Desmond Thomas Doss was born on February 7, 1919, in Lynchburg, Virginia. He was the second born of William and Bertha Doss. He was raised as a Seventh-day Adventist and attended Park Avenue Seventh-day Adventist Church school. He remained in school until eighth grade when he found a job at …
Continue ReadingPurple Up with the Virginia War Memorial There are more than 1.6 million children of military service members in the United States. Overall, military kids lead a very different lifestyle from those born into civilian homes. Their world revolves around the culture of the military, the constant cycle of movement, …
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An English bulldog has represented the Marines since 1922. During World War I, German reports often called the attacking Marines “teufel hunden,” or devil dogs, a name that the Marines began to embrace. Following World War I, a Marine recruiting poster featured a bulldog in a U.S. Marine helmet chasing …
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Beyond the Call of Duty This gallery is the only place in the Commonwealth where you can learn the history of the brave Virginians who have been awarded the nation’s highest and most prestigious military honor for valor. Of the more than 25 million men and women who have served …
Continue ReadingIn a project done in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University, students helped gather information about the 1,303 Virginians listed on our Shrine of Memory. By Brian McNeill Originally published on VCU news. Walter “Butch” Boyd, a 19-year-old private first class in the U.S. Marine Corps from Norfolk, Virginia, was one of 26 …
Continue ReadingAmong the Virginia War Memorial’s collections are hundreds of letters donated either to the war memorial itself or that historians on our staff have collected themselves over the years. Most of the time, these letters are discussions between service members and their loved ones about the more mundane aspects of …
Continue ReadingIf the Virginia War Memorial were only the beautiful Shrine that passersby see on their way back and forth over the James River by way of Belvidere, that would be enough to mark its place as one of the country’s most beautiful and inspirational state monuments to military service and …
Continue ReadingEvery veteran has a story. No matter when they served, where they served, or how long they served, every story has value. This is the driving belief behind the Virginia War Memorial’s Oral History Project. Our goal is simple and straightforward: collect and preserve the story of Virginia’s veterans in …
Continue ReadingIn case you missed it, NBC’s Channel 12 About Town featured the Virginia War Memorial and our Foundation program, the Mighty Pen Project in an article over the weekend: https://www.nbc12.com/2021/02/27/virginia-war-memorials-marks-milestones-shrine-memory-might-pen-project/ By Hannah Eason | February 27, 2021 at 5:08 PM EST RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) – March 1 marks two important milestones for the Virginia …
Continue ReadingOn September 2, Imperial Japan signed surrender documents aboard the USS, putting an end to World War II. President Truman declared that September 2 was officially V-J Day, or Victory over Japan Day. News of Japan’s surrender, however, reached both American troops and the American public several weeks earlier. On …
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