Highway Markers for Civil Air Patrol Coastal Patrol Base No. 16 and the Goldsboro Broken Arrow incident

I am very proud to report that my application for a North Carolina Historical Highway Marker for Coastal Patrol Base No. 16, Manteo, North Carolina has been approved and will be erected at some point in the last spring, early summer of 2012. You can read the page about the marker here.

Also, I found out that a marker will also be erected for the January 1961 Broken Arrow incident in Faro, North Carolina, where a B-52 carrying two Mk. 39 thermonuclear weapons crashed. Here's the marker page for that event. Turns out a book is available just about this incident by Joel Dobson, aptly titled The Goldsboro Broken Arrow which just came out.

The marker will be in this style.

North Carolina, Industrial Dispersal and Business - July 1954

Just found this gem today in the course of my research. It dates to July 1954, but what paper it is from I know not. Of note, Ben E. Douglas was mayor of Charlotte...and the second director of the NCCD during World War II.

Identification Tag Program - 27 October 1952

I've previously posted information about an identification tag program instituted in 1955 by the NCCD. While organizing records, I came across this letter recently from 1952 where Governor W. Kerr Scott is informed of this program and asked to be a member by NCCD director E.Z. Jones. Another gem from a bygone era (and in the case of nuclear war, let us hope this era does not return).

Children and Civil Defense - 25 June 1951

This document from the North Carolina Council of Civil Defense is an odd motivational document encouraging parents and civil defense officials to get their children involved in civil defense. While there is not necessarily anything groundbreaking here, it makes for an humorous read. For example:

"A farm boy just east of Kinston might have few occasions to drive to Raleigh. To him, you cannot add TOBACCO FIELDS and BOMBS and come up with EMERGENCY. But trying to put the subject on paper for the edification of his teacher and classmates, he might recall that it took him just an hour and a half to drive his prize hog to the State Fair last fall. Then he begins thinking about the hundreds of refugees that might clog that highway in a matter of minutes after an air raid."

Ahh, a simpler time...

70th Anniversary of the Civil Air Patrol

Today, 70 years ago, the Civil Air Patrol was established by Office of Civilian Defense director Fiorello LaGuardia. Today, arguably, this is the only surviving remnant of the World War II-era Office of Civilian Defense. While I have a journal article coming about about the founding of the North Carolina Wing and its activities in World War II, I recently put together a brief history of the Ohio Wing and its activities in World War II. Enjoy!