Hello everyone, I'm a little late in making this weeks WW2 effects because I was on vacation in Montana this past week . I'm back, and am here to give you South Carolina's story during WW2. I was pretty surprised while researching South Carolina in it's history and contribution's during WW2, to see how different it is from it's sister state, North Carolina. Anyway, I hope you all learn something new, and enjoy! South Carolina Pre-WW2 South Carolina is a historic and unique state, quite different from many of it's other southern states. South Carolina was one of the original 13 colonies, and was the 8th state to be admitted to the union in 1788. South Carolina was among the Southern states in that it relied heavily on agriculture and the slave trade to keep it's economy alive. However, South Carolina had a distinct advantage only a handful of Southern state's had, access to an ocean, or in this case, the Atlantic. This advantage allowed South Carolina to trade and import a variety of products across not just the U.S, but the world. South Carolina's main exports consisted of (and some still do) tobacco, cotton, Indigo, poultry, lumber, and textile goods. South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union on April 3, 1861, and was also the location of the first battle of the Civil War, Fort Sumter. The Civil War brought economic, and literal destruction to the state, and the scars of the war, and racist feelings towards the newly emancipated blacks continued on into the 20th century. While South Carolina's economy suffered significantly after the Civil War, it also allowed for new ideas and new methods of economic growth to come into the state. South Carolina did little to industrialize like it's Neighbour North Carolina, and instead went in the direction of ship building. As far as ideas regarding equality and justice for the blacks in the state, they went nowhere, and Jim Crow laws remained well into the 60's. With the beginning of the Great Depression in 1929, South Carolina was in no position to fight the appalling economic conditions ahead. Because of South Carolina's lack of economic diversity, the populace suffered greatly, especially the lower class farmers, and black communities. Agriculture had been struggling since the 20's, and the shipbuilding business was slow as well. In 1940 however, the Federal Government funded the creation and expansion of military installations across the state, which temporarily brought in more jobs, but in 1940, South Carolina's unemployment rate was at 22% regardless. Some of these funded projects included the creation of Camp Croft, the expansion of Fort Jackson, and the biggest of these projects, the modernizing of the Charleston Naval Yard. 12 Army Airfield's were built as well, including Joint base Charleston, and Shaw army airfield. South Carolina WW2 When WW2 came to South Carolina, the state had little Industrial power to work with, and then there was the issue of segregation. Both of these problems would have to be solved, at least temporarily, to help the war effort as much as possible. Almost all of south Carolina's industry was based in either Charleston, or Columbia, this helped the issue of logistics because it meant that all supplies needed to help factories and equip them only had to be sent to two locations. The state's agriculture rebounded in a huge way, and allowed for many farms and farmers to get back on their feet. The tobacco and Cotton industries exploded with the demand for chewing tobacco, and cigarettes for the troops, and clothing for them as well. Even though South Carolina's industrial might was limited, it did not fail to contribute much to the war effort. The Charleston Naval Yard employed 20,000 people at it's peak, helped build 300 medium to small sized ships, and repair another 150 during the war. South Carolina played a crucial role in training over 900,000 soldiers of every branch during the war. Pilots were trained across the 12 Army airfields in the state, Naval recruits were trained in Charleston, Army lads were trained at Fort Jackson and Camp Croft, while the Marines trained at Parris Island. Parris Island maintains the reputation of being one of the toughest and hardest training camps in the U.S military, it successfully has trained some of the Marine Corps best since 1915. At Fort Jackson, and many other locations across the state, POW's were used to help maintain and look after crops, these POW's had a considerable amount of freedom, to the dismay of black American citizens. South Carolina was in many ways on the frontlines of the U-boat war in the Atlantic, and about two dozens ships were sunk off the coast of south Carolina during the war, only 1 of which was ever witnessed by the public. During the war, South Carolina had the highest percentage of civilian Volunteers (250,000 people, 15% of the populace) to do tasks such as aircraft spotting, nurse's aids, and salvage workers. To help the war effort, South Carolina needed as many workers as it could get, this meant employing blacks and other minorities in high numbers. It is estimated that about 43% of all factory workers and laborers in South Carolina during WW2, were not white, one of the highest percentages out of all of the Southern states. Despite the high number of minority workers in the state, they were often kept from achieving a higher status than their white counter parts, and were treated terribly at times as well. It is estimated that around 260,000 South Carolinian's were called up or volunteered to serve during the war, 40% of these were mentally or physically unfit to enlist, the vast majority of them were black. 180,000 served instead, still an impressive 9% of the state's population at that time (1.9 million), but it could have been as high as 17%, the highest percentage in the U.S. 3,423 of the states armed servicemen were killed during the war across all theaters. South Carolina Post WW2 When WW2 ended in 1945, many people across South Carolina were afraid that the horrid economic conditions before the war, would return. While there was a slight dip in the economy, South Carolina had defeated the depression, and was propelled into a new and prosperous economic life. Industry grew throughout the state, and while agriculture was beginning to take on less of a role, it remained a vital part of the economy, and it still is today. Despite the state's economic growth and prosperity after the war, segregation and racism remained. The struggle for fair treatment and equality would continue for another two decades until the Jim Crow laws were abolished. South Carolina is one of the most successful and fastest growing state in the south, going from a 1945 population 1,950,000, to 5,100,000 today. The war is responsible for bringing new people into the state, and it's are still growing today. The future remains bright in South Carolina... World War II - South Carolina Encyclopedia South Carolina - Wikipedia "View of Charleston" by Thomas Leitch 1774 The Bombardment of Fort Sumter, April 12, 1861, the start of the Civil War Charleston 1941 Downtown Columbia 1942 Aerial view of Shaw Army Air field 1943 The actual Charleston Naval Yard.... Basic training at Parris island, 1941 Tobacco Plantation 1939 POW's being escorted through Fort Jackson to go work in fields across the state, 1943 African-American women on break at the Charleston Naval Yard Charleston today Columbia today Beautiful ain't it?
Errrrrmm... That is Charlestown Navy Yard, AKA Boston Navy Yard, Massachusetts in 1925. You can even see the USS Constitution - lower right of center. Now, this is the Charleston Navy Yard, South Carolina, in 1941. Not much to look at then.
Thank you for pointing that out to me Takao, when I searched for pictures of the yard, there were very few, and many of them said Boston, or Virginia, or whatever, that photo online said Charleston.........sorry about that everyone.
