(H)our History Lesson: The USO Serving on the WWII Home Front in Wilmington, NC

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• WWII Wilmington Lesson Series: Introduction

About this Lesson

This lesson is part of a series teaching about the WWII home front, with Wilmington, North Carolina, as a WWII Heritage City. The lesson contains photographs, reading, and a primary source to contribute to learners’ understandings of community connections to the Armed Forces, such as through civilian volunteer efforts and recreation. It was written by Sarah Nestor Lane, educator.

Objectives:

1. Describe the purpose of the USO to the Wilmington. N.C. community
2. Identify ways that civilians and home front workers contributed to the USO
3. Share examples of segregation and its impact on the home front during WWII

Materials for Students:

1. Photos 1 – 5 (Can be displayed digitally)
2. Readings 1 & 2
3. Map: It is recommended that lessons are taught with a map of the Wilmington area, or North Carolina to plot historical locations.

Getting Started: Essential Question

How did the USO engage with and support the service members and greater Wilmington community during wartime?

Photo 1: Wilmington USO Postcard

Postcard of the U.S.O. Club

Cape Fear Museum

Photo 2: Historic USO Building

Hannah Block Historic USO/Community Arts Center today; National Register of Historic Places. The namesake is to honor Hannah Block, once a World War II USO organizer herself. She was also the first woman elected to Wilmington’s City Council and first female mayor pro tempore

Wilmington, NC River District and Island Beaches

Read to Connect

Reading 1: Wilmington’s USO

(Information compiled and written by Sarah Nestor Lane)

The United Service Organizations, Inc., (USO) was formed as a project of several organizations. The organizations included the YMCA, National Catholic Community Service, Salvation Army, YWCA, National Jewish Welfare Board, and National Travelers Aid Association. The USO served military personnel, their families, and defense workers. It provided welfare and recreation activities like dances, radio broadcasts, art exhibits, theater, counseling, and childcare.

The main USO building opened in 1941 in downtown Wilmington at Second and Orange. This site was segregated. An African American USO building was constructed 15 blocks north (at Ninth and Nixon Street). Thousands of Wilmington residents volunteered for the USO operations.

The National Catholic Community Service operated a women’s center (H.B. Eilers House at 5th and Orange) as another local USO effort. It provided accommodations and kitchen facilities for war workers and servicemen’s families. They used a carriage house for sports, crafts, and theater.

At a US Post Office (N. Front St, Filter Center), women volunteers charted air movements in the basement, 24 hours a day. Volunteers charted and called in the information they tracked. The main post office also had activities such as war bond drives and patriotic rallies.

Events held at Legion Stadium included football, baseball, and boxing. Events were in the daylight due to dim-out restrictions. (Dim-out restrictions were city rules, efforts to minimize outdoor lights and reflection at night as a defense.)
Segregation laws and practices limited African Americans’ participation in USO activities. White authorities also blocked their access to housing, education, and recreation. Black servicemembers and workers and their families experienced segregation in war bond drives, performances and activities, and access to basic needs and living support.

The main USO building at Second and Orange now houses a museum and community arts events. It is on the National Register of Historic Places. Unfortunately, the African American USO building was demolished after the war. The H.B. Eilers House and US Post Office are still standing.

"The USO’s For the U.S.A.” cartoon by Walt Disney Studios

National Archives

War Bond from Wilmington; July 5, 1945.

UNCW Library

African American USO, early 1940s

USO - The Official USO Blog

By the numbers:
• Nine full-time clubs, five smaller facilities
• Approx. 35,000 servicepeople engaged per week in USO activities at the Hannah Block; From 1941 – 1946, the Hannah Block hosted more than 2.3 million white service members
• The main USO building at Hannah Block could house up to 600 service members in the converted dormitory basement.
• A USO in neighboring Jacksonville (Newberry St.) served about 3,000 African American patrons each month
• Seven New Hanover county Bond drives resulted in about $40 million raised
• Legion Stadium, built in 138 as WPA project, seated 3500

Quotation to consider:
”Interracial Service USO has consistently adhered to its primary purpose of serving men and women in uniform irrespective of creed or race. Its service to minority groups, and particularly to Negroes has steadily improved. Our insistence upon equivalent services for all has resulted in better relationships, not only with the men and women in service but with communities as well.” – p. 15, in “USO, five years of service: report of the president.” (1945)

Questions for Reading 1
1. What services did the USO provide in Wilmington, NC?
2. How did home front volunteers and donors provide support for USO efforts?
3. In photo 3, it says “The USO’s for the USA!” Why did cartoonists such as Disney create pieces such as these during wartime?
4. How does the notable quotation from the USO report reflect the wrongful attitudes of discrimination at the time? Consider other areas where wrongful “separate but equal” practices were in place.
5. Consider the reading and photos. Do you agree with the wartime message “The USO’s for the USA!” Why, or why not?

Reading 2: A Veteran’s USO Experiences and Beliefs

Excerpts from: Excerpts from the interview of Pete Harden, U.S. Army Medical Corp Veteran

Interview Location: Wilmington, N.C.; Date: July 30, 1998
This interview was a part of the oral histories collected in “World War II: Through the Eyes of the Cape Fear,” a joint project by the William M. Randall Library and Cape Fear Museum.
. . .
HARDEN: Well, at any rate, what I want to say about that USO, that was the best place I ever saw where they treated people real nice, service people. You'd go into the building and this, I'm not sure it was USO, it might have been, but it was maintained by the local people as I guess the other USOs were too. You'd go into the place and they'd tell you to go take a shower. When you take your uniform off, somebody would take your trousers down and a man downstairs, one of the local tailors brought his own pressing machine and he'd press your pants for you.

When you were through with your shower, you'd come down, they'd bring your trousers up to you and you'd get dressed and you'd go to the dining room and Joe, I'm telling you, the food there was...these were farm wives cooking the old fashioned way. Nothing frozen, nothing dried, a big change from what we'd had, were getting in the service and then the one thing I remember was it was like going into a New York bakery.

They had shelves loaded with all kinds of desserts, the cakes and things, much like the one I had in Germany, the butter crème torte. You didn't know what you wanted there so they would encourage you to take one of these and one of those and I took one of these and one of those and I'm talking about a good dinner to begin with, you know.

I know what the USO meant to me and that's one thing I'm trying to do now, is trying to do something for the people who are in the service. We have them here. We have people from Fort Jackson, there's the Coast Guard. We have young men and young women who are away from home and it bothers me that they're not made a home, that people don't do much for them. There used to be a USO downtown and I can't even get them to call it the USO building. To me, it's still the USO building. It's used by community arts and I think the biggest sign should be USO.

If somebody is looking for the community arts building, people in town aren't going to know where the community arts building is, but they're going to know, especially old-timers, where the USO building is. And it's fine if they have things and as a matter of fact, I encourage them and I think it's great that they have theater goings on there now and they can do pretty much what they did at the Stage Door Canteen, invite these young people to come in on a Friday night, Saturday night, put on a little show for them, let them watch rehearsals, treat them a little bit.

I'd like to see people like the World War II group that you and I are engaged in. The fellas there I'm sure would lend a hand.

INTERVIEWER: I know they would.

HARDEN: They would man that place and have a coffee pot there and some donuts or something. As a matter of fact, I know a gal who was a Red Cross gal. I'm sure she'd come out and be only too glad to serve. But I think it's a shame that we don't treat these people who are in the service today the way you and I were treated. People treated them differently. Here as a matter of fact, I've talked to some servicemen down here and it's no secret. There are many times they weren't allowed to, they would (be) banned from restaurants and bars because they expected trouble from them.
. . . and if we can't get the USO sign on there, then we'll call it the former USO building or whatever we want to name it. I'm sure that the boys at the World War II Remembered group and the civilians there...as you know, we've got civilians come in there and they would certainly lend a hand. Much as we do when we have our meetings there. We've got coffee and goodies and things. No reason why we can't do it for the people.

You know as long as there are wars, I think there should be a USO or something along the same lines. Treat these people nicely. They're away from home, make them feel at home. Don't wait until the war starts and then start putting flags and ribbons up and that sort of stuff. That's fine, but . . . At any rate, that's my present project. That's what I'm working on especially.

Questions for Reading 2 and photo #
1. How does Harden describe his experiences with the USO? Why do you think these experiences are important to his memories of his times of service? (Harden describes his USO experiences in general, but later in the interview he specifies he is talking about the USO building (Hannah Block) in Wilmington, NC.)

2. In the experiences Harden describes, what were some roles of USO home front volunteers? What other ways (from Reading 1, or prior knowledge) did volunteers support the work of the USO?

3. What are Harden’s opinions on the uses of the former USO building? Why do you think he holds these views?

Wrapping up:

4. Using what you have learned across the sources in this lesson, answer the essential question: How did the USO engage with and support the service members and greater Wilmington community during wartime?

Resources
Contributions to the War Effort (Wilmington, North Carolina)
Hannah Block Picture Gallery (Then and Now)
World War II Heritage Guide Map of Wilmington and Southeastern North Carolina
World War II Through the Eyes of the Cape Fear
Wilmington, NC, Heritage City (NPS)
USO, five years of service: report of the president (1945)
USO Museum (Hannah Block) - Wilmington