UNCW Recognizes Jones as Distinguished Citizen of the Year
Four individuals will receive the highest honor the University of North Carolina Wilmington bestows upon its graduates and supporters during Homecoming 2021. The UNCW Alumni Association’s Distinguished Alumni Awards recognize extraordinary achievement, outstanding character and exemplary service to the university and community.
UNCW named author and military historian Wilbur D. Jones, Jr., as the Distinguished Citizen of the Year for 2021. Jones, a retired Navy captain, Wilmington native and University of North Carolina graduate, was selected for his support of UNCW and community service.
They will be recognized during the university’s virtual Homecoming celebration Feb. 8-14. New this year is the Distinguished Diversity Award, which honors an individual who has made exceptional contributions in the areas of diversity, equity, access, inclusion and social justice.
Wilmington Designated as World War II Heritage City September 2, 2020
- What’s next after Wilmington’s World War II Heritage City recognition?
- Wilmington’s Role in the Second World War Receives National Recognition
- President Trump honors Veterans in Speech
- Manuscript of Trump Speech in Wilmington
- Wilmington set to become America’s first World War II Heritage City
- Why is Wilmington being named a WWII Heritage City?
- Exciting WWII History Thrives in Wilmington, NC, The Nation’s First WWII Heritage City
Jones pieces included in Gannett/StarNews VICTORY 75 salute to WWII's end
Virtual Tour of the Hannah Block Historic USO
Dram Tree Books and Wilbur Jones announce Memoir
PowerPoint Presentations Produced by
Wilbur D. Jones, Jr.
- The Afrika Korps at Home in Wilmington, 1944-46
- The U.S. Navy at the Normandy D-Day Invasion – June 6, 1944
- The USS North Carolina at the Battle for Iwo Jima
- “What Are We Fighting For?”: A Perspective on Wilmington Blacks on the World War II Home Front, and Saluting the Tuskegee Airmen
- Allied Naval Forces at Operation Dragoon, August 1944
- Free a Man to Fight!: This is Our War Too: American Women in the World War II Armed Forces
- America in the Pacific War, 1941-45: An Overview
- Rescue at Sea in the Middle of the North Atlantic by the RMS Queen Mary 2
- Rosie the Riveter: American Women in World War II
- Henry Churchill Bragaw, Soldier: An Exceptional American Life
- Inside President Ford’s White House
- Wilmington’s Connection to the Attack on Pearl Harbor: Hawaii and the Wilmington Home Front – Dec. 7, 1941
- North Carolina Shipbuilding Company, a.k.a. The Wilmington Shipyard: From the SS Zebulon B. Vance, Dec. 6, 1941 – to the “Ghost Fleet”
- Determination, Coordination, and Leadership: Wilmington’s 12-Year Project to Become the First “American World War II Heritage City”
News
Troops thought the snow was colder than usual. The turkey dinner served at noon tasted good, but otherwise there was…
The World War II service of two lifelong Wilmington friends led them on similar paths from the Normandy beaches to…
This year marks the 75th anniversary since World War II ended. Editor’s note: This article originally appeared in the StarNews…
WILMINGTON, NC–Due to COVID-19 the traditional July 4th Open House at the Hannah Block Historic USO/Community Arts Center has been…
The Battle of Iwo Jima Sept. 28 – 10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. Battleship North Carolina
Books
SOCIALITE. NAVY WIFE. MOTHER OF TWO. Trailblazing freelance photographer. Patricia O’Meara Robbins In 1933 at the age of 22, Pat…
Not coincidentally, football employs military terms associated with war, such as “aerial attack,†“blitz,†“field general,†and “trench warfare.†Beyond providing essential jargon, by necessity and choice the military linked with colleges during World War II to preserve the game and keep schools from closing, and utilized football’s rugged physical, mental, and competitive conditioning to prepare men for combat, boost morale, and help win the war.
The Journey Continues: The World War II Home Front is the natural sequel to the authorâ€s first volume on this subject, the highly acclaimed, nationally distributed book, A Sentimental Journey: Memoirs of a Wartime Boomtown, winner of the North Carolina Society of Historians 2003 Willie Parker Peace Book Award.
A Sentimental Journey is a social history of the life and culture on the Wilmington and Southeastern North Carolina home front. The personal story of a burgeoning community, it is the first book covering a specific geographic area this extensively.
Hermann O. Pfrengle’s remarkable, breathtaking memoir describes the unorthodox life and travails of an adolescent German boy on the war-scarred home front. As a member of the Jungvolk organization loosely associated with the Hitler Youth, he helped construct the Siegfried Line, worked in the war effort and civilian defense, and attended high school until it was bombed.
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91.3 HQR Interview on WWII Wilmington
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Jones Featured in SI
Pearl Harbor Ties to Wilmington
