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CONTACT:
Dean Dixon
Historical Resources Assistant
(941) 749-1800 ext. 4070
June 2003 Article
Introduction: The Manatee
County Historical Records Library is a wealth
of information about our local past. Documents from
as early as the 1850's describe the life and times
of Manatee County residents and weave many an interesting
tale. Each month, we will post a new story for you
based on documents in our library. We invite all of
you to come to the library, located
at 1405 4th Avenue West, to see these documents
for yourself and to touch, feel and experience our
heritage.
Manatee County's WWII Project
A B-29 taking
off from Saipan
It was probably the greatest endeavor in human history. The
largest, most advanced nations in the world dedicated their
industries, economies and citizens to fighting a global war,
World War II. Though technology was advancing rapidly, it
still took a massive amount of manpower to arm a battlefield.
For that reason, the majority of a generation in the 1940s
was involved fighting that most destructive of conflicts.
Young boys were taken out of high school and sent to a far
away land to shed their innocence through the violence, gore
and deprivation that is a natural part of war. Others may
not have seen combat, but they still were called upon to make
great sacrifices for their country.
The majority of men called to service did not see combat.
It took ten men behind the lines to support one man in combat.
But each man who served has an important story to tell. The
man in Washington D.C. working in the Pentagon, making sure
that supplies like food and ammunition get to the soldiers
in Europe or the Pacific, was a vital part of winning the
war. The sailor who shuttled people from ship to shore in
the harbor at Guam was also a vital part of the war effort.
The woman who belonged to the Woman's Army Air Corps, who
worked as an air traffic controller in Topeka, Kansas, was
also a contributor to the victory.
Then there were those who saw the worst of it. Men who saw
battle 15,000 feet above the earth. Freezing in the deafening
belly of a bomber, they faced the threat of death from the
guns of the enemy and the forces of gravity. There were the
sailors on board little boats of steel surrounded by a vast
expanse of water in every direction. Imagine them as they
searched the skies, looking for the suicidal Japanese pilots
who wanted to send their ship and their crew to the bottom
of the deep ocean. Then there was the man on the ground just
yards away from the enemy. The enemy wasn't trying to do damage
to a machine or ship that this soldier was on; they were trying
to kill him. The foot soldier had to stay "hunkered down"
as deafening shells burst above his head, as bullet whizzed
by his ears, or as his closest friend died a gory death right
next to him.
All of the different duties that it took to make the war effort
possible were filled with people from all social classes,
races and creeds. The one thing that most of them had in common
was that they were young. When the war was over, the survivors
of this generation went back to a life away from the violence
and terror of war. They tried their best to re-immerse themselves
into a peaceful world that expected nothing from them but
to prosper. Since then, the decades have flown by and this
generation has made their mark on the world in many other
ways. Not the least of which was that they begat us.
They are old now. It is estimated that hundreds and hundreds
of them are dying every day. The experiences and knowledge
of the people who were involved in the greatest human endeavor
since man began to walk the Earth are disappearing into the
ether, lost to us forever.
However, they don't have to be. In the Historical Records
Library are stored audiotapes of veterans who spoke about
their experiences in WWII. The taped interviews are from men
and women who sat down with an interviewer and passed on the
history of this experience. From these tapes and the tapes
of the countless other veterans projects in the nation, historians
from future generations will always have a first person's
view point of this landmark in human history. The WWII Veteran's
Project is an ongoing project that any WWII veteran is qualified
to participate and anyone can become an interviewer.
If you were involved in any capacity during WWII, veteran
or volunteer, and would like us to record your story, or you
would like to volunteer to be an interviewer, please contact
Dean Dixon at 741-4070.
You can also read:
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