‘WW II Heritage City’ program needs to be modified

Wilmington, N.C., was selected in 2020 as America’s first “World War II Heritage City,” and that’s all well and good.

 

The Wilmington-based North Carolina Shipbuilding Company was the state’s largest employer during World War II, employing up to 23,000 people and constructing 243 cargo vessels to provide goods and equipment to the military.

Battleship North Carolina (shown above) saw duty in World War II. The vessel is now a primary tourism attraction in Wilmington.

 

There’s a problem, though, with the way the federal bill was written by U.S. Rep. David Rouzer of Wilmington, North Carolina U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis and others. 

The law specifies that each U.S. state can only have only one official “World War II Heritage City.” That seems totally unfair.

Perhaps U.S. Rep. Greg Murphy of Greenville (show below), whose district includes Carteret County as well as major Marine Corps installations – Camp Lejeune at Jacksonville and Air Station Cherry Point and Fleet Readiness Center East at Havelock – can help fix “this oversight.”

 

Since succeeding the late Walter B. Jones Jr. in Congress in 2019, Rep. Murphy has demonstrated an intense interest in supporting the military services, including the U.S. Coast Guard.

After high school, Greg Murphy declined an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., in order to attend Davidson College and then go on to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to earn his medical degree.

 

Rep. Murphy was the keynote speaker at the July 27, 2024, Coast Guard Appreciation Dinner in Morehead Citym, N.C. He joked that the Coast Guardsmen at Station Emerald Isle recognize his 19-foot recreational boat and have dubbed him as “Capt. Runaground.”

Given his sense of humor and talents as a communicator, Rep. Murphy may be the perfect advocate to convince his colleagues to revisit the “World War II Heritage City” rules.

The program “lives” within the U.S. Department of the Interior and is being administered by the National Park Service (NPS). So far, 30 states have been awarded “World War II Heritage City” designations.

The NPS advises: “Once a designation has been made, the state…is removed from the eligibility list.”

First and foremost, the term “Heritage City” needs to be critiqued and tweaked. In Carteret County, for example, there is no central city. We are a collection of towns. This collection forms a necklace of jewels, each a gem that adds sparkle and luster to the Crystal Coast.

A model for the World War II heritage recognition program could be the Coast Guard. Its Coast Guard Cities program now allows for counties to be honored as Coast Guard Communities as well.

Carteret County applied in 2014 to become a Coast Guard Community, blending our love for the Coasties from Fort Macon to Emerald Isle and incorporating the Life-Saving Stations that were opened at Cape Lookout and on Core Banks in the 1880s. The life-saving crews are such a vital part of the Down East culture and heritage.

The Coast Guard Commandant’s resolution to officially designate Carteret County as a “Coast Guard Community” was signed July 7, 2015, enabling us to join Wilmington and Elizabeth City as “honorees.” So, there are three Coast Guard cities/communities in North Carolina. How about that?

 

Carteret County can…and will…build a very strong case why it should also be a “World War II Heritage Community.”

Few places can match Carteret County’s impressive contributions to the war effort during World War II. We intend to give Rep. Murphy the fodder he needs to present a bill that will relax the rules.

One would think the goal of the program should be to honor as many communities as possible…not apply restrictive bureaucratic reins…while those remaining World War II veterans can fully appreciate the effort.