Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 4, 1992 TAG: 9201040149
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: E-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: HEIDI NOLTE BROWN
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
WORLD WAR II EXHIBIT LOOKS AT HOW VIRGINIANS COPED ON THE HOME FRONT
The family of 1st Lt. Harold Leazer of Remington learned about his death in 1944 after receiving three letters from the War Department.In the first letter, relatives were told he had failed to return from a bombing mission over Austria. The second disclosed details surrounding the Air Corps pilot's disappearance. News that the 27-year-old had been killed came in a third letter dated Sept. 30, 1944. Three more letters described the mission, the posthumous award of the Air Medal and that Leazer had been buried in an Austrian cemetery.
The collection is among thousands of items of personal memorabilia gathered by the Virginia Historical Society over the past three years for an exhibit on World War II and how it affected Virginia.
"V for Virginia: The Commonwealth at War" opened its six-month showing on the eve of the 50th anniversary marking the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and America's entry into the war.
But although the exhibit coincides with the 50th anniversary, it isn't about battles fought on foreign soil, museum director Charles Bryan Jr. said.
"It's about the home front," he said. "The purpose of the exhibit is to tell us about what happened in Virginia during the war and to the people who lived here and to the people who served overseas."
In early 1989, the society's museum asked the public for World War II diaries, posters, scrapbooks and any other memorabilia that would help show what life was like on the Virginia homefront.
"We have been amazed at all that has come in," Bryan said. "We have enough gas rationing coupons to win two world wars."
In a corner of the newly expanded museum, a 1940 Rockola jukebox from a dealer in Sterling plays "I'll Be Seeing You," or any of a dozen other songs that were popular during the war.
The wooden planks of a re-created plane spotter tower rise above another portion of the exhibit, symbolizing a surge in volunteerism during the war.
"One of the themes is the pervasiveness of the war in every aspect of life," said James Kelly, museum curator. "Some people undertook paramilitary functions, such as air raid wardens or plane spotters. Others became Red Cross workers."
A 13-foot torpedo manufactured at the old Alexandria Torpedo Factory dominates one room. A restored World War II jeep, one of the Army's first all-terrain vehicles to be tested at Fort Myer, is parked next to rows of uniforms.
The bodies of 29 crewmen from a German U-boat were picked up at sea off the Virginia coast.
"They were buried at night in April 1942 to attract less attention and demonstration," Kelly said. A photograph shows their midnight burial at the Hampton National Cemetery.
"We have sections on labor, industry, agriculture, on women in the war and the factories - the `Rosie the Riveter' phenomenon," Kelly said. "The economic demands of the war ended the Depression in Virginia and brought unprecedented prosperity and employment."
Museum officials said the war had affected Virginians at home more than most other states.
"There was an economic boom everywhere," Kelly said. "But it was taken to a higher degree here. There were more bases here, there was more military presence, more government offices because of Washington."
Bryan said World War II was a turning point in Virginia history because it set in motion social change in the state.
"It's no coincidence that within a decade of the end of World War II you have the real beginnings of the civil rights movement," he said.
"V for Virginia: The Commonwealth at War" is open through June 28. The Virginia Historical Society Museum is at The Boulevard and Kensington Avenue in Richmond, off exit 14 from Interstate 95. Museum hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday-Saturday. (804) 358-4901.