World War I & II

The effort to win the war began at home--and for the researchers at Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, enhancing America's military aviation arsenal was the key to victory.

Formed in 1915, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics established itself over the next 25 years as one of the world's finest research organizations. When World War II began in 1939, the NACA employed a mere 500 workers and maintained a budget slightly in excess of $4 million. To meet the demands of the war, a special partnership was quickly forged between NACA researchers, industry designers, and military planners. The Langley laboratory possessed world class aeronautical research facilities and flight research operations, making it ideally suited to help America win the war.

Military historian Mark Chambers tells the story of the monumental task of developing the planes that spurred Allied victory in World War II.

Tour the camps, learn stories of the daily lives of the POWs, and discover the impact they had on the Old Dominion.

During World War II, Virginians watched as German and Italian prisoners invaded the Old Dominion. At least 17,000 Germans and countless Italians lived in over twenty camps across the state and worked on five military installations. Farmers hired POWs to pick apples. Fertilizer companies, lumber yards, and hospitals hired them. At first a phenomenon of war in Virginia's backyard, these former enemy combatants became familiar to many--often developing a rapport with their employers. Among them were die-hired Nazis and Fascists, but they benefited from double standards that placed them in better jobs and conditions than African Americans.

Historians Kathryn Coker and Jason Wetzel tell a different story of the Old Dominion at War.

Stories of the Greatest Generation come alive in the hands of longtime local journalist Adrian O'Connor What made the D-Day attack on Omaha Beach so remarkable was that it was carried out largely out by National Guardsman - men of the 29th Infantry Division who had never before seen combat. One of the companies that was part of this historic day hailed from the environs of Winchester, Virginia. Winchester's martial gallantry was hardly restricted to the beaches of Normandy, though. A future city councilor came ashore at Anzio, Italy. A future school principal fought in what may have been the Pacific's toughest battle, Iwo Jima. Local men held the line at the climactic Battle of the Bulge, flew over Europe and the oil fields of Ploesti and even escaped a German prisoner-of-war camp.

Throughout the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, Naval Air Station Norfolk, Virginia, has played a significant role in the development of American naval aviation. The roles of fleet operational feasibility flight testing, flight testing of prototype aircraft, and tactical combat flight training at this naval air station have been crucial to this development. Technological advancements in naval airpower have significantly altered military doctrine and tactics, enabling the United States to gain strategic advantages over opposing forces in wars and military conflicts. Moreover, courage, innovative spirit, and ingenuity in conducting naval flight testing at Naval Air Station Norfolk have made and continue to make the advancement of American naval aviation possible. This remarkable military facility serves as a vital component of the world's largest naval base, Naval Station Norfolk.

During World War I, two German surface raiders sought harbor to make repairs at Hampton Roads after sinking twenty-five merchant ships. Allied ships nearby kept them from leaving, so more than eight hundred German sailors took up residence at the Norfolk Navy Yard in Portsmouth, Virginia. They built their own miniature German village, visited family and friends and attended social events in the community. Their presence made the shipyard a major tourist area before the United States entered the war. Historian Gregory J. Hansard presents the fascinating story of how Hampton Roads was a haven of safety for German sailors during World War I.

When Capt. John Smith first landed his ships at Cape Henry in Virginia Beach, he must have known the military importance of the jut of land; today, it is home to Fort Story, and the location played a key role during World War II in making sure enemy ships and subs did not sail into the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and onto Norfolk, the world's largest naval base. Smith established this country's first military base when he settled in Jamestown, building a fort to protect the early colonists. That simple military presence grew exponentially and during World War II was instrumental in not only defending the homeland, but in winning the war. From the Peninsula to Southside, the Hampton Roads area is military proud. There are more than a dozen forts and bases, many of which sprung up during World War II or were greatly expanded during that time.

The effects of the war raging across Europe were visible in Richmond as early as 1939, and Richmonders are always ready to fight for their cause. In that year, the city saw its first parking meters on the streets and began to collect aluminum scrap for use in war industries. In 1940, pursuant to the new draft law, Richmond's sons between the ages of twenty-one and thirty-five registered for the draft. While bomb shelters were put up all over the town, dances were held to maintain local morale. Even as local German families faced discrimination, Richmonders strived for a sense of unity and solidarity. Author and historian Walter Griggs Jr. revives this conflicted spirit, memorializing the sorrow and celebrating the triumphs of a resilient southern city through world war.

With a forward by Elizabeth Thalhimer Smartt, learn about William Thalhimer's elaborate plan to save Jewish Germans from Hitler and the Third Reich.

During Hitler's rise to power in the 1930's, Richmond department store founder, William Thalhimer and his family traveled to Germany to visit relatives and business contacts. Thalhimer was deeply disturbed and increasingly alarmed as the anti-Semitism that he and his family witnessed escalated into the violence Brown Shirts and Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass. Thalhimer became determined to aid Jews fleeing from Germany, and he eventually met a representative of Gross Breesen, a German-Jewish agricultural training institute. The mission of Gross Breesen, and eventually Thalhimer, was to train young Jews in agriculture in hopes that the expertise gained would ensure the students' successful emigration from Germany. Thalhimer purchased a farm, Hyde Farmlands, in Burkeville, Virginia to give the students a home in Virginia.