A look back: Pride and Patriotism: Stamford’s Role in World War II

Earlier in the week was Pearl Harbor Day, and it so happens that this writer worked on the web pages of our 2006 WWII exhibit, preparatory to migrating them to our upcoming brand-new website.

Pride and Patriotism: Stamford’s Role in World War II  tells the story of Stamford’s experience during World War II through the lives of individuals who participated abroad as well as in the war effort at home. The individual experiences give exhibit viewers a more personal, intimate experience and appreciation of how the war affected people’s lives directly.

The exhibit includes exclusive, first-person accounts from veterans who are Stamford residents. There are representatives from all branches of the services as well as women’s divisions: the WACS and the WAVES. Stamford veterans were found in all the theaters of the war. In addition, the exhibit uses loaned weapons, uniforms, photographs, and artifacts to tell veterans’ stories. Loaned or society-owned items and objects trace the central role that local companies played in war efforts and reflect daily home-front life. A poster gallery, drawn from the Society’s World War II-era collection, offered visitors a snapshot of the U.S. Government’s efforts to attract and encourage public support for the money, material resources, labor, and day-to-day sacrifices needed for a successful war effort.

Syndicated cartoonist Mort Walker, creator of “Beetle Bailey”and other popular comic strips, was honorary chair of the exhibit. We are grateful for his permission to reproduce images from his 1945/46 scrapbook for both the exhibit and this online version, in addition to the loan of other artifacts. He also drew the "Kilroy was here" cartoon for us which is shown on all pages.

The online version of the exhibit strives to present not only the veterans’ stories beyond the excerpts shown in the galleries, but also to display images of objects they lent us for the exhibit – or in some cases donated to the Society – as well as their photos. The battle pages include links to related Internet sites for the more curious. We have added several interviews and biographies, relevant to displays and other references in the exhibit, from the book “An American Town Goes To War” by Tony Pavia, 1995, with the author’s kind permission. The book may be viewed at our Marcus Research Library.

Readers may notice that there are some blanks as far as the "homefront" pages are concerned. Hopefully, we can remedy this soon.