World War II – Page 3 – The UncommonWealth

Archives

We Remember: Bedford County and the 70th Anniversary of D-Day

On 6 June 1944, soldiers of the Allied Expeditionary Force stormed the beaches of Normandy as part of Operation Overlord, the largest seaborne invasion in history. …

Roger ChristmanJune 6, 2014

Archives

“There’s only one thing I don’t like about Combat–It Ain’t Safe!”

When John Hager Randolph Jr. wrote to his parents in Richmond near the end of his Virginia Military Institute career in the spring of 1942,…

Jessica Tyree BurgessApril 2, 2014

Archives

Keep Your Eyes Aloft

Seventy years ago in Greene County, Virginia, civilian volunteers began to look toward the skies and record their observations in a log book, a simple…

Callie FreedNovember 6, 2013

Manuscripts & Special Collections

Feed your family on the cheap!

Having trouble stretching that dime in tough economic times? Need some inspiration figuring out how to feed hungry mouths on a budget? For advice you…

Jessica Tyree BurgessJuly 10, 2013

Manuscripts & Special Collections

Yearbook marks one chapter in a pioneering life

With 2011 marking the 70th anniversary of the United States’ entry into World War II, the Library of Virginia undertook a concerted effort to collect the…

Trenton HizerJanuary 23, 2013

Manuscripts & Special Collections

"…we all have tiers in our eyes and our hearts are in the pit of our stomacks"

It is rare for anyone to be directly involved in an event that can be labeled, without exaggeration, a turning point in world history. The…

Jessica Tyree BurgessJune 6, 2012

Newspapers

New Newspapers at LVA

How much was a bottle of bourbon in 1941? How about a "beautifully rebuilt" Electrolux vacuum? The prices of these and other items can be…

Kelley EwingMay 1, 2012

Archives

Reason to Believe: Quantico and the Evacuation of Stafford County

On 5 October 1942, the United States District Court in Norfolk, at the request of the Navy, condemned 50,000 acres of land in Fauquier, Prince…

Roger ChristmanApril 25, 2012

Archives

New friends in wartime, an ocean apart

In late 1943, Leona Robbins was 12 years old and living in Norfolk, Virginia. Her neighbor and close family friend, Army Lieutenant Charles Field, was…

Jessica Tyree BurgessSeptember 14, 2011

Archives

War, Remembrance, and the Power of Records

For this week’s Veterans’ Day-themed post, I am going to depart from our usual practice of focusing on images, documents, and stories that Library of…

Roger ChristmanNovember 10, 2010