Historic Preservation

Faced with having to feed an expanded military and a hungry population, the US government reintroduced the idea of War Gardens from World War I. They rebranded them as Victory Gardens for World War II. World War II Victory Gardens were grown on farms, in backyards, on city rooftops, in window-boxes, on public lands, and in vacant lots.

Camp Adair serves as a poignant memorial to Oregon’s role in the U.S. military’s mobilization during World War II.

The NPS has begun a multi-year effort to preserve the mooring quays of Pearl Harbor's Battleship Row and return them to their 1941 appearance. The quays were silent sentinels to the events of that day. During the chaos, they served as places of refuge for sailors and soldiers as they escaped the burning ships exploding around them. In 2023, the Historic Preservation Training Center completed a project on the first quay, F-6-N.

Though the National Park Service (NPS) was only 25 years old at the outbreak of World War II, the agency found itself fighting a battle on the homefront. With little precedent to work from and dwindling budgets and staff, the NPS strongly defended its parks against a flood of demands to log, mine, graze, drain, and take over national parks

Gibson Grove is a historical African American community, located in Cabin John, Maryland, and was established in the 1880s. Named for the African American Gibson family who relocated there after the Civil War, the community was home to ten core families, a church, and an African American school. Learn more about the lives and work of the Gibson Grove residents and how the community endured well into the twentieth century.

Challenges of creating a Manhattan Project National Historical Park unit.

Documenting, and preserving cultural landscapes of the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Join University of Hawaii - West Oahu's archaeological field school at Honouliuli National Monument. The monument, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, was the site of Japanese civilian and Prisoner of War internment during World War II (1943 - 1946).

This article features examples of 700 and 800 Series buildings built for World War II mobilization. These selections exemplify the simplicity, diversity, and durability of these “temporary” buildings.

Ewa Plain Battlefield, Hawaii, listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The Battle of Ewa Plain began just before 8 AM on December 7, 1941 and was part of the larger surprise attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) on the United States of America military base at Pearl Harbor and other installations on the island of Oahu, and other islands considered defensive positions within the Territory of Hawaii.

Fort Des Moines is a military installation in Des Moines, Iowa. During World War I, the fort served as the first and only training site for African American officers. During World War II, Fort Des Moines was the first training site for the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) and the Women’s Army Corps (WAC), and the only training site for WAC and WAAC officers.

Faced with having to feed an expanded military and a hungry population, the US government reintroduced the idea of War Gardens from World War I. They rebranded them as Victory Gardens for World War II. World War II Victory Gardens were grown on farms, in backyards, on city rooftops, in window-boxes, on public lands, and in vacant lots.

Photographs and maps of the Ford Island Chief Petty Officer’s Bungalows Neighborhood and Battleship Row Cultural Landscape, Pearl Harbor National Memorial

Battery Chamberlin is named in honor of Captain Lowell A. Chamberlin, First Artillery, who served with distinction in the Civil War and continued as an artillery officer until his death at the Presidio in 1889.

World War II came to Alaska with the Japanese bombing of Dutch Harbor and the invasion of Attu and Kiska islands in 1942. Sitka Naval Operating Base and U.S. Army Coastal Defenses is one of eight historic landmarks that commemorate World War II in Alaska.

The World War II Facilities at Midway are recognized for the historic role they played in a crucial World War II battle in the Pacific Theater of operations. Midway is a coral atoll six miles in diameter with three islands--Sand, Eastern and Spit. The atoll's name is said to come from its location, midway between San Francisco and Tokyo.

The science of nutrition that we take for granted today was in its infancy when World War II began. The US government was very worried about nutrition -- in the military and among civilians. Nutrition and food became linked with the future of America and of democracy itself.

World War II came to Alaska with the Japanese bombing of Dutch Harbor and the invasion of Attu and Kiska islands in 1942. The Japanese Occupation Site is one of eight historic landmarks that commemorate World War II in Alaska.

Sunnyside is a neighborhood in the eastern outskirts of Adrian, Michigan. Home to a large Mexican American population, the area first became popular to workers from Texas during World War II.

The American government and the American people were aware of the conflicts brewing in Europe, Asia, and Africa in the 1930s. Still hurting from the losses of World War I and in the grip of the Great Depression, there was little congressional or public interest in getting involved. In fact, there were efforts to keep America out of the conflict.

Fonte Plateau was a strategic location during the Battle of Guam. Home to a fortified Japanese naval communications base, the battle for control over Fonte Plateau was costly and pivotal. After days of fighting, US troops gained control of the position—forcing the Japanese Army's retreat.

During the Japanese occupation of Guam, CHamoru were forced to build defenses on the beach, including the pillboxes and bunkers that can still be seen today, in preparation for the American invasion. That invasion came on July 21, 1944, W Day for Guam. While a simultaneous attack took place five miles south at Hågat, the Third Marine Division landed on the 2,500-yard Assan Beach, marking the start of the Battle of Guam.

Above the village of Piti, sit three large Japanese Vickers-type Model 3 140mm coastal defense guns, the remains of hastily constructed fortifications build on the eve of the American invasion of Guam. As the Americans conquered more and more territory in the Pacific, the Japanese forced the CHamoru to build fortifications and install artillery and costal defense guns on Guam under brutal conditions. 

Richmond J. Tripp was an Aviation Boatswain’s Mate 2nd Class during World War II. He worked on the USS Ranger and USS Mission Bay, mostly in the Atlantic Theater. He was on a date when he heard about the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Tripp enlisted in the Navy shortly thereafter and was placed on the aircraft carrier USS Ranger with about 5,000 other people. Listen to his interview to learn about his World War II experience.

Dwight Smith served in the Navy during World War II. He was never stationed in the Aleutian Islands, but he recounts many interesting stories from his time onboard the USS South Dakota, SS Thomas W. Hyde, and LST-835. After the war he had a family and a long career with railroads.

This lesson is part of a series teaching about the World War II home front, with Lewistown, Montana designated as an American World War II Heritage City. The lesson contains readings and photos to contribute to learners’ understandings about what it was like for children in Lewistown: to grow up on the home front and to contribute to the war effort and their community.

Sumai was the center of Guam’s connection to US national and international interests in the decade before WWII. As a result, it was destroyed by Japanese and American bombs during the battle over the island. After the war, the US military seized the ruined village, and Sumai's Chamoru/Chamorro residents were forcibly relocated to the hillside village of Santa Rita. Due to its strategic importance, the village has never been returned to its original inhabitants.

Video Podcast where professional historians and others in the field talk through their process for analyzing primary source documents.

This is the oral history of Loretta Reilly Hoffman. Loretta was a member of the Women's Army Corps stationed at Fort Hancock in 1944.

Mary Duff Heckendorn (top left) working at post library orientation map.