colonial Revival architecture, its iconic Administration Building (nicknamed the "Taj Mahal"), and its rectangular layout. Allowed by the Army hierarchy to design its own installation from the ground up, the Army Air Corps hit a home run in design uniqueness and functionality. When the Corps of Engineers built the base, working from 1928 to 1931, it was its biggest project since the Panama Canal. Randolph has been a popular assignment location for Air Force members for over 80 years and is currently home to the 12th Flying Training Wing, the Air Education and Training Command Headquarters, and the Air Force Personnel Center. Thousands have passed through Randolph's gates as students and permanent personnel, and many have chosen to live in the San Antonio area after discharge or retirement. Carefully landscaped with trees and shrubbery from the very beginning, Randolph is the "showplace of the Air Force."

Fort Davis

9780738579863

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Established and named for US secretary of war Jefferson Davis in 1854, Fort Davis was key to the eventual settlement of the Davis Mountains' rich grasslands. Camels once grazed at the fort. It served as home to the African American regiments known as the Buffalo Soldiers, and Lt. Henry Flipper, the first African American to graduate from West Point, was court-martialed at this post. Present-day visitors to the town of Fort Davis can gaze at the stars and imagine the immensity of the universe at the University of Texas McDonald Observatory, stay the night at the Civilian Conservation Corps-built Indian Lodge at Davis Mountains State Park, or visit with a living-history volunteer or park ranger at Fort Davis National Historic Site.