Military

Over 200 vintage photographs from the archives of the Air Mobility Museum and other sources provide a sampling of the way it was at Dover Air Force Base through the years.

Dover Air Force Base is the largest aerial port in the United States and home to gigantic jet air transports that are lifelines for our modern military. It started as a municipal airport and has grown and expanded nearly continuously since opening a week after the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941. Its saga is the story of the evolution of the U.S. Air Force from World War II to the present. The pictures in Images of Aviation: Dover Air Force Base represent the thousands of people who called Dover AFB their home, the hundreds of aircraft that have been assigned there, and the dozens of various missions assigned to the facility over the past seven decades.

Located on Pea Patch Island, Fort Delaware was erected to defend local ports from enemy attack but never received or fired a shot in anger. The first earthen-work version, constructed during the War of 1812, was followed by a second 1820s plan incorporating a masonry star design with a network of drainage ditches. Engineering issues and a low-lying site doomed the structure; in 1831, it was irreparably damaged by fire. A new plan created a more substantial fortification still standing to this day. Fort Delaware evolved into a well-established community that transformed from protector to notorious Civil War prison camp. Most widely known as a prison, it subsequently served in lesser roles through three more conflicts. Images of America: Fort Delaware unifies an amazing pictorial record of Fort Delaware's historical timeline. The story is not only of active duty but its rescue from abandonment and subsequent successful preservation work.

From the beginning of World War II, Delaware's movie theaters played a starring role in the state's war effort.

Delaware and every town in it - from Claymont to Delmar - did its part to support the war. From base theaters to opera houses to movie palaces, Delaware's theaters sold hundreds of millions of dollars in war bonds. They served as WAAC recruiting stations. They were collection points for resource drives. They screened countless newsreels and documentaries about every aspect of the war. And they hosted the likes of Fay Wray, Gene Lockhart, Gail Patrick, Paulette Goddard, and other Hollywood stars who came to the state to keep morale high, support strong, and dollars flowing.

Author Michael J. Nazarewycz recounts how the First State, the Greatest Generation, and the Dream Factory joined forces when America's forces needed them most.

Delaware's experience in the Great War was that of an awakening. What had been a pastoral collection of farms and merchants was rapidly transformed into a dynamic, economically thriving society. From the immense munitions contribution of the DuPont Company to burgeoning shipbuilding on the Wilmington waterfront, the First State took a leading role in meeting the war's industrial demand. It fortified coastal defenses and thwarted U-boat attacks on its coast. Its men and women learned of valor and sacrifice as thousands of native sons fought in Europe and daughters volunteered on the homefront. Author Kennard R. Wiggins Jr. traces the history that changed the state forever.

In 1776, Delaware declared independence from both England and Pennsylvania. Originally known as the Three Lower Counties of Pennsylvania, the First State was instrumental in the fight to form a new republic. The Marquis de Lafayette, Nathanael Greene and George Washington all made trips to the state. Caesar Rodney's ride and the Battle of Cooch's Bridge are legendary, but the state has many unsung heroes. Citizens from every village, town, crossroads and marsh risked their lives to support their beliefs. Author Kim Burdick offers the carefully documented story of ordinary people coping with extraordinary circumstances.

The Delaware Air National Guard got its start when a group of World War II veterans formed a new National Guard unit composed of surplus airplanes, combat experience, a measure of hard work, camaraderie, and fun. Some called this assemblage a gentleman's flying club, but in a few short years, it was tested for the first time in the Korean War. Since then, the Delaware Air National Guard has flown and fought in almost every corner of the globe. It answered the call in Vietnam, the Middle East, the Balkans, and most recently in Iraq and Afghanistan. Celebrating 60 years of service, it has become a well-known local institution. The "Blue Hen Air Force" has evolved into a professional organization that shoulders a significant operational role for the U.S. Air Force and serves as a versatile emergency resource for the state of Delaware.

Fort Miles is in Cape Henlopen State Park near historic Lewes and the site of Delaware's first Dutch settlement. Named for Gen. Nelson Appleton Miles, this powerful seacoast fortification was built during World War II to defend the vital industries of the Delaware Valley. Included in this volume are rare vintage photographs of the fort's heavy artillery, hundreds of 3,000-pound sea mines, and radar systems that searched the nearby ocean for the enemy surface fleet. Its powerful 12- and 16-inch guns could reach out between 15 and 25 miles to attack an adversary. Today, the fort is being reborn as one of the best World War II museums in the country; it is housed in a real World War II bunker and includes the barracks complex and fire control towers.

Within weeks of Pearl Harbor, German U-boats arrived off the Delaware coast and attacked numerous ships along the vital shipping lanes to Philadelphia and Wilmington. On February 28, 1942, two German torpedoes hit the destroyer Jacob Jones, which was carrying more than one hundred American sailors. It sank in less than an hour. A center for military activity, Lewes became a refuge for many survivors from such attacks. The dunes along Cape Henlopen hid the massive artillery batteries of Fort Miles. Residents of the beachfront communities rallied amid the blackout regulations and air raid drills with rationing and scrap drives. Spotters watched for enemy warships in concrete towers that still line the coast. Author Michael Morgan tells the remarkable story of a coast at war.

Images of America: Delaware Army National Guard presents images of this fabled organization that survived from the Spanish-American War to the present.

The Delaware National Guard traces its roots to 1655, when the Swedish Colonial government formed a militia to defend itself. That tradition carried through Dutch and then English control of the colony. The militia served in all five French and Indian Wars and then distinguished itself during the Revolutionary War as the First Delaware Regiment of the Continental Army, earning its ""Blue Hen"" nickname. The Delaware militia continued to serve in every major war, and currently it remains in the forefront. The people, places, equipment, and facilities of the Delaware National Guard are illustrated in this compilation of historic photographs from the collection of the Delaware Military Heritage and Education Foundation.

As World War II raged across the world, the lives of every Delawarean changed. Whether wearing a uniform, working in the shipyards and factories that supported the war effort, or volunteering for service organizations, the citizens of Delaware met the challenge of wartime living. Delaware in World War II celebrates the heroism and bravery of those who fought the war on the home front. From school children collecting scrap metal to first-time women factory workers building airplanes, this collection of over 200 photographs examines the many facets of daily life during this tumultuous time. These provocative images show a society united against a common cause and citizens willing to change their lives for a common good. The photographs in this volume were selected from the records of the Delaware Public Archives, including some never before seen images that illustrate a special piece of American history.

Once a place of war, then a place of health, and finally, preservation, Fort DuPont has had a long and interesting history.

Fort DuPont is named in honor of Rear Admiral Samuel Francis Du Pont and located on the Reeden Point tract, land initially granted to Henry Ward in 1675. The first fortification built was the Ten Gun Battery during the Civil War, a heavily armed earthwork fortification dedicated to protecting the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal--as Sgt. Bishop Crumrine wrote in 1864, "These guns command the channel and could blow to atoms any vessel rash enough to attempt to pass.'? In the decades to follow, the battery at Delaware City was gradually modernized into a formidable military post that remained active through World War II. Declared surplus in post-war peacetime, the site reopened in 1948 as the Governor Bacon Health Center, and by 1996, over 300 acres were reestablished as Fort DuPont State Park.