Many West Virginians who have been part of military history are aging, so we focus, for now, on World War II.

You will enjoy this section by many people who care about you and our long-proven hopes.

Many say that since World War II, West Virginia has given more people, per capita, to the military, than any other state. For sure, it is a high percentage, and our people often chose longer tours of duty.

The most common reason given is jobs are scarce. Also, our geography makes us independent, and the way we broke from Virginia tells of our deep-rooted commitment to democracy. So, our love of independence and democracy makes us proud to serve for freedom.

We are the only state in America born by presidential proclamation. We seceded from Virginia in the midst of the Civil War. We do not feel north, south or center–often not even eastern–but we sure are American. We believe every citizen deserves a chance.

We served important roles in all America’s Wars. In this edition of our web site, we concentrate on World War II. Keep checking for other editions for more information on our history and other topics.

The Battle of Riverton at the Virginia border in Pendleton County took place more than a year before West Virginia became a state. The sign tells so much about how West Virginia was born out of strife. Boys this age were a very real part of the Civil War.

"The struggle of today, is not altogether for today -- it is for a vast future also." -- Abraham Lincoln, in his address to Congress delivered on December 3, 1861

Photo provided by the Pendleton County Chamber of Commerce at the request of their Historic Society.

World War II Veterans and those who remember this war are leaving us in large numbers–they are in their late 70s or 80s. So, we emphasize this time in our history, for now. Be sure to see the priceless photos by Cabell County man and sign the Petition for the USS Woody Williams below.

We have added civilians’ memories – two women who were little girls on the first and last days of the war, for a fuller perspective.

Remember, we encourage you to be part of the Veterans’ History Project that has recognized West Virginia’s contribution.
Also, we plan to help create a book, in cooperation with Publisher’s Place in Huntington, to be called “Voices of West Virginia Veterans.”

Missing – Tuskegee Airmen

< Much is missing from our review, of course. But we are particularly looking for photos to use, with permission, of Tuskegee Airmen: West Virginia honors the accomplishments and the continuing history of African-Americans who were significant in our air, ground and operations crews, in the Army Air Corps, during World War II.

Questions and Answers below: What institution of higher learning has graduated more generals than any other in America, other than military academies such as West Point? Also see From Our Veterans.

I remember a bitterly cold December day in West Virginia when I was little more than half way through my fifth year of life here on this planet. I’d left home with my dad, mom and little sister shortly after breakfast to look through the woods for a Christmas tree and was afraid we’d get back too late to hear my favorite radio program. The minute we got home, I threw my snowsuit and wool toboggan aside and grabbed the Sunday comics. Each week it had become my habit to listen to a grumpy-voiced old man on the radio read the comics while I followed along looking at the pictures.

He had already started reading Dick Tracy and I was frantic. My cold hands couldn’t find the right page. I was making a mess of the paper when Dad came to help. He had just folded a page to fit in my lap when we heard the news bulletin. The invincible hatchet-faced detective’s fight against the evil Prune Face was interrupted by an announcer telling us Pearl Harbor had been attacked. We were at war. Eventually, we heard that the USS West Virginia had been sunk that day.

For the rest of my life, “Pearl Harbor” made me think of snow drying in my hair, the vivid color of comic pages, a Christmas tree waiting outside to be decorated, and something so big and different that I could not see except through my parents changed expression.

KEEP THE PORCH LIGHT ON, TENNY

My deaf grandfather, Henry Jacobs, had not served in the armed services.. He was almost eighty at the end of World War II. His first wife and children had died of tuberculosis while he was a one-room school teacher on the Ohio River, near Point Pleasant. Heart broken, he came down the river to be a C&O Railroad carpenter, he finally remarried my Mamaw, Tennessee Lawson Jacobs. They had had two sons and three daughters.

He was frail and crippled by arthritis, by the time I knew him, but he kept a large garden to feed us all during the war. On VJ Day – or the day we were told the war ended, which was earlier than it happened – it fell to me to tell Papaw that the war was over. I was six, and the events of that day set a tone in my life for going on. Almost 40 years later, I lived in Japan, to understand better my feelings and world change.

Every night after Victory Europe Day in May of 1945, Papaw would go to front door before going to bed earlier than others. He’d look out the small pains at the top of the door, look out, then say to Mamaw in his cracked voice, distorted from his deafness, “Keep the porch light on for our boys, Tenny.” One son, James Hickman Jacobs, was in the military, but Papaw also worried that a neighbor boy would come home without anyone in their own home, for some reason, so the light was to welcome anyone returning. He drew me a picture once of a lighthouse, and I saw the same concern for people to find their way home.

The house is still standing, and, as you see, it now has vinyl siding.

Home that Henry Jacobs built in Huntington, in the early 1920s, where he insisted on keeping the porch light on during World War II, for “our boys.”

He built the house on two lots, with a large area “out back” for a vegetable garden and a chicken house. That garden was crucial to the family during the war. It was plowed by a man with a team of horses every spring and tended entirely by Henry through his last summer, which was a year after the war.

1 Toboggan was used for cap in West Virginia, taken from the word for snow sled.

2 Today, the USS West Virginia’s bell is housed at Marshall University

Rick Bohnke, who has owned a trophy company in Huntington for decades, took these very rare photos at the end of World War II. From childhood, he had loved photography. He enlisted in the spring of 1945.After only two weeks of basic training, he was put on a ship, though he’d joined the Army to avoid the water. Because he had unusually good and needed typing skills, he was advanced. On Sept. 2nd, the day of the Japanese surrender, the transport ship docked two ships south of the USS Missouri, and his captain sent Bonke aboard with his own Argus C3.

We have asked the Division of Culture and History to help preserve these photos, for West Virginia.

General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, signing the Japanese capitulation

Admiral William F. Halsey, Commander, Third Fleet signing the capitulation.

We are told that a West Virginia woman typed the agreement that day, but we have not yet located her. Bohnke, himself, is shy to show these photos, with the worry that he will be seen as bragging.

Leaders in the Ward Room on the USS Missouri that day

Several national leaders are here, including Russia and England, with MacArthur on the right.

The surrender had been expected, and the end of the war had even been announced two weeks early.

After two more trips on the ship, he took a discharge and went to Potomac State College in Keyser, WV for five months and took pre-med courses. But he got bored and reenlisted, this time in the Army Air Force, to avoid the sea. He was assigned to Walter Reed Army Hospital in late 1946, and he attended school for various medically-related courses. At Walter Reed, he was assigned to “Ward 8” which was for “top brass,” presidents, Cabinet Members were his patients. Of the many memories he has of that time, his favorites are of Harry Truman, who had a gall bladder operation and would go down backs stairs to a garden and talk with Bohnke.

We’ll try to tape it on a DVD for you.

“Woody” Williams, Our State’s Only Living Medal of Honor Recipient

One of the most famous statues in American History is of the raising of the flag at Iwo Jima. H. “Woody” Williams, originally from Fairmont , and now from Ona, received a Congressional Medal of Honor for help to win this very important battle in February, 1945.

See photo on banner of Woody receiving Medal of Honor from President Harry Truman

Now almost 50,000 signatures have been received on a petition to name a US Naval ship for West Virginia’s only living Medal of Honor recipient, Hershel “Woody” Williams.

Memo from Woody to Answer Our Questions

Quiz Questions and Answers: West Virginia

• Smallest/largest WV Counties? Hancock (89 sq. mi) and Randolph (1,046 sq. mi)
• Highest/lowest Points? Spruce Knob (4,461 ft) and Harper's Ferry ( 247 ft)
• Geographical and Population Center? Braxton County
• What US non-military college has graduated the most generals? WV State University (14 generals)
• What Indian tribes were most common in West Virginia? Cherokee and Shawnee
• Where was the first capital? Wheeling
• What West Virginia company produced the Land Rover’s material? Specialty Metals, Huntington
• When did the first white settlers come to what is now WV? 1600s (~150 yrs. before the Revolutionary War)
• When did Charles Yeager break the sound barrier? You find the answer.
• How many counties make up West Virginia? 55. All are represented on this site.
• What are the major industries in West Virginia today? You find the answer.
• What made the first Charleston capitol burn fast? Munitions in the attic exploded
• What is the oldest African American college in the US? Storey College at Harpers Ferry
• In what order did West Virginia become a US state? 35th, 75 years after Virginia entered as the 10th
• If West Virginia were flattened, would it be bigger than Texas? US Geological Survey doesn’t know. You figure.
• What is the largest inland port in the US, measured by tons? Huntington; coal is increasingly transported by water
• What percent of West Virginians have Native American Heritage? We can’t find the answer. Some say 30%.
• What was “the highway west” for two centuries of American exploration and development? The Ohio River, almost 1000 miles long, owned by West Virginia along its border.
• What US cities are about the population of all of West Virginia? You find the answer and think about why this is important to us.
• Will you or your family be able to meet Henry Hickham, author of Rocket Boys? We’re working on it, for our first Thanks! Plain and Simple Day.
• Submit question & answers E-mail.

• What West Virginian took famous photos of the Japanese Surrender on the USS Missouri, Sept. 2, 1945? Richard Bohnke, in Huntington; he owns a trophy company.
• Youngest / oldest West Virginia Counties? Mingo (1895) and Hampshire (1754).
• Smallest/largest WV Counties? Hancock (89 sq. mi) and Randolph (1,046 sq. mi)
• Highest/lowest Points? Spruce Knob (4,461 ft) and Harper's Ferry ( 247 ft)
• Geographical and Population Center? Braxton County
• What US non-military college has graduated the most generals? WV State University (14 generals)
• What Indian tribes were most common in West Virginia? Cherokee and Shawnee
• Where was the first capital? Wheeling
• What West Virginia company produced the Land Rover’s material? Specialty Metals, Huntington
• When did the first white settlers come to what is now WV? 1600s (~150 yrs. before the Revolutionary War)
• When did Charles Yeager break the sound barrier? You find the answer.
• How many counties make up West Virginia? 55. All are represented on this site.
• What are the major industries in West Virginia today? You find the answer.
• What made the first Charleston capitol burn fast? Munitions in the attic exploded
• What is the oldest African American college in the US? Storey College at Harpers Ferry

Periodically, we will have contests, such as on Thanks! Plain and Simple Day, which we expect to be an annual event. This “cheat sheet” has questions and answers that might be used. Please submit others, and come to be a winner, when you can.