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The history of New Mexico during World War II was a period of dramatic change. After America's entry into World War II in 1941, New Mexico became a center for the development of nuclear weapons and an important base for the United States Army. The state's population grew significantly both during the war and in the decades afterwards, a period known as the "Boom Years" in New Mexican history. In 1940 there were just over 530,000 people living in New Mexico and by 1960 there was over 950,000. The development of modern military technology also created a unique relationship between New Mexico, the federal government, and the scientific community, which still exists today.[1][2][3]
World War II lasted nearly four years for the United States. During that time, 1,800 New Mexican men volunteered or were drafted into military service. New Mexico had both the highest volunteer rate and the highest casualty rate out of all of the forty-eight states which were then in the Union.[1]
Soldiers from New Mexico were some of the first Americans to see combat during the war. Hundreds of soldiers from the 200th Coast Artillery, New Mexico National Guard, were in the Philippines manning the anti-aircraft guns at Clark Field and Fort Stotsenburg when it was bombed by the Japanese aircraft just ten hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The New Mexicans found their job frustrating because their shells could not hit high-flying Japanese bombers, although they did manage to shoot down a few fighters, which were flying at a low altitude. After the Japanese launched their main offensive to conquer the Philippines, the 200th Coast Artillery and New Mexico's 515th Coast Artillery covered the withdrawal of Filipino and American forces during the Battle of Bataan, which ended on April 9, 1942. The New Mexicans then took part in the Bataan Death March, in which thousands of Allied prisoners of war were killed during a forced march from the battlefield to camps at Balanga, where they remained until the end of the war. Of the 1,800 New Mexican troops serving in the Philippines, only 800 returned home.[1]
Many of the famed [4][5][6][7]
Several military installations were built in New Mexico just after the war began, including airbases, prisoner of war camps and internment camps. Among the most prominent of the new bases was Kirtland Field, in Albuquerque. Kirtland was originally an advanced flight school for Air Corps pilots, but it was converted into a major base shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor. By 1945, 1,750 B-24 crewmen had trained there, as well B-29 pilots, AT-11 pilots, glider pilots, aviation mechanics, navigators, and others. In May 1942, the army built the Albuquerque Air Depot Training Station just east of Kirtland for specializing in training in aircraft service, repair, and maintenance. It was, however, transformed into an airbase shortly thereafter and used as a convalescence station for wounded soldiers returning from battle. In 1945, the facility was renamed Sandia Army Airfield and eventually merged with Kirtland. Other major bases were located at Clovis, Alamogordo, and Roswell, along with temporary war-time airfields at Hobbs, Deming, Fort Sumner, and the White Sands Proving Ground.[1]
The prisoner of war camps and internment in New Mexico were among the largest in the United States during World War II. Most of the prisoners were Germans that had been captured during the North Africa Campaign, although there were also some Italian soldiers. Camp Roswell, located next to Walker Army Airfield, was home to 4,800 Germans and Italians. Camp Lordsburg, located near the town of Lordsburg, also had Germans and Italians, as well as some 600 Japanese internees. Another 1,900 Japanese internees were housed at Camp Santa Fe, which was located near the capital city of Santa Fe.[1][8][9]
Life at the camps was mostly peaceful and unexciting, however, there was an [11]
New Mexico became a center for the advancement of top secret military technology during the war. Two very important technological important breakthroughs occurred within the state, along with one comical, but interesting, incident involving the use of Mexican free-tailed bats as a weapon. The Bat Bomb Incident, as it is known, occurred in 1943 and was the result of a project by Dr. Lytle S. Adams to attach tiny explosive devices to bats in order to use them as a type of bomb against Japanese cities. While testing the "weapon" at the Carlsbad Army Airfield, some of the bats accidentally escaped and roosted underneath a fuel truck. The ensuing explosions "incinerated the test range" and set some buildings on fire, but apparently no one was harmed.[1][12]
The proximity fuse was a type of fuse attached to artillery shells, making them explode within the proximity of a target, rather than on impact. Testing of the proximity fused anti-aircraft shells was carried out from Kirtland Field as early as 1943. On a certain desert mesa nearby, the army suspended aircraft with "the tallest wooden towers in the world" to fire the shells at them. The fuses proved to be a major success not only in the Pacific Theater, where they were used with devastating effect against Japanese aircraft, but in the Ardennes during the Siege of Bastogne.[2]
The most important of all the secret weapons programs in New Mexico was the [13][14]
Project Bookmobile visiting the school at Llano San Juan to circulate books, show educational films, and sell defense stamps, in December 1941.
Members of the 200th Coast Artillery during the Philippines Campaign in 1942.
Three Pueblo Indians watching tourists at San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico. Photograph taken by Ansel Adams in 1942.
Japanese internees at Camp Lordsburg sometime between 1942 and 1943.
A fire at the Carlsbad Army Airfield during the Bat Bomb Incident in 1943.
Questa, New Mexico in 1943.
A Santa Fe Railroad streamliner, the "Super Chief," being serviced at the depot in Albuquerque in March 1943.
A Boeing B-29 Superfortress at Kirtland Field in 1945.
General Leslie Groves and J. Robert Oppenheimer at the site of the Trinity explosion in September 1945.
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