The Antiaircraft Artillery School at Camp Davis (Holly Ridge, NC)
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Headquarters Battery clerk in the battalion personnel office at Camp Davis. Reproduced courtesy Pender County Public Library Digital Archive.
225th administration at work at Camp Davis. Reproduced courtesy Pender County Public Library Digital Archive.
A Hot, Rainy Summer in the Field
After two weeks of coursework and training at Camp Davis, the 225th established a 289-square-mile tactical fighter-searchlight grid on 15 July 1943 in the woods, swamps, and farmland around the town of Burgaw, 35 miles from camp.
225th battery mess tent set up somewhere in the woods outside of Burgaw. Reproduced courtesy Pender County Public Library Digital Archive.
R & R in Town
A group of Skylighters gathered outside the Burgaw Community Building. The Webmaster’s father, Lawrence P. Belmont, is sitting on the porch directly in front of the man in the doorway. Local resident Miss Mattie Bloodworth provided USO-type entertainment for the troops deployed in the area. The Community Building was located on Wilmington Street next to the Pender County Jail. Reproduced courtesyPender County Public Library Digital Archive.
A 225th deuce and a half parked in downtown Burgaw; the building in the right background is the Pender County jail. Reproduced courtesyPender County Public Library Digital Archive.
Roy Rowe’s Burgaw Theater (showing “Watch on the Rhine”) and a building housing the bowling alley, the Pender Chronicle newspaper offices, and the Friendly Cafe on West Fremont Street near the intersection with Wright Street. The 225th’s Headquarters Battery set up their command post in a second floor above the cafe. The movie pegs the year as 1943. Reproduced courtesyPender County Public Library Digital Archive.
Burgaw Then & Now
The Pender County Jail in the 1940s.
Two contemporary views of the jail, which today houses the Pender County Tourism Department.
