Encyclopedia Virginia: World War II (1939–1945)

Puller, Lewis Burwell "Chesty" (1898–1971)

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 11:20:56 EST

Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller, whose barrel chest and blunt manner inspired his nickname, was a thirty-seven-year veteran of the United States Marine Corps who rose to the rank of lieutenant general. The most-decorated Marine in history, he earned five Navy Crosses, the U.S. Navy's second-highest decoration, for fighting in Nicaragua, at Guadalcanal and in New Guinea during World War II (1939–1945), and at the Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War (1950–1953).
Thu, 13 Dec 2012 11:20:56 EST

Marshall, George C. (1880–1959)

Thu, 13 Dec 2012 10:41:14 EST

George C. Marshall was a soldier-statesman who served the United States in times of war and peace as Chief of Staff of the Army, secretary of state, and the third secretary of defense. (The position had previously been known as secretary of war.) Having served as chief military advisor to U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt, Marshall supervised the U.S. Army during World War II (1939–1945). As secretary of state he gave his name to the Marshall Plan, the primary plan of the United States for rebuilding the allied countries of Europe and repelling communism after World War II, for which he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953. Educated at the Virginia Military Institute, he was a longtime resident of Virginia.
Thu, 13 Dec 2012 10:41:14 EST

Richmond Howitzers

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 15:46:39 EST

The Richmond Howitzers is a military unit formed in Richmond not long after John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry late in 1859. During the American Civil War (1861–1865), three companies organized as the Richmond Howitzer Battalion and served in most of the campaigns of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. The Howitzers reorganized in 1871 and saw active duty during both World War I (1914–1918) and World War II (1939–1945). It is now a unit in the Virginia National Guard.
Fri, 21 Jan 2011 15:46:39 EST

National D-Day Memorial

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 12:01:14 EST

The National D-Day Memorial is a congressionally approved national war memorial in Bedford, Virginia, honoring the American GIs who participated in the invasion of France at Normandy on June 6, 1944, during World War II (1939–1945). Dedicated on June 6, 2001, by United States president George W. Bush and receiving as many as 100,000 visitors per year, the memorial is remarkable for its stone arch that rises nearly forty-five feet in the air. The structure's six components correspond, often in directly representational ways, to the planning and execution of Operation Overlord, the largest invasion in history. Conceived by Roanoke native and D-Day veteran J. Robert "Bob" Slaughter, the memorial is located in Bedford partly for symbolic reasons: the Virginia town lost nineteen of its men engaged that day, all members of Company A, 29th Infantry Division, possibly the largest per capita loss of any town in America on that day. (Four more Bedford soldiers died later in the campaign.) Although Slaughter had originally envisioned something modest, the project turned into a $25 million colossus that resulted in the memorial foundation's bankruptcy in 2002 and two federal fraud indictments against its executive director, Richard B. Burrow. Two trials ended in hung juries, and charges against Burrow were dismissed in October 2004.
Tue, 23 Nov 2010 12:01:14 EST

Fort Lee

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 10:37:44 EST

Fort Lee, located near Petersburg, Virginia, serves as the headquarters of the U.S. Army's Combined Arms Support Command and Quartermaster Corps. Since 1917, it has trained and educated thousands of soldiers for service in every major conflict and continues to develop future combat systems and doctrine for the all of the Army's logistics branches.
Tue, 23 Nov 2010 10:37:44 EST

Byrd, Richard E. (1888–1957)

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 08:40:59 EST

Richard E. Byrd was a naval aviator and explorer of both the Arctic and Antarctica who became famous in 1926 as the first man credited with flying to the North Pole. During World War I (1914–1918), he conducted antisubmarine patrols in the North Atlantic and became a pioneer in navigating long distances, both on water and in the air. Byrd's desire to test navigational equipment in extreme climates took him to Greenland in 1925, and from there he pushed north using a sun compass and shortwave aerial radio transmissions. His roundtrip, aerial expedition to the North Pole, funded by wealthy American industrialists, was completed in about sixteen hours on May 9, 1926, and earned Byrd international fame. His pioneering feat has long been questioned, at times persuasively, by skeptical scientists who claimed that he could not have made the trip in such a short amount of time. Later in his career, Byrd established the United States presence in Antarctica and flew to the South Pole.
Tue, 23 Nov 2010 08:40:59 EST