Tag Archives: World War II in Georgia

Montford Point Marine C. C. Hall: A Lifetime of Service & Leadership

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Mr. C. C. Hall at Fitzgerald’s 2024 Veterans Day Remembrance. Photo Courtesy and © William E. Brown

Charles Cargile “C. C.” Hall was born in Madison, Georgia in 1925. He was drafted in 1943 and enlisted with the Marines at Camp Montford Point in Jacksonville, North Carolina, among the first African-Americans to serve in the Corps. His World War II service included stints at Guam and Hawaii and he was honorably discharged in 1946. After the war, he received a degree from Savannah State and went on to receive a Masters Degree from Columbia University in New York.

He came to Fitzgerald to teach at Monitor High School after completing his education, and he never left. Working a side job at Riggs Funeral Home to supplement his teaching salary, he eventually became a partner. When Mr. Riggs died in 1959, Hall became the sole owner and renamed it Hall’s Funeral Home. The business remains successful today, though at 99 years old Mr. Hall isn’t involved in day to day operations. Throughout the years, he has also been actively involved in civil rights issues.

In 2012 Mr. Hall and other surviving Montford Point Marines received the Congressional Gold Medal from President Obama. He has been a respected businessman in Fitzgerald for over 65 years and has received numerous honors for his service. Part of Monitor Drive was even renamed C. C. Hall Honorary Drive in tribute.

Thanks to my father for getting this photograph.

Waycross YMCA + City Hall, 1908

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Waycross has one of the oldest active YMCAs in Georgia, founded and chartered in 1896. They met in a hotel until constructing this delightful building in 1908. A second YMCA building was completed in collaboration with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1911 at another location for the purpose of housing railroad men. My father recalls staying in that building during his railroad years and notes that it was quite run down by that time. By 1971, all YMCA operations were relocated to a new facility on Plant Avenue. This building, on Pendleton Street, was sold to the city in 1916 and has served as the Waycross City Hall ever since.

A plaque near the front doors notes: The Georgia National Guard for the City of Waycross was housed in the basement of this building prior to World War II. On Sept 16, 1940 the members of Co. F 121st Inf. Regiment passed through these portals for their first day of active duty in World War II thereby becoming the first unit from Waycross to ever serve our nation. Men from this company served with honor and distinction in every major engagement in Europe against Germany. In honor and memory of their devotion to freedom this marker is respectfully dedicated.

Downtown Waycross Historic District, National Register of Historic Places

Williams-McMillan House, Ben Hill County

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This nearly forgotten Folk Victorian house was recently exposed when land was cleared across from the old Ashton School. I expect it will soon be razed, as the back section has already begun to collapse. It likely dates to circa 1900-1910.

Farise Taylor writes: I played on the porch of this old house when Mr. J. T. McMillan and wife Ruby lived there with their children, John Earl, Ronald, and their sister. Before the McMillans lived there Mr. Artis O. Williams (1893-1973) and his wife Nellie Lowman Williams (1892-1967), along with their five sons lived there. The boys were D., Artis, George, Frank, and Boyette, all of whom served in combat in World War II. In 1951, Mrs. Williams, an English teacher at Ashton School, wrote a book of poetry, Songs in the Night.

Nellie Lowman Williams, signed page from book, Collection of Brian Brown.

In her book was a poem entitled “One Five Star Mother to Another”. This poem was a tribute to another mother, Mrs. Sullivan, who lost all five of her sons in World War II. The text follows, below.

I saw your picture in the news one day,
So full of courage, Mrs. Sullivan;
Upon your desk there stood five portraits gay;
From each frame smiled a stalwart sailor-son.
Two sisters underneath the skin we are,
Five stalwart service-sons, also, had I;
They, too, went boldly forth to global war,
And crossed the deep to conquer or to die.

Alike, we say, and yet–so different!
The ship, your sons, your very heart, went down.
My sons came back, as hale as when they went;
They changed my cross into a glorious crown!
Still, I keep thinking, Oh, and could it be,
Your precious five sent five back to me!

I have a signed copy of this book somewhere, and as soon as I can locate, will scan a photo of Mrs. Williams. I don’t know if Mrs. Williams ever shared the poem with Mrs. Sullivan, but I imagine she did. It’s hard to conceive the loss suffered by many families in the wake of the war.

Note: As of early 2025, the house has been razed.


Dudley’s Retreat, 1940s, Dublin

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This structure was built to house the growing food business of the Dudley family when Dudley Funeral Home became the sole occupant of the nearby C. D. Dudley & Sons General Merchandise building. Herbert (Hub) and Mayme Ford Dudley were already leaders of the black community of Dublin and their Retreat Cafe became a community center. Well-known entertainers, including Little Richard, James Brown, and Sister Rosetta Tharpe all visited here while traveling through Dublin. I met a nice lady while I was photographing the property who remembered Mrs. Mayme Dudley quite well.

Original neon “EAT” sign, dating to World War II

During World War II, Mr. Dudley operated a USO in this building for Black servicemen. The structure remains sound today but was listed as a 2023 Place in Peril by the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation because it has been in disuse for many years.

Hunter Field Base Chapel, 1941 – Whitefield United Methodist Church, 1948, Savannah

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I’ve been passing by this church on the corner of Waters Avenue and 55th Street for years, on my way to watch rugby tournaments at nearby Daffin Park, and always presumed it to be a much older building that had been modernized at some point. Its actual history is much more interesting.

It was built as the base chapel at Hunter Field between 1940-1941, for the sum of $28,000, and was apparently a standard design found on many newly commissioned bases during World War II. I can just imagine the young men at the base finding solace in its sanctuary, as they prepared to ship off to the European Theater of Operations. Many of these chapels were surplussed after the war, as was the case with the Hunter chapel, but thanks to its solid construction, it was purchased in 1946 for the sum of $1 by the Savannah United Methodist Church Board of Missions. The church was sawed in half and moved on trailers to its present location and a yet-unnamed congregation held its first services on 10 October 1948. It was officially chartered as the Whitefield Methodist Church on 30 January 1949.

These two photographs likely date to the earliest days of the Methodist Congregation, circa 1948 or 1949. They were included in a 2017 article by the U. S. Army.

Photo Credit: U. S. Army
Photo Credit: U. S. Army

Soon after the Army article was published, the church, whose membership had greatly dwindled in recent years, decided to close its doors. I believe it is now a mission site of the Isle of Hope United Methodist Church.

63rd AAF Flying Training Detachment Airbase, 1941, Douglas

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Administration Building

Through the efforts of Wesley Newman Raymond and Robert Richardson, the Raymond-Richardson Aviation School was established at this site in 1939, to teach basic flight skills to college students.

WWII Flight Training Museum [Barracks 7]

With America’s entrance into World War II in 1941, the school became the 63rd Flight Training Detachment Airbase.

Barracks

During the war, several thousand men learned to fly here and went on to serve all over the world.

Barracks

Many local women provided support as clerical and food service employees, as well as civilian dispatchers and aircraft mechanics.

Classroom

The base was decommissioned in 1944 and the hangers have been incorporated into the old airfield, now known as Douglas Municipal Airport (KDHQ).

Hospital

The property, now owned by the city of Douglas, has been used for numerous purposes since the end of the war.

Gatehouse

Through the efforts of local enthusiasts, Barracks 7 is now home to the WWII Flight Training Museum, which has limited hours. The property can be accessed at any time.

Harris Neck Army Airfield Bunker, 1942

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This structure served as the munitions bunker for Harris Neck Army Airfield. Earthworks surround three sides. A review of contemporary U. S. Geological Survey maps indicates that this was likely the only one ever built on site. It’s a fascinating relic of World War II.

Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge

Augusta, Gibson & Sandersville Railroad Depot, Circa 1884, Matthews

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The Augusta, Gibson & Sandersville Railroad ran track through Matthews in the mid-1880s and built a depot around that time. There’s a similar depot in Mitchell, on the same line. Hubert Bowman notes: The train station was used during WW I I to bring German prisoners of war to work on the farms. When it ended my uncle purchased it and used it for seed storage on his farm. He was the County Farm extension agent and farm over 2000 acres at one time.He also had a huge hog production facility.

Harris Neck Army Air Field, 1942

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Today, it’s nothing more than weed-choked concrete and asphalt, but these barren strips within Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge played a part in civilian and military aeronautical history. Before its association with the military, Harris Neck was the site of an emergency landing strip featuring two sod runways and an 81′ beacon. It was built in 1930 and leased by the Department of Commerce. Serving the Richmond-Jacksonville air route, it was officially known as Harris Neck Intermediate Field Site #8. On 7 December 1941, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, guardsmen from Hunter Field in Savannah took over operations of the property. The site was already being used for aerial gunnery training. In 1943, Harris Neck became an auxiliary-base of Dale Mabry Field in Tallahassee and was assigned to the III Fighter Command.

Pilots at Harris Neck were trained on two types of fighter craft: the P-39 “Airacobra” and the P-40. The P-40 was known as the “Kitty Hawk” and was associated with Chenault’s “Flying Tigers” in China. In 1944, a hangar, warehouses, repair shops, barracks for 125 men, and a non-commisioned officers club were constructed from pre-fabricated material on site.

In September 1944, there were 575 enlisted personnel at Harris Neck, along with 129 officers, but by November, the number was greatly reduced, leading to its deactivation on 31 December 1944. The property was given to McIntosh County after the war for potential use as an airport, but this was never realized and mismanagement by the county led to its reversion to the federal government. It was acquired by the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife (now the U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service)  in 1962 for use as a refuge. It’s now known as Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge and the federal government has had a contentious presence ever since*.

*When the government expropriated the site in World War II, landowners were given two weeks to leave their properties. African-Americans owned 1102 acres of the original property while whites owned 1532. Families of both races felt their land was stolen, though token compensation was given. Many descendants believe the forced removal was mishandled and have mounted legal challenges for years.

Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge

King and Prince Hotel, 1941, St. Simons Island

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This landmark hotel traces its origins to Morgan T. Wynne and Franklin J. Horne, who first opened it as a seaside dance club in 1935. On 2 July 1941, the King and Prince Hotel, designed by Laurence Miller and Felton Davis in the Spanish Colonial Revival style, opened to rave reviews. It immediately became the hotel of record on St. Simons.

It was occupied by the Navy as a coast-watching and training facility during World War II, reopening in 1947.

Renovations in the 1970s and 1980s modernized rooms and infrastructure, but retained the historical integrity of the property. An expansion doubled the number of rooms in 2003, again, with a focus on maintaining its iconic appearance. Now known as the King and Prince Beach & Golf Resort, it remains as nostalgic and popular as ever. And with the loss of the DeSoto Beach Hotel on Tybee Island in 1999, the King and Prince is the last of Georgia’s grand old oceanfront hotels.

National Register of Historic Places