NORTH CAROLINA’s WWII EXPERIENCE is a story told by the men and women who lived it—local participants revealing a historical record of how one state and its people served America during The Second World War. Through the personal accounts and recollections of 25 World War II veterans and civilians, their narratives reveal the faces of the state on several fronts: on military bases, camps, airfields, naval and Coast Guard stations, and POW camps; on the home front amid industrial, agricultural and naval production, Civil Defense, rationing, salvaging, War Bonds and Victory Gardens; and on the battlefields of Africa, Europe and the Pacific.
Select each participant for biographical information, video interviews, photographs and other historical content related to their particular NC WWII “experience.”
ON-CAMERA INTERVIEWS/VETERANS
TOM ALLEY
Paratrooper, 101st Airborne Division (Charlotte)
ROGER CASEY
Machine Gunner, 30th Infantry Division (Dudley/Goldsboro)
BILL FEREBEE
Navy Plane Captain and Gunner (Mocksville)
WILLIAM FRIDAY
Operations Officer, Naval Ammunition Depot (Raphine, VA/Chapel Hill)
BILL HENDERSON
Operations Officer, 5th Marine Division (Democrat/Raleigh)
JIM HUNTER
Rifle Platoon Leader, 1st Marine Division (Charlotte)
JESSE LEDBETTER
Pilot, B-24 Liberator Bomber (Buncombe County/Asheville)
CHARLES MCADAMS
Driver, Red Ball Express (Asheville)
JESSE OXENDINE
Rifleman, 82nd Airborne Division (Pembroke/Charlotte)
CHUCK PATY
Radioman on USS North Carolina (Charlotte)
HUBERT POOLE
Ammunition Company, Montford Point Marine (Raleigh)
FALLS PRICE
Army Hospital Unit and Infantryman (Cleveland County/Valdese)
VIRGINIA RUSSELL REAVIS
Nurse, 810th Air Evacuation Medical Squadron (Onslow County/Hubert)
BILLY SUTTON
Coast Guard Mounted Beach Patrol (Wilmington)
ROBERT YOUNGDEER
Machine Gunner, 1st Marine Division (Cherokee)
ON-CAMERA INTERVIEWS/HOME FRONT
MARLENE BLAKE
Child of an Evicted Family in Onslow County (Onslow Co./Burgaw)
ORION BLIZZARD
Construction Worker at Camp Davis (Deep Run/Kenansville)
DON BOLDEN
Child in Burlington (Burlington)
MARIE COLTON
Student at University of North Carolina (Charlotte/Asheville)
PHILLIP DRESSER
Worker at NC Shipbuilding Company (Wilmington)
JOHN HOPE FRANKLIN
College Professor in Raleigh and Durham (Rentiesville, OK/Durham)
LIONEL GILGO
Child on Portsmouth Island (Beaufort)
ELEANOR KENNEDY
Student at Women’s College of UNC (Greensboro)
MARGARET ROGERS
Child in Wilmington (Wilmington)
ALDA WOMACK
Textile Worker (Six Points/Cliffside)