New Mexico in World War IIIn 1941, New Mexico was an agrarian state with just over half a million people, many of whom lived without electricity, running water, indoor plumbing, or paved roads. However, the state provided more military volunteers per capita--including eight Medal of Honor winners--than any other state and had the highest casualty rate per capita in the country. New Mexico provided essential resources ranging from oil and coal to potash and copper. The state is often remembered for being the location where the first nuclear weapon was designed and tested in 1945, but more important at the time were the development of the proximity fuze and the testing of the top-secret Norden bombsight. The state also housed German and Italian prisoners of war, and, in one of the darkest moments in US history, incarcerated American citizens of Japanese descent in several concentration camps. |
Contents
Acknowledgments | 6 |
Navajo Code Talkers | 19 |
New Mexicos Navy in World War II | 35 |
The Manhattan Project | 49 |
The Home Front Goes to War | 69 |
New Mexicos Heroes | 89 |
Prisoner of War Camps | 105 |
The Surrender | 123 |
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Air Base Air Force Base aircraft Airfield Alamogordo Alamos National Laboratory Albuquerque Army Air Corps Army Air Field atomic bomb attack Bataan Death March Belen bombardiers bomber Bombing and Gunnery bonds Bruns captured Carlsbad civilian Clovis code name crew developed enemy engineers Ernie Pyle explosion facilities families fighting Flying German Guard helped internees internment camps Japanese Americans labor lives Lordsburg Los Alamos Manhattan Project Marines Mauldin Medal of Honor memorialized Mexicans Mexico Historical military monument Museum Native Americans Navajo code talkers Navy nuclear weapon Oppenheimer Pacific Pearl Harbor Philippines physicists planes POW camps prisoners railroad ranches RATION RATION RATION RATION STAMP Richard Melzer Roosevelt Roswell Sands Missile Range Santa Fe served shown soldiers Southeastern New Mexico Soviet STAMP NO RATION submarine surrender Thousands towns Trinity Site Trinity test troops United uranium war bonds wartime White Sands Missile women World World War II