Chatham County (Ga.) – Page 2

In partnership with the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, the Digital Library of Georgia has made the Mighty Eighth Air Force Collection available online.

The Eighth Air Force, an American bombing campaign against Nazi Germany, was World War II’s most extended military campaign. It was the only battle fought inside the German homeland until Allied soldiers crossed into Germany in the final months of the war.

Activated in 1942 in Savannah, Georgia, the Eighth Air Force moved to England to support the Allied air war against Nazi Germany.

Of the 350,000 members of the Eighth Air Force serving during World War II, 26,000 were killed in action, and another 28,000 became prisoners of war due to the extreme danger of air combat.

As a result, the Eighth Air Force lost more men in the war than the U.S. Marine Corps.

Instrumental in the victory over Germany, the Eighth grew to be the “greatest air armada of all time.”

In 1944 Eighth Bomber Command used its bombers as bait to attract the Luftwaffe into the air and ordered its fighter pilots to go on the offensive, effectively destroying the solid German presence in the skies. This change in tactics and the continued destruction of strategic military targets allowed for the successful Allied landing on D-Day. In addition, the Eighth provided air support for the invasion, resulting in Allied victory.

The Eighth Air Force is active today and based at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana.

Dr. Vivian Rogers-Price, historian and research center director for the museum, notes:

“Without online access, these photographs and oral history interviews are only available for research through a personal visit to the Roger Freeman Research Center at the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force. These online resources will aid upper elementary, middle, and high school teachers and their students with courses in Georgia history and World War II. In addition, independent researchers, university professors, and students interested in the Eighth Air Force will find this information valuable.”

About the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force

The National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force serves as the only center dedicated to preserving and presenting the history and stories of the Eighth Air Force from World War II to the present. Opened on 14 May 1996, the Mighty Eighth Museum fulfills its unique mission through exhibitions, education programs for adults and children, student tours, preservation of artifacts, and research and publications. The museum’s Roger A. Freeman Research Center is dedicated to promoting research on Eighth Air Force history and expanding its priceless collection of original manuscripts, photographs, oral history interviews and personal accounts, artifacts, and works of art as well as over ten thousand books significant to the history of the Eighth Air Force. Visit www.mightyeighth.org.

Selected Images from the Collection:

A photograph of a group of servicemen standing in front of the building headquarters for the United States Eighth Air Force Base Command in Savannah, Georgia. A sign on the building reads "Headquarters Eighth Air Force Base Command." The back of the photograph reads: "Early 1942 Savannah Ga." — A photograph of a group of servicemen standing in front of the building headquarters for the United States Eighth Air Force Base Command in Savannah, Georgia. A sign on the building reads “Headquarters Eighth Air Force Base Command.” The back of the photograph reads: “Early 1942 Savannah Ga.” In England, on 27 May 1942 Eighth Air Force Base Command was redesignated VIII Air Force Service Command. *Image courtesy of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force*

A photograph of six officers, taken at the United States Eighth Air Force unit headquarters at High Wycombe, England. Three hundred fifty thousand American servicemen served as part of the unit alongside the British Royal Air Force. From left to right in the photograph: Colonel Leon Johnson, Brigadier General Asa N. Duncan, Colonel Paul L. Williams, Colonel Charles R. Booth, Colonel Charles A. Jones, and Colonel Clarence H. Welch. *Image courtesy of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force*

The Digital Library of Georgia, in partnership with Live Oak Public Libraries, has made the Savannah Tribune (1943 to 1960) available for viewing at the Georgia Historic Newspapers website. The site provides access to these newspapers with full-text searching, browsing by date and title, and is compatible with all current browsers. The newspaper page images can be viewed without the use of plug-ins or additional software downloads. The archive is free and open for public use.

Funding for the digitization of this title was provided by the Georgia Historical Records Advisory Council with funds awarded to the University of Georgia Libraries and the Georgia Archives by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).

Founded as the Colored Tribune in 1875 and renamed the Savannah Tribune in 1876, the newspaper has served as one of the longest-running African American publications in the South, with a mission “to promote the cause of education, cooperating with all teachers and workers in that cause, and the moral and material advancement of the colored people.” Reporting from Reconstruction through Jim Crow, the paper featured famed Harlem Renaissance writer James Weldon Johnson as a correspondent from the 1920s to the late 1930s and played an instrumental role in the boycott movement that began in the early 20th century and fueled the Civil Rights Movement throughout the 1960s. To this day, the Savannah Tribune stands as one of the most prominent African American newspapers in the country as it continues to serve Chatham County’s African American community.

Belle Reynoso, the director of information technology, and Linda Bridges, the genealogy/reference librarian at Live Oak Public Libraries say: “We chose the Savannah Tribune because it’s one of Savannah’s most important African American historical resources. The first edition of the paper, which was called the Colored Tribune, was first published in 1875. It was not published from 1878 to 1886 or from 1960 to 1973. The issues chosen for digitization, October 1943 to September 1960, include much of the developing Civil Rights Movement in Georgia and beyond.

View the entire digitized run of the Savannah Tribune

###

About the Georgia Historical Records Advisory Council (GHRAC)

The Georgia Historical Records Advisory Council (GHRAC) promotes the educational use of Georgia’s documentary heritage by all its citizens, evaluates and improves the condition of records, encourages statewide planning for preservation and access to Georgia’s historical records, and advises the Board of Regents and the Georgia Archives on issues concerning records.

Learn more at georgiaarchives.org/ghrac.

About the Live Oak Public Libraries

Established in 1903, the Live Oak Public Libraries are a consortium of sixteen public libraries in the Savannah and the Hinesville-Fort Stewart metropolitan areas of Georgia. These libraries provide excellent, responsive services for residents of Chatham, Effingham, and Liberty counties, and develop programming that enriches people’s lives, supports lifelong learning, and builds and enhances their communities.

Learn more at liveoakpl.org/about/mission

About the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC)

The National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC), a statutory body affiliated with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), supports a wide range of activities to preserve, publish, and encourage the use of documentary sources, created in every medium ranging from quill pen to computer, relating to the history of the United States.

Learn more at archives.gov/nhprc/about

Selected images from the collection: