World War II

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This is a page featuring stories and anecdotes about Charlottesville and Albemarle County during the Second World War. In these two locales, one out of approximately every seven resident adults was recruited to learn and perform a specialized Civilian Defense duty in service to the war effort.

1940

  • April 28 – The University of Virginia holds a dedication ceremony for Milton Field. Because the university was at that time a participant in the United States Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA) training program, numerous new pilots were able to receive specialized instruction at the airfield prior to the country’s formal entry into the war during the following year.
  • June – As the Battle of Britain is underway, an eleven-man Home Defense Council is organized on their own initiative by local World War I veterans. Their avowed aim was to prepare the city and county for “the part they will be called upon to play in providing adequate defense for our country” and to cooperate in every way with any other defense councils which might be organized.

1941

  • December 7 – The United States is effectively drawn into World War II with the surprise Japanese military strike on Pearl Harbor. Second Lieutenant Harry H. Gaver, who was serving as the junior officer of the USS Oklahoma's Marine detachment, was killed in this attack and thus became the first UVA alumnus to die in the war.
  • December 17 – Charles P. Nash, Jr., as head of the Charlottesville Civilian Defense Corps, announces air raid warning signals for the vicinity. The alert or preparatory signal is given by winking the city's street lights and by radio announcements, with telephone warnings for defense organizations and essential industries while action warnings and the “all clear” were signaled by the fire house siren, the Barnes Lumber Company whistle, and the whistle at the University power plant.

1942

  • February – The University of Virginia hospital opened an emergency bloodbank. The first person to contribute was Henry A. Haden, Albemarle County Executive. [1][when?]
  • March 2 – Charlottesville and Albemarle County experience their first blackout during the night as part of an effort demanded by Director James M. Landis of the United States Office of Civilian Defense for a zone reaching 300 miles inland from all coasts. In preparation for the period of semi-darkness, Mayor W. D. Haden had issued specific instructions to all the residents of the city, covering the activities of industrialists, owners of business buildings and apartment houses, and private families.
  • April 2 – An order of the Secretary of War established the institution "to be known as the School of Military Government" at the University of Virginia.
  • September 15 – The Shadwell Home Demonstration Club meets at the Monticello Dairy and opts to continue efforts to promote creation of gardens and conservation of food products. This is to include a demonstration on cheese making from a Blacksburg specialist later in the fall. [2]
  • September 18 – Newcomb tells incoming first-year students that their time is to be spent preparing to win the war and warned against fun. [3]
  • September 21Charlottesville City Council approves the scrapping of 300 tons of iron rails from trolley lines for the war effort. [4]

1943

  • Early 1943 – UVA begins maintaining the 8th Evacuation Hospital which served Allied troops attached to the Fifth Army operating in North Africa and Italy from 1943 to 1945. This 750-bed mobile hospital unit was primarily staffed by physicians and nurses who had attended the university.
  • Mid-1943 – A camp for German POW's captured during the North African campaign is established in White Hall, with the imprisoned men laboring in agricultural work within the vicinity of the area. The last of these prisoners would not be released until May 11, 1946, leading to the closure of the camp a few weeks later.[5]

References

  1. Web. Hospital Starts Local Bloodbank, Staff Reports, Daily Progress Digitized Microfilm, Lindsay family, February 3, 1942, retrieved February 3, 2017 from University of Virginia Library.
  2. Web. Shadwell Club Plans Program for Next Year, Daily Progress Digitized Microfilm, Lindsay family, September 19, 2022, retrieved September 18, 2022. Print. September 19, 2022 page 2.
  3. Web. Newcomb Advises Students This Is No Time For Fun, Daily Progress Digitized Microfilm, Lindsay family, September 19, 1942, retrieved September 18, 2022. Print. September 19, 1942 page 2.
  4. Web. City Approves Rail Salvage as Women and High School Students Join Scrap Drive, Daily Progress Digitized Microfilm, Lindsay family, September 23, 1942, retrieved September 24, 2022. Print. September 23, 1942 page 1.
  5. Web. Hitler's Wehrmacht in Virginia, 1943-1946, The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, July 1977