|
HIGH SCHOOL HISTORY Part Eight: Tennessee goes to war again 
Oak Ridge residents celebrate the end of World War II PHOTO: Ed Westcott When America went to war in 1941, Tennessee went to war abroad and on the home front. Here, important parts of the atomic bomb were created. War games were staged. Prisoners of war were housed. Ships, boats and planes were constructed. Boots and uniforms were manufactured. And, most importantly, thousands of Tennesseans volunteered.
I. Those who fought
An estimated 360,000 Tennesseans served in the U.S. military during World War II. They fought in France, in Germany, in the Phillippines, at Midway, and in Okinawa. 6,057 of them died -- more Tennesseans than in any other war other than the Civil War. 
Troy McGill's headstone in Knoxville National Cemetery
Some of you may have relatives who fought in World War II. If they are still alive, you are lucky. Ask them about what they did and listen to what they have to say.
Eight Tennesseans received the Congressional Medal of Honor for things they did during World War II. These awards are given to people who go "above and beyond the call of duty" and who risk their lives with "gallantry and intrepidity" while engaged in an action against any enemy of The United States. Here are their names and a very brief summary of what each of them did: * Raymond Cooley, who was born in Dunlap (Sequatchie County) and later lived in Richard City (Marion County) was fighting in the Philippines when he realized a grenade was about to explode in the midst of his platoon. He threw himself on the grenade, saved his comrades, and somehow survived. 
Charles Coolidge (right) PHOTO: U.S. Army * Charles Coolidge of Signal Mountain (Hamilton County), fighting in Italy, skillfully led his machine-gun unit into a position 25 yards from the enemy. This manuever placed "such an effective fire on the onrushing foe that those not killed or wounded were panicked into scattered disorganization and made easy to capture."
By the way, Charles Coolidge is alive and well and living in suburban Chattanooga. His family still runs a business (Coolidge Printing & Engraving) that his father started in 1910.
* Paul Huff of Cleveland (Bradley County) was in Italy when he advanced alone in the face of heavy fire to determine the strength and location of the enemy. As a result of information he gained, an American patrol routed 125 German soldiers a few minutes later.
Elbert Kinser PHOTO: U.S. Marines * Elbert Kinser of Greeneville (Greene County) was with his Marine unit, fighting over one of the islands near Okinawa, Japan, and threw himself on a grenade to save his men. He died from his wounds.
* Vernon McGarity of Model (Stewart County) displayed leadership and courage one long morning in December 1944 while fighting in Belgium. He was eventually captured by the Germans, but not before rescuing two of his friends, exhorting his comrades to fight on, and nearly single handedly holding off a German tank and machine gun assault for hours. * Charles McGaha of Crosby (Grainger County) was fighting in the Philippines and crossed a road under a hail of bullets to save an injured comrade. Injured himself, he returned to his men, then removed another wounded soldier. Then he carried a third man to safety, and finally collapsed from loss of blood and exhaustion. Charles McGaha survived the war but was tragically stabbed to death in a taxi cab in Columbus, Ga. in 1984. Today there is a small section of road in Columbus named for him.
Troy McGill PHOTO: U.S. Army * Troy McGill (Knoxville) was in the South Pacific when he and his comrades were attacked by an estimated 200 Japanese. Six of his seven fellow soldiers were killed or wounded. What happened then is best described on the official citation: "Courageously resolved to hold his position at all cost, he fired his weapon until it ceased to function. Then, with the enemy only 5 yards away, he charged from his foxhole in the face of certain death and clubbed the enemy with his rifle in hand-to-hand combat until he was killed.
"At dawn 105 enemy dead were found around his position." Today Interstate 40 through Knox, Sevier, Jefferson, and Cocke counties is officially named the Troy A. McGill Memorial Highway. But it's safe to say that very few of the tens of thousands of people who drive that stretch of Interstate every day has any idea who Troy McGill was. 
John Willis PHOTO: U.S. Navy * John Willis of Columbia (Maury County) was a corpsman (or medic) trying to help wounded comrades in the Battle of Iwo Jima. He was administering blood to a patient when a grenade landed in his foxhole. Willis calmly threw it out. Another landed beside him and he threw it out. This happened again and again until the ninth exploded in his hand and killed him.
A monument honoring Willis in Columbia
The U.S. Navy later named a warship for this man. The USS John Willis (a destroyer) was put into service in 1956 and decommissioned in 1972.
II. The home front
Here are six things you might find interesting about Tennessee and its contribution to the war: 
PHOTO: H. C. Spinks Clay Co.
During World War II people in cities like
2. Dyersburg Army Air Base 
War maneuvers near Watertown PHOTO: U.S. Army 4. Maneuvers
Imagine how it must have looked to have been working on a Tennessee farm and see a tank coming over the hill in your direction. This actually happened. During the war, the U.S. Army conducted maneuvers in Tennessee, mainly because the terrain in Tennessee was determined to be similiar to that of western Europe. More than 800,000 people participated in these maneuvers. In 1939 a company called Aviation Corp. (abbreviated Avco) built an airplane factory adjacent to the 6. Oak Ridge
In 1939 scientist Albert Einstein wrote a letter to President Franklin Roosevelt informing him that the Germans were on the verge of splitting the atom and creating a powerful new weapon. A couple of years later, with the U.S. drawn into World War II, Roosevelt got Congress to secretly fund work on such a weapon in four locations -- Anderson County, Tennessee, being one of the four. 
The K-25 plant PHOTO: Ed Westcott Quickly the site was cleared and three large manufacturing plants were built. The plants were known as X-10, Y-12, and K-25. Although the details of what went on in these massive facilities is beyond the scope of this web site, suffice it to say that each of the buildings was involved in trying to separate Uranium 235 -- used in the atomic bomb -- from Uranium 238.
Various types of early Oak Ridge housing PHOTO: Ed Westcott Tens of thousands of people were brought in from all over the country to work at these facilities, and in the early years these people were housed in all types of structures. As you can see from these pictures, most people lived in tiny houses that were built rather quickly.
By the summer of 1945 Oak Ridge had an estimated 75,000 residents, making the brand new town the fifth largest city in Tennessee. And the project succeeded in its mission. In July 1945 small amounts of Uranium 235 were carried from Oak Ridge to New Mexico, where they were placed in a nuclear bomb known as "Little Boy." That bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945. Three days later, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, and a few days later Japan surrendered, ending World War II.
For more information of Oak Ridge, take our virtual tour of the Museum of Science and Energy by clicking here. 
Cordell Hull PHOTO: Cordell Hull Foundation for International Education III. Prominent Tennesseans It’s a long way from a tiny log cabin in
Click here for a virtual tour of the Cordell Hull birthplace. 
General Frank Andrews PHOTO: U.S. Air Force Frank Andrews
Most Tennesseans don't recognize the name Frank Andrews, but they should. A Tennessee native, General Frank Andrews was one of the highest ranking officers in the U.S. military during World War II and is considered one of the founders of the U.S. Air Force. (There is, in fact, an air force base named for him: Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland.) When he died in a plane crash in May 1943, General Andrews was the commander of U.S. forces in Europe (a post later assigned to General Eisenhower). 
Cornelia Fort PHOTO: Hill Aerospace Museum Cornelia Fort Cornelia Fort was a rich girl in A year later she Cornelia Fort was killed in a mid-air collision in 1943. Today a small airport in LINKS/FURTHER READING
* Click here to read more about Tennessee's Medal of Honor winners. * Click here to read more about General Frank Andrews. * Click here to read an article in the Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture about Tennessee's home front during World War II. An excellent high school-level book about the development of the atomic bomb was recently written by a teacher in Oak Ridge named Edward Sullivan. It is called The Ultimate Weapon: The Race to Develop the Atomic Bomb, and you can read more about this book by clicking here. QUIZ
1. How many Tennesseans died in World War II? a) 657 b) 3,457 c) 6,057 d) 60,444 2. Name one of Tennessee's World War II Medal of Honor winners and explain what he did to be chosen for that award. 3. What was the name of the barrage balloon training base in Tennessee? 4. About how many people were living in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, in 1945? 5. What international organization is Cordell Hull credited with starting? 6. What is the name of the Tennessean who is considered one of the founders of the U.S. Air Force? |
All photographs taken by Bill Carey for THKF unless otherwise stated.