“We Shall Carry On”: Colonial Williamsburg’s Participation in the War Effort, 1940-1945

World War II brought many changes to Williamsburg. Military units toured Colonial Williamsburg and attended lectures and films at the Williamsburg Theater as part of the Soldier Sailor Training Program funded by the Rockefellers. Colonial Williamsburg hotels, guest houses, and restaurants boosted morale by housing and feeding thousands of soldiers and their families, while staff contributed through many avenues, such as cultivating victory gardens, entertaining the troops, conducting war bond drives, and serving as airplane lookouts. All these efforts underscored the wartime motto adopted by Colonial Williamsburg, “We Shall Carry On.” Come learn about patriotic local history in celebration of the Fourth of July in this talk given by Colonial Williamsburg’s Rockefeller Library staff.