"We Shall Carry On" : Colonial Williamsburg's Contribution to the War Effort, 1940-1945 CURATED BY SARAH NERNEY AND MARIANNE MARTIN

WAR ON THE HORIZON

The US had been debating participation in the military actions now called World War II since before Great Britain and France declared war on Germany in September 1939. Isolationism and non-intervention were powerful forces in late 1930s and early 1940s America with well-known citizens such as Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh advocating publicly for the US to remain out of a conflict that they felt did not serve American interests. With the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, however, the debate was over. The United States Congress declared war on Japan on December 8 and on Germany on December 11, 1941.

The effect on the Virginia peninsula was immediate, with an explosion in ramped-up and newly built military installations. Even before war was declared, Fort Eustis in Newport News -- founded in 1918 as an artillery training center, though dormant since that war’s end except as a WPA camp and bootlegger prison -- had reopened focusing on Army transportation training. Camp Peary was created in York County in 1942 as a Seabee training base -- Seabees being the nickname for the Naval Construction Battalions, naval units capable of any kind of construction necessary under any kind of conditions. Other wartime military installations in the area were numerous: Hampton Roads Port of Embarkation and Camp Patrick Henry in Newport News, Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, US Naval Air Station Norfolk, and Richmond Army Air Base, among others.

This then sets the scene for Williamsburg: soldiers everywhere, the usual tourist business changing as the war effort took precedence, and American civilians being asked to “do their part.” But what did this look like for the town and for Colonial Williamsburg specifically?

Background Photo: View looking east down Duke of Gloucester Street towards the Capitol, circa 1935-1940. Visual Resources.

COMMUNITY WAR EFFORT - "WE SHALL CARRY ON"

The outbreak of World War II could have been disastrous for Colonial Williamsburg as a young museum that was only a decade old. However, the proximity of the site to many military installations, along with the determination and resiliency of staff, allowed Colonial Williamsburg’s historic area, hotel properties, and restaurants to assume new roles assisting in the community war effort. On January 1, 1942, less than a month after the United States declared war on Japan on December 8, 1941, Colonial Williamsburg President Kenneth Chorley wrote a three-page letter to "Members of the Restoration Organization" in which he stated: “The year which closed last night brought to an end the most successful year in the history of the Restoration. More people visited Williamsburg, went through the exhibition buildings, and stayed in our hotels, than in any other year.” He assured Colonial Williamsburg employees that despite the anticipated need for gasoline, tire, and automobile production rationing which could adversely affect the tourism industry, Colonial Williamsburg had no plans to close its operations.

Rather, it would seek new ways to make “travel and recreation…a vital element in our war plans.” He noted that: “Everyone who works requires rest and change. Even the military authorities insist on furlough. Travel restores health, rekindles enthusiasm and improves efficiency by eliminating mental and physical fog which can cripple war efforts.” Chorley ended his letter by coining the rousing phrase “We Shall Carry On” as the wartime slogan to guide Colonial Williamsburg employees.

COMMUNITY CHRISTMAS

Through many different avenues of community wartime service, Colonial Williamsburg and its employees proved that they could indeed “Carry On” and impact the war effort in beneficial ways that would also sustain the organization financially. One of the first undertakings, begun in December 1941 just after the declaration of war, involved inviting military personnel to participate in Christmas activities at Colonial Williamsburg. Fifty sailors from Norfolk Operations Base and ten British soldiers attended a Christmas dinner, movie, and dance sponsored by Mr. and Mrs. Rockefeller. This tradition continued as the war progressed.

In 1942, staff made wartime adjustments to holiday planning to focus upon the local population and surrounding military bases since little tourist traffic was expected. Under the direction of hotel manager John Green, the Williamsburg Inn and Lodge once again organized a Yule Log Ceremony, a Christmas Day Open House at the Raleigh Tavern, and a New Year’s Eve dance in the Lodge Game Room.

By 1943, many town residents began opening their homes to serviceman during the holiday season to offer comfort and cheer. Between 2-5pm and 7-10pm on the Sunday after Christmas, New Year’s Day, and the Sunday after New Year’s Day, soldiers could visit designated families and enjoy refreshments and games.

Another 1943 addition which drew a crowd of 400 people was a candlelit tour of the Governor’s Palace on Christmas evening.

In 1942 and 1943, President Kenneth Chorley remembered Colonial Williamsburg employees in the military at Christmas with cartons of cigarettes and holiday greetings. He substituted writing paper for cigarettes in 1944 due to a supply shortage.

Colonial Williamsburg’s Craft House also proved to be popular with servicemen for holiday shopping, and President Chorley noted that “One man on ‘Island X’ in the Aleutians did all his Christmas shopping through the Craft House [catalog].”

WARTIME HOUSING CRISIS

Provisions for housing for the influx of soldiers, military families and officials into the area also became a top priority. Williamsburg’s population doubled between 1941 and 1942 and left Colonial Williamsburg officials and residents scrambling to convert all useable spaces into extra rooms and dormitories for new residents. The Williamsburg Inn closed to travelers and became a non-profit residence for Army and Navy officers and their wives at a rate of $3.50 per night, while the Inn Dining Room converted into their officers' club.

The Williamsburg Lodge, Brick House Tavern, and Market Square Tavern provided housing for additional weekend guests, such as family or spouses on short visits. An article published in the Baltimore Sun in 1943 noted that “Weeknights may find a dozen, Saturday nights as many as thirty people sitting – all night in chairs in the lounge – keeping warm.”

Many local families opened their own homes and rented rooms, including at outlying farms, as the town experienced a 300% increase in private room rentals. Some soldiers even ended up renting makeshift bunks for fifty cents a night at local churches.

A 1942 issue of the Colonial Williamsburg News reported that the Boot Shop, Ayscough Shop, and the second and third floors of the Frazier-Callis Shop and Colonial Restaurant on the business block had all been converted into dormitory style housing, while the Foster House on Palace Green and the second floor of the Imperial Theatre Building had converted into rental rooms to help alleviate an acute housing shortage for employees. President Chorley noted in his January 1944 letter to men and women in the service “Every bed in town is filled every night. We have put beds in kitchens, shops and in every other building that could be adapted to living quarters. John Green and his staff have found places for an astonishing number of these people…His report shows that there were 167,649…guest days in 1943…”

WEEKEND LEAVE IN WILLIAMSBURG

The large influx of soldiers and their families from Fort Eustis and Camp Peary also meant Colonial Williamsburg needed to step up and become a hub for off-duty personnel seeking entertainment and dining venues. Keeping servicemen entertained and in good conduct proved to be a challenging job. Forty Shore Patrol police helped to keep order. Many soldiers congregated on the business blocks, later known as Merchants Square, and attended movies at the Williamsburg Theatre. President Chorley reported that in 1943, between nine and ten thousand people per week watched films at the theatre such as the Cary Grant wartime feature Destination Tokyo and Random Harvest starring Greer Garson and Ronald Colman.

Other activities for weekend leave included candlelit evening tours of the Capitol, shopping at the Craft House, refreshments at Chowning’s Tavern, and a juke box and dancing in the Game Room at the Williamsburg Lodge.

Ben Spraggins, dressed in colonial attire, offered a carriage ride for serviceman that followed a route from the Lodge up Francis Street, down Duke of Gloucester Street, and back to the Lodge. President Chorley commented: “It is quite amusing to see the sailors, with their girls, in this open coach, waving to everybody as they go up and down the streets.” Afternoon concerts on Palace Green by military bands offered a chance for picnics and socializing in warmer weather.

On January 19, 1943, the Travis House Restaurant re-opened after a temporary closure due to loss of tourist business at the beginning of the war. A $2.00 fixed price menu offered options such as fried chicken, ham, and fish in an “atmosphere of graciousness.” Cook Lena Richard’s scalloped oysters drew crowds and a small notebook in Corporate Archives preserves many comments from servicemen praising her delicious recipes.

The unique combination of wine and waffles proved to be popular for a late evening treat for servicemen in the Lodge Game Room, while townspeople and soldiers alike endured long waits for a hot meal at the Lodge dining room.

EMPLOYEE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE WAR EFFORT

Colonial Williamsburg employees played a significant role in the war effort, whether through military leave to serve their country or through local projects to support troop morale, raise funds, collect supplies, and protect the community. During the war, 194 Colonial Williamsburg employees took military leave to serve in various posts around the world.

Wanda Castle, who managed office services under President Chorley, became the first female employee to join military service when she took leave in December 1942 to start training with the WAVES. Her colleagues' creative send-off dinner, organized by Mr. and Mrs. Chorley, included a banquet table designed to look like a steamship named the S.S. Castle and rousing send-off songs such as “Castle Aweigh” performed by co-workers.

War bond drives became a frequent occurrence, with Colonial Williamsburg leading the way by offering the option for employees to elect a ten percent monthly payroll deduction for the purchase of war savings stamps and bonds.

Many employees and town residents signed up to serve as airplane spotters as part of the Ground Observer Corps. They manned posts round-the-clock in the steeple of the Methodist Church on Merchants Square and included Boy and Girl Scouts.

Bundles for Britain, organized by local housewives, assembled used garments to send overseas to aid British clothing shortages, while Red Cross volunteers sewed surgical dressings and rolled bandages. Colonial Williamsburg employees and residents joined forces to participate in fat salvage bees, pulpwood collection, Books for Buddies, and knitting scarves for servicemen.

Others served as civilian defense wardens who trained the community for air raid drills. The Colonial Parkway Tunnel, which Civilian Conservation Corps crews built to route traffic under Williamsburg’s Historic Area, was almost complete aside from paving in 1942 and became the city’s designated air raid shelter.

Victory gardens also appeared all around town and included plots at the C&O railroad tracks behind the Palace, twenty-four plots measuring 25 x 50 feet behind the Freeman House on Francis Street, and one maintained by students at Matthew Whaley School. Vegetables such as corn, potatoes, string beans, sweet potatoes and tomatoes kept the Lodge kitchens replenished during the war.

As the war progressed, many convalescent soldiers filled area hospitals and townspeople united to bring them comfort. Kenneth Chorley’s wife, a professional singer known as Jean Travers prior to their marriage, gave countless concerts, including a three-hour recital at the Fort Eustis hospital. Hostess Elizabeth Callis offered special tours of the Historic Area to groups with neuro-psychiatric war injuries. Through all these efforts, Colonial Williamsburg employees and residents alike displayed their resourcefulness and commitment.

Background Photo: Elizabeth Callis speaking to a group of soldiers from the steps of the Ludwell-Paradise House during a Soldier Sailor Training Program tour of Colonial Williamsburg's Historic Area, circa 1943. Visual Resources.

James Lee and Ethel M. Fisher: A Wartime Couple's Williamsburg Experience

Dr. James Lee Fisher of Youngstown, Ohio departed for active duty as Lt Commander in the Medical Division of the United States Navy on December 18, 1942. His first assignment brought him to the United States Naval Construction Training Center at Camp Peary, home of the “Seabees,” and located near Williamsburg, Virginia. Dr. Fisher’s wife, Ethel, joined him in Williamsburg in 1943 and they lived for nine months in officers' quarters at the Williamsburg Inn. The James Lee and Ethel M. Fisher Family Archives held by the Rockefeller Library includes a scrapbook assembled by Dr. Fisher to chronicle their World War II experiences. Photos within the scrapbook of the Fishers interacting with other couples billeted at the Inn illustrate the Inn’s important role in bolstering morale by providing a place for a peaceful interlude of rest and relaxation on weekends where the military could gather for refreshments, swimming, and entertainment.

In September 1943, the Fishers moved to a cabin on the banks of the York River on the Camp Peary base. Ethel Fisher took part in the Red Cross Unit overseen by Mrs. Ware, wife of Captain James G. Ware, the Commanding Officer at Camp Peary. A series of group portraits, along with informal scenes of the Red Cross Unit members cutting and rolling bandages, highlight women’s contributions to wartime work in the Williamsburg area. Social life on base at Camp Peary, including picnics, baseball games, parties, and dances, is captured in a series of photos of the officers, soldiers, and families. Mr. and Mrs. Fisher’s side trips to Norfolk, Newport News, Yorktown, and Richmond are also represented in the album.

In April 1944, Dr. Fisher left Camp Peary for a new assignment at the United States Naval Construction Center at Camp Endicott, Rhode Island. From there he received orders to transfer to Seattle for training to take on the role of Senior Medical Officer of the U.S.S. Gage, a ship that formed part of the Attack Transport of the Amphibious Corps, 5th Fleet. By January 1945, the U.S.S. Gage set sail for the South Pacific, where Dr. Fisher and the crew witnessed the devastation in the Philippines, participated in such maneuvers as the Okinawa landing invasion, and assisted with various efforts in Occupied Japan, whether transporting troops, medical supplies, or medical staff to different Japanese cities to lend aid. Through photographs and commentary, the second half of Dr. Fisher’s scrapbook covers all of the difficult and distressing events he encountered during his tour in the South Pacific at the end of World War II. The album thus offers a complete picture of what many military officers who spent time at training bases near Williamsburg eventually faced as the war progressed and finally came to a close. Dr. Fisher returned home in late 1945 to his medical practice in Youngstown, Ohio, noting at the close of his album “I wouldn’t have missed it for anything, but I wouldn’t do it again.”

To view the entire James Lee and Ethel M. Fisher Family Archives, AV2021.4, including Mr. Fisher's World War II scrapbook, please follow this link: https://rocklib.omeka.net/collections/show/50

Background photo: Faculty of the Officer's Training School, Camp Peary, 1944. Dr. James Lee Fisher is seated in the front row, third from right. The James Lee Fisher and Ethel M. Fisher Family Archives, AV2021.4, Gift of Eric T. and Elizabeth Fisher Davis. Visual Resources.

Soldier Sailor Training Program

In May 1942, President Chorley wrote a letter to Brigadier General Forrest Williford, then the commanding officer at Fort Eustis, proposing an idea that he hoped would demonstrate Colonial Williamsburg’s commitment to making a real and valuable contribution to the war effort. Chorley proposed including in the Fort Eustis basic training program a one-day educational trip to Colonial Williamsburg to demonstrate to the soldiers “why we are in this war and just what we are fighting to preserve.”

This program would be a required part of basic training rather than a recreational visit. It would be constructed to connect the current conflict to that of the American Revolution. In an October 1942 letter to Brigadier General Frederick Osborn, Chief of the Morale Branch of the War Department, Chorley wrote that he would orient the program around the Four Freedoms that were foundational to the American Revolution: freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and freedom of assembly. And where better to reinforce these concepts, said Chorley, than in a place where the American colonists had begun to insist upon their freedoms? It would be a real world application of Reverend W.A.R. Goodwin and Mr. Rockefeller's vision “that restored Williamsburg might become the nation’s inspirational and cultural center for those who believed that the principles for which our forefathers fought should be maintained as the central feature for real Americanism.”

So what was the program to look like? Chorley proposed that Fort Eustis send around 300 men a day, six days a week. The daily group would arrive in Army trucks, parking near to the Merchants Square area in a reserved parking lot. The group would meet all together in the Williamsburg Theatre (now the Kimball Theatre) for a short introductory lecture on the background and significance of Williamsburg by a Colonial Williamsburg staff member and a showing of the Restoration history film “I Am Williamsburg.”

The group would then be broken up into smaller groups of 25 for tours that would be lead by Colonial Williamsburg escorts of the significant sites which best demonstrated the revolutionary Four Freedoms: the Capitol, the Raleigh Tavern, Bruton Parish Church, the College of William and Mary Wren Building, and the Printing Office. The entire group would reconvene for a picnic lunch in the game room of the Williamsburg Lodge and then finish up the remaining stops on their tour after lunch and return to Fort Eustis. The Colonial Williamsburg Board of Trustees, and Mr. Rockefeller in particular, were enthusiastic about this plan.

Mr. Rockefeller agreed to personally fund the program’s costs on Colonial Williamsburg’s end as long as the Army would cover transportation and lunch costs. Brigadier General Williford agreed that the program would be valuable to his soldiers and on May 18, 1942, the first of the “Educational Convoys” rolled into a parking lot adjacent to Merchants Square.

By June the program was in full swing and other area military units began to take an interest. Military Police units from Newport News attended periodically. By January 1943, Camp Peary had begun to send Seabees to the training program. For the Seabees and other units from the Hampton Roads Port of Embarcation, the WACS, and the Camp Peary Shore Patrol, etc. however, attendance at the training program was considered a recreational opportunity and not a formal required part of basic training. Chaplain Williams from the US Naval Air Station Norfolk brought a group of 40 on June 10th. Captain Clinton Neyman, commander of the Navy Chaplains' School at William and Mary, visited Colonial Williamsburg in 1944 with a group of WAVES and their director, Captain Mildred H. McAfee.

All soldiers and sailors attended the program as guests of Mr. and Mrs. Rockefeller, who considered their funding of the Soldier Sailor Training Program an important part of their war support. As he stated in a letter written to Restoration architect William Perry from Bassett Hall in May 1942, "Mrs. Rockefeller and I are happy to finance it. To have over a thousand service men a week thus come under the inspiration of the founders of the country is a by-product of your work and mine here of which we well may be proud.”

By December 1943, over 61,000 soldiers and sailors and attended the training program. In January 1943, Fort Eustis had a new commander and discontinued its participation due to rubber and gas rationing restrictions, but the recreational programs from Camp Peary and other locations continued.

By October 1943, a brochure had been produced for military visitors to take away with them as a souvenir. Known as the “Are You Filling Their Shoes” folder, the brochure included a map of the Historic Area with prominent Revolutionary sites from the program tour. Historical information about the Four Freedoms and the Founding Fathers in the brochure was intended to reinforce the information military visitors learned during their on-site visits. It emphasized the role that the current military was playing in upholding the Revolutionary ideals and was meant to be a continuing inspiration after departure from Colonial Williamsburg by literally asking: Are you filling our patriot forefathers’ shoes? Rockefeller loved the folder and told Mr. Chorley that it was “one of the finest pieces of literature the Restoration had ever put out” and that “He and Mrs. Rockefeller were so impressed by it they were mailing copies to all their sons in service.”

But did the program achieve its stated goals? Mr. Chorley certainly thought so. In a memo dated October 1942 he wrote that “The majority [of attendees] expressed it as having been shown rather than told what they were fighting for” and that the program was “inoculating them with the spirit of our traditions and correlating what the soldiers “see, hear and learn” in Williamsburg to the present war situation, thereby carrying out the motto of the Restoration: THAT THE FUTURE MAY LEARN FROM THE PAST.”

The Soldier Sailor Training Program carried on through 1945, though it began to transform as the war progressed and military drawdowns on the peninsula began. In 1944, the Red Cross began sending ambulatory convalescent patients from area hospitals to Williamsburg to take advantage of the Rockefellers' hospitality. Groups came from Richmond Army Air Base, Langley Field, and Fort Story Convalescent Hospital. Often included in such visits were meals at the Williamsburg Lodge and Bruton Parish House and entertainments hosted by the William and Mary chapter of the Red Cross.

In 1945, Camp Peary ceased sending Seabees to Colonial Williamsburg as the base’s numbers were vastly reduced and personnel began to shift to other locations more appropriate for postwar activities. On December 31, 1947, the program was officially declared at an end and Rockefeller-funded military visits to Colonial Williamsburg ceased.

Background photo: A group of sailors walking past Chowning's Tavern, circa 1942-1943. Visual Resources.

Williamsburg USOs

USO facilities in Williamsburg served as adjuncts to both the Soldier Sailor Training Program and Colonial Williamsburg’s efforts to boost servicemen and women’s morale. John D. Rockefeller Jr. played an important role as an honorary chairman for the United Service Organization.

Prior to the United States’ entrance into World War II, Rockefeller participated in a series of radio broadcasts to share some of the patriotic ideals behind the USO mission. In November 1941, he shared his “Ten Articles of Faith in the American Way of Life” over the radio, reminding listeners of the importance of such fundamental beliefs as service, self-sacrifice, truth, justice, and love in the midst of growing tensions throughout the world.

The main USO to serve military communities around Williamsburg opened on a limited capacity in 1942 in the Stringfellow Building next to the Methodist Church on the business block. Operating as a place for off-duty military personnel to socialize, the USO provided a canteen, a reading room, and a music room where soldiers could play records or listen to radio programs. The rear parking lot served as an outdoor dance floor on some evenings. Crowds soon overwhelmed the facility with the USO sometimes experiencing over 8,000 visitors on a Sunday afternoon. Therefore, John D. Rockefeller Jr. and his wife, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, donated $10,000 to fund the construction of an expansion.

On May 6, 1943, at a special ceremony presided over by the Rockefellers and top Army and Navy officers, the USO was formally dedicated and opened. Mayor Channing M. Hall gave a dedicatory speech followed by brief remarks by several commanding officers. Mrs. Kenneth Chorley then sang the "Star-Spangled Banner" to close the program. An evening dance accompanied by music performed by the Fort Eustis band drew 1,000 couples and overflowed into the parking area. Many onlookers watched from the tops of cars or even up in treetops.

A new USO annex, including a large auditorium for hosting concerts and theatrical performances, as well as an indoor dance floor to replace the makeshift dance shelter in the parking lot, opened in 1944. President Chorley commented, “It is proving very popular as a social hall, and all of us are wondering how we ever got along without it.”

During the first year after its dedication, the USO drew almost one million visitors and by 1945 it welcomed its three millionth visitor, Raymond J. Mlinar of Camp Peary. The Virginia Gazette reported that it held “the record for attendance in ratio to floor space, among the USO Clubs of the United States.”

Due to state-enforced segregation, African Americans established a separate USO within Bruton Heights School, opened in 1940 as a replacement for the James City County Training School on Nicholson Street. A canteen within the school cafeteria served light refreshments with help from community volunteers such as Fred and Fannie Epps. Movie nights held five nights per week in the school auditorium allowed both the community and soldiers the chance to see new film releases. The school’s gymnasium doubled as a venue for USO dances and one such event is captured in a photo taken by Albert Durant, a local African American photographer. School officials converted a classroom into a military lounge and opened the school library to provide access to books and magazines. Thanks to the combined efforts of faculty, students, and parents, Bruton Heights School made a significant contribution to the war effort.

Background photo: John D. Rockefeller Jr. and his wife, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, posing with soldiers and sailors at the official dedication of the Williamsburg USO on May 6, 1943. Visual Resources.

British High Command Visit

In May 1943, Operation Trident took place in Washington DC: the second major meeting of British and American military leaders held to fashion a joint strategy for winning and ending the war. General George C. Marshall, US Army chief of staff and meeting host, wanted to give the group a short break from their responsibilities and settled on Colonial Williamsburg as a spot that was both close by and had an unmistakable emotional meaning. Williamsburg was the former British capitol of the former British colony and the message conveyed to these British visitors was subtle but clear: we have a shared heritage and we’re in this together. While President Franklin D. Roosevelt took Prime Minister Winston Churchill to Shangri-La, the presidential retreat in Maryland now called Camp David, the rest of the group came to Colonial Williamsburg on May 15-16.

The visit was intended to be a secret and all plans were conducted in the strictest of confidentiality. The visitors were to stay at the Williamsburg Inn, although certain challenges lay with this plan. The Inn was currently occupied by officers and their families, so plans were made to shift certain numbers of guests for those days. The swimming pool had yet to open for the season and was rushed into readiness. The dining room and kitchen at the Inn had been closed up, so furniture and dishes were unpacked and chef Lena Richard from the Travis House and her crew were brought in to cook the meals.

Mr. Rockefeller was unable to attend the retreat but was heavily involved in the event planning. He sent his butler Mr. Johnson from his New York house to deliver terrapin soup cooked at his New York City club as well as cream for ice cream, sherry, cheese, and fruit. He would not, however, send liquor. The US Army had to bring their own (which they did!).

Retreat events included a Yorktown battlefield tour; a driving tour of the Restored area; a Capitol tour; a midnight candlelit Governor’s Palace tour; tea and drinks by the Williamsburg Inn pool; discussions of history and duck hunting; croquet and walks in the fields near the Inn; Sunday church service at Bruton Parish; getting lost in Palace maze; and dinner with Colonial Williamsburg, William & Mary and City of Williamsburg notables. The only restriction was: no discussion of the war. Rest, relaxation, and socializing were the goals.

In the end, the visit was deemed a success. The shared U.S.-British heritage had been emphasized. The group had been given a way to get to know each other better during restful downtime, a way to sustain the US-British alliance through personal interactions. General Marshall knew that there was a long history of alliances breaking down through the pressures of war. He had a found a way to avoid this fatal rupture and Colonial Williamsburg had helped him deliver it.

As Gerald Horton Bath, special assistant to President Chorley, wrote in his summary report prepared on the visit: “For one unforgettable day, in the midst of the most terrible war the world has ever known, the men who must wage and win that war thought only thoughts of peace. Then – on swift war wings –they flew back into reality!”

Background photo: Front elevation of the Williamsburg Inn, 1937. Visual Resources.

Visit of Clementine & Mary Churchill

September 8, 1943 marked the visit of another important pair of British guests – Clementine and Mary Churchill. Accompanying British Prime Minister Winston Churchill on a wartime visit to the United States, the two were eager to visit Colonial Williamsburg after hearing glowing reports from the British General Staff who retreated to the Inn earlier in the year. According to President Chorley, "the British Chiefs of Staff talked so much about their visit to Williamsburg last May that Mrs. Churchill said she and her daughter simply had to go there before they returned home.”

Mary Churchill, a subaltern in the British Army, took a break from her duties serving as her father’s aide-de-camp during the U.S. visit to accompany her mother on an impromptu trip to Williamsburg organized by the British Embassy. The two started their morning at the Williamsburg Inn, where they met Vernon Geddy, First Vice-President of Colonial Williamsburg, who served as their escort, and local photographer Frank Dementi, who operated Colonial Studio in Williamsburg from 1942-1945. Lord Moran, Winston Churchill’s private physician, and two aides from the White House also accompanied the party. During a guided tour of selected exhibition buildings, including the Governor’s Palace, Clementine and Mary learned about the former British capital. A luncheon at the Travis House Restaurant allowed the group to sample some of the famous scalloped oysters and other fare that won rave reviews from many military and diplomatic guests. Mary Churchill remarked to Vernon Geddy that her post-war plans needed to include a two-week stay in Williamsburg. During their “flying visit” to Williamsburg, as Mary Churchill described it, the two learned of Italy’s surrender to the Allies while touring the Raleigh Tavern. It proved to be a momentous day for wartime Williamsburg and one memorialized by Frank Dementi in a series of photo albums he later sent for presentation to the Churchill family.

Background photo: Portrait of Clementine and Mary Churchill during their tour of Colonial Williamsburg on September 8, 1943. Photo by Frank Dementi. Visual Resources.

Quiz Kids

Local Matthew Whaley School children had an opportunity to meet radio celebrities, “The Quiz Kids,” during their brief visit to Williamsburg on September 25, 1943 as part of a war bond drive.

The visit began with a luncheon held at the Williamsburg Lodge, where students, paired with each of the Quiz Kids as local guides, dined with their parents and Colonial Williamsburg officials. After a short tour of several of Colonial Williamsburg’s exhibition buildings, the Quiz Kids made an appearance at the Matthew Whaley School auditorium, admission to which was either a war stamp or bond.

Background photo: Quiz Kids Harve Fishman, left, and Richard Williams, right, posing in the stocks outside the Public Gaol during their tour of Colonial Williamsburg on September 25, 1943. Visual Resources.

Surrender & Post-War

On June 6, 1944, Williamsburg learned that the Allied invasion of France had begun. President Chorley noted, “Churches, ordinarily empty on weekdays, had a continuous succession of visitors…the members of our organization left their radios reluctantly to come to their work.”

An Invasion Day committee immediately started planning an observance to commemorate this solemn and momentous occasion. Boy Scouts helped deliver handbills to each residence in Williamsburg inviting the town to assemble at the Wren Building at the College of William & Mary for an Invasion Day Assembly that evening. Combined choirs performed, local ministers spoke, and Channing Hall, Williamsburg’s mayor, asked each townsperson to consider the day I-Day and ponder, “What am I doing in support of country? What am I doing for our men in uniform? What am I doing to strengthen their souls and heal their wounds? What am I doing to comfort those in distress?” The event ended with the crowd joining in a pledge of service and singing of the "Star-Spangled Banner."

On May 8, 1945, President Truman issued the official announcement of Germany’s surrender to Allied Forces. Colonial Williamsburg employees assembled with John D. Rockefeller Jr. at the Williamsburg Theatre in a VE Day assembly that consisted of hymns, prayers of thanksgiving, and prayers for the nation’s continued efforts to bring peace and an end to the war in the Pacific.

Several months later, on August 14, 1945, Williamsburg burst onto the streets after receiving an announcement of Japan’s surrender. President Chorley described a “spontaneous, exuberant celebration” occurring as townspeople congregated on Duke of Gloucester Street amidst servicemen to shout and sing.

A two-day holiday followed with a patriotic display of flags on the Goodwin Building, a V-J Day service of thanksgiving in front of the Wren Building, and a community sing on the steps of Phi Beta Kappa Hall. This was followed by a day in which Colonial Williamsburg served over 1500 free meals to servicemen and families at the Lodge, Travis House, and Chowning’s Tavern and offered free admission for films at the Williamsburg Theatre.

As Colonial Williamsburg began to look ahead to post-war plans, staff also memorialized those who had lost their lives in service to the country. Both a memorial plaque and an honor roll were installed in the lobby of the Goodwin Building, Colonial Williamsburg’s administrative headquarters, to commemorate the sacrifice and contributions of employees in uniform. Heartfelt gratitude for employee dedication and resourcefulness on the home front also received expression from the Rockefellers. John D. Rockefeller Jr. wrote a fervent tribute to Colonial Williamsburg employees' wartime efforts, remarking “Since the war clouds gathered over Williamsburg, you have been called upon to face problems, difficulties, situations that were constantly changing, many of them unique, many of them apparently impossible of successful handling…you have let no hurdle, however insurmountable it seemed obstruct your progress; you have stopped at nothing; you have gone steadily forward to an accomplishment that is nothing short of phenomenal.”

A year after the war’s end, two wartime leaders, former Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and General Dwight D. Eisenhower, traveled to Williamsburg for a short visit after Churchill’s speech delivered to the Virginia General Assembly on March 8, 1946 in Richmond.

Accompanied by their wives, the party arrived by train and took an afternoon tour of the Governor’s Palace, Bruton Parish Church, and the Wren Building before stopping in the Raleigh Tavern for a private reception. Large crowds gathered on the streets of Williamsburg to greet the wartime leaders and led to an incident with nervous, skittish carriage horses forcing the party to walk a portion of their itinerary. The evening ended with a banquet at the Williamsburg Inn followed by a candlelit tour of the Capitol. Williamsburg residents such as Joan Green Apter, whose father ran the Williamsburg Inn, recalled the impact the visit had on school children, many of whom were able to shake hands with the wartime leaders.

Colonial Williamsburg continued to host other post-war visits that contributed towards reconciliation and healing. The "Hiroshima Maidens," a group of Japanese women in the U.S. to treat disfigurements from the atomic bombing, visited Colonial Williamsburg on October 18, 1956. By October of 1956, the women had completed most of their surgeries and were preparing to return home. They toured exhibition buildings and trade shops as well as posing in traditional kimonos on the arched bridge over the Palace canal. Their visit to Colonial Williamsburg was one of many stops around the nation during their eighteen-month stay.

What was the legacy of the wartime years for Colonial Williamsburg? John D. Rockefeller III, son of John D. Rockefeller Jr., who took charge as chief executive officer in 1949, believed the concept of using the museum to further civic education could become part of its peacetime mission, too. He helped to spearhead development of new programs promoting the democratic ideas and values begun with the Soldier Sailor Training Program. He argued that establishing relevancy between the past and present events could help the public understand how struggles faced by colonial patriots could guide the country in dealing with new threats to liberty, such as communism. Prelude to Independence, a yearly observance begun in 1951, held between May 15 and July 4, highlighted important events and concepts leading up to the American Revolution and linked them with special appearances by world leaders who spoke about current events in the context of the struggle to promote democracy.

By the mid-1950s, John D. Rockefeller Jr.’s 1937 observation [in reference to the Restoration] that “I have come to feel that perhaps an even greater value [of Colonial Williamsburg] is the lesson that it teaches of the patriotism, high purpose, and unselfish devotion of our forefathers to the common good” had come to pass as Colonial Williamsburg and the local community united to bring Williamsburg through war and its aftermath and into a new era.