As part of “First Friday,” on December 7, the Lynchburg Museum, located at 901 Court Street, will be open free of charge from 5:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. In commemoration of the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the Museum will explore Lynchburg and its people during WWII.
Life here underwent a profound change from 1941-1945 with food, gas, and tires rationed, men in service, women working in war industries, and watchers scanning the sky over Central Virginia for enemy bombers. Ration cards, blackout bulbs, posters, scrapbooks of local soldiers, and historic images will be on display. Several veterans of World War II plan to attend and share their memories.
Bob Ware, a Museum staff member, will share his own poignant connection to World War II. His father was Dr. Robert B. Ware of Amherst who joined the National Guard in 1940. By 1942, he was a captain and assigned as a battalion surgeon with the 116th Infantry, 1st Battalion, companies A-D. This unit had many men from Central Virginia in the ranks including the “Bedford Boys” and landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Captain Ware had the option of going in with the men on D-Day or landing the following day. Choosing to go in with the troops under his care, he was killed as his landing craft hit the beach. Bob Ware was two years old and living with his mother on Adele Street in Lynchburg at the time. (Photograph of Captain Ware attached, courtesy of the Lynchburg Museum System).
On January 12, 2013, the second phase of the exhibit American Turning Point: Waging War opens at the Lynchburg Museum. Waging War deals with military leaders, inventions and innovations, and the many battles and campaigns that took place across Virginia. Rare artifacts and state of the art audio-visual interactive programs will be on display through May 5, 2013.
The Museum is on the free trolley route that loops between participating attractions. For more information, call 455-6226, or visit www.lynchburgmuseum.org, www.pointofhonor.org, or the Museum’s Facebook page.
