Delaware military expert to speak on early days of WWII
In conjunction with Fort Miles Museum’s Oil Still Bleeds: A Relic and Remembrances of the Battleship USS Arizona, Delaware’s Forgotten Heroes of Pearl Harbor, the public is invited to attend a talk by Brig. Gen. Kennard Wiggins at 1 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 10, in the Margaret H. Rollins Community Center at the Lewes History Museum, 101 Adams Ave., Lewes.
Wiggins will present The Opening Act: Delawareans at Pearl Harbor and the Very Early Days of World War II. Seating is limited. Tickets, free to the public, may be reserved by calling 302-644-0107.
Dec. 7, 1941, saw America’s abrupt entry into World War II. What many do not know is that Delaware and the nation had already been preparing for war for over a year. Wiggins will explore the following topics in his presentation: Delawareans at Pearl Harbor, George Welch, Other Delawareans at Pearl Harbor, and Delaware Casualties at Pearl USS Shaw; Delaware Responds, U-Boat threat offshore, loss of the USS Jacob Jones, Dover Air Force Base opens, Delaware National Guard at Fort Miles, and Delaware Guard to the South Pacific; and Home Front, Delaware State Guard, Selective Service, War Financing, State Council of Defense, and Civil Defense/Civil Air Patrol.
Exhibit curator Heidi Nasstrom Evans said, “We are excited to have a speaker of BG Wiggins’ caliber coming to Lewes to give his talk, which adds depth and breadth to the subject of our ongoing exhibit. Since opening last September, the exhibit has attracted thousands of visitors, and museum visitation is up an impressive 30%. It is rewarding to see our original research and hard work on the exhibit received so well.”
Wiggins is curator for the Delaware Military Museum and the author of six books of local military history. His most recent book is “America’s Anchor: A Naval History of the Delaware River and Bay.”
Following Wiggins’ presentation, guests are invited from 2 to 4 p.m. for an optional visit to the Oil Still Bleeds exhibit at the Fort Miles Museum in Cape Henlopen State Park. A 650-pound steel fragment from the aft deckhouse superstructure of the battleship USS Arizona (BB-39) is the exhibit’s centerpiece. Focusing on Delaware’s response to the Dec. 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that launched the United States into World War II, the exhibit traces the history of the relic into the present, highlighting stories of Delawareans who were there that fateful day and the impact of the attack back home.
Now a museum, Fort Miles was a strategic coastal defense built to deter German attacks on key infrastructure and port cities during the war. Beyond WWII, the exhibit looks at the USS Arizona as a heritage site, where oil still bleeds to the water’s surface from the sunken ship. It traces the Fort Miles Historical Association’s acquisition of the relic from the Navy’s congressionally authorized Relics Program, and concludes with the relic’s final installation as a booked to the museum’s USS Missouri 16-inch gun barrel, under which the Japanese delegation signed the documents of surrender, marking the end of World War II.
The Fort Miles Museum, located in Cape Henlopen State Park in Lewes, is free and open to the public. Park entry fees are in effect. For more, go to destateparks.com/FortMiles.
