Unique among all the states, only Rhode Island continues to observe “Victory Day” remembering the end of hostilities during World War II. At one point it was called “V-J Day” to signify the end of the war against the Japanese forces (as opposed to “V-E” day in May 1945 commemorating the fall of Germany). The actual announcement was made on August 14, 1945 but the holiday is observed on the second Monday in August throughout the state. This year marks 80 years since the end of the war and while only a few veterans who fought remain, the legacy of the conflict is a defining characteristic of our local communities and the nation. Many of the changes wrought by the war are still visible and visitable eight decades later.
December 7th, 1941, “a day that will live in infamy,” took most of America by surprise. But not readers of the Westerly Sun. That paper was one of the very few in the country to produce a Sunday afternoon paper as opposed to a Sunday morning paper. The Sun was able to redo its front page announcing the attack minutes after the Associated Press flashed bulletins about the attack. This small-town paper was able to beat the largest papers to the street with its headline announcing the start of hostilities.
Even before America declared war on the Axis powers, the government had been preparing for the coming conflict. Franklin Roosevelt ran for president in 1940 on a platform of “your boys are not going into any foreign wars.” By 1941, however, just a few weeks before his third inauguration, FDR was pushing for American materiel to be sent overseas to the beleaguered allied forces via a program called “lend/lease.” Rhode Island was a key participant in this effort as it was designated the primary point of origin for goods shipped from the USA to Britain. The North Kingstown area hosted the port and the Naval Air Station patrolled the bay, looking for enemy submarines as well serving as a training facility for countless air crews. The troops stationed here and throughout the world were often housed in pre-manufactured buildings that could be assembled in a day. Those buildings were developed in North Kingstown where over 30,000 units were manufactured and then shipped all over the world. Their name? Quonset huts.
The Navy established another base at North Kingstown in Davisville as the Atlantic Fleet’s home for the “Construction Battalion.” This was a group of sailors who were also skilled tradesmen, electricians, engineers, plumbers, road builders, carpenters, and so on, who were able to create the infrastructure needed to fight a modern war. Rhode Island Native and graphic artist, Frank Iafrate, was charged by his commander with creating a mascot for this “CB” organization and the result has become an icon. The “Sea Bee” is a pun, a mascot, an inspiration and a Rhode Island legend all in one. Still visible from the road to anyone driving by the entrance to Quonset point, the “Sea Bee” is the original gate marker for the base (closed as a navy base in 1994) and it continues to be a draw for the many ex-members of the battalion as well as their children and grandchildren, who come to see what grandpa did in the war. Recently an elderly post-war member of the SeaBees had his daughter drive him six hours so he could bring his memorabilia to the museum to add it to their collection because he didn’t want to trust it to the mail.
Today the Bee stands at the entrance to the SeaBee museum. A group of volunteers, almost two dozen strong, maintain the site and curate the collection and honor the service of these unique warrior-builders. They honor the military service with a museum highlighting the many wartime accomplishments of the Construction Battalion and with events such as “Annual Calling All Veterans Day” (scheduled for Aug 16 https://rielderinfo.com/calling-all-veterans-day-sponsorship), to help current veterans obtain benefits, services, and job training. The Builder side of the SeaBees is remembered through “touch-a-truck” events designed to help kids learn about the machines that make our society possible.
In 2025, the Varnum Armory is a museum holding an array of weapons and military items dating from the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror. However, after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, civilians worried that nowhere was safe even with two oceans acting as buffers between the United States and its enemies, the Varnum Armory in East Greenwich was activated for Harbor Defense; volunteers, many of them children and teens, took turns standing on the building’s roof monitoring planes looking for enemy bombers. Varnum Armory President and Museum Curator Patrick Donovan says that former spotters still drop by with their logbooks from those days. Among its many items, the Armory houses WW2 weapons and hundreds of propaganda and recruiting posters as well as the pilot’s dashboard from a B-17 Flying Fortress.
Natalia Kopcyk, vice president for marketing & fund raising for the Seabee Museum, reports that North Kingstown has been recognized as an “American World War II Heritage City” by the National Parks Service. It is given in recognition of the town contributions from the 1940s as well as their efforts currently underway, “Trying to keep history and heritage alive,” according to Kopcyk. Another Seabee volunteer, Gail Frigon, explained why people keep coming back to learn about our past and commemorate the service from over 80 years ago: “It’s pride.”