By Matthew M. Peek, Military Collection Archivist, State Archives of North Carolina
WWII 243.B1.F2.17: Small contact print of a studio portrait of an unidentified U.S. Army anti-aircraft soldier serving with the 514th Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) Regiment, wearing a visor cap, taken while he was stationed at Camp Davis, NC, in December 1942 during World War II. A hand-painted island backdrop is seen behind him [Caption on back gives date and location].
WWII 243.B1.F1.2: Snapshot of a group of U.S. Army anti-aircraft trainees standing in loose formation for a training drill during basic training at Camp Davis, NC, in October 1942 during World War II. Photograph taken or collected by an unidentified Army soldier serving with the 514th Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) Regiment at Camp Davis at the time.
The 514th Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) Regiment was originally constituted around July 1923 as the 514th Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) in the U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps, assigned to the Second Corps Area. It would formally be organized at Albany, NY, in October 1923. It would be redesignated as the 514th Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) Regiment in 1924; and moved to operate from Schenectady, NY, in 1933. The unit was moved to an inactive regiment in the Regular Army on January 1, 1938. With the beginning of World War II, the U.S. Army activated the 514th Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) Regiment at Camp Davis, NC, on March 1, 1942, in order to operate the Anti-Aircraft Training Center at the new Army camp. In some Army regiment organizational histories, this unit is identified as a “(School Troops)” regiment.
WWII 243.B1.F1.3: Snapshot of a group of U.S. Army anti-aircraft trainees standing at attention in formation for a training drill during basic training at Camp Davis, NC, in October 1942 during World War II. Photograph taken or collected by an unidentified Army soldier serving with the 514th Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) Regiment at Camp Davis at the time.
WWII 243.B1.F1.4: Snapshot of a group of U.S. Army anti-aircraft trainees sitting on the ground aiming their rifles while being drilled by a drill instructor during basic training at Camp Davis, NC, in October 1942 during World War II. Photograph taken or collected by an unidentified Army soldier serving with the 514th Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) Regiment at Camp Davis at the time.
WWII 243.B1.F1.5: Snapshot of a group of U.S. Army anti-aircraft trainees, carrying rifles on their shoulders, marching in formation during basic training at Camp Davis, NC, in October 1942 during World War II. Photograph taken or collected by an unidentified Army soldier serving with the 514th Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) Regiment at Camp Davis at the time.
WWII 243.B1.F1.1: Snapshot of a group of U.S. Army anti-aircraft trainees posing outside along the shoreline of a body of water during basic training at Camp Davis, NC, in October 1942 during World War II. Photograph taken or collected by an unidentified Army soldier serving with the 514th Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) Regiment at Camp Davis at the time.
WWII 243.B1.F1.10: Snapshot of a group of U.S. Army anti-aircraft soldiers with the 514th Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) Regiment crowded around the porch of a regimental building for mail call at Camp Davis, NC, in November 1942 during World War II. Photograph taken or collected by an unidentified Army soldier serving with the 514th Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) Regiment at Camp Davis at the time.
The 514th Artillery was reorganized on May 22, 1942, and redesignated as the 514th Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) Regiment (SM). Basic training for new anti-aircraft artillery troops was held from the summer through the end of 1942. As the Army’s artillery organizational structure continued to adapt to the needs of WWII, the 514th was again reorganized on January 20, 1943, at Camp Davis, split into three separate battalions. The Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion became the Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, 108th Coast Artillery (AA) Group.
WWII 243.B1.F2.15: Snapshot of a view of several barracks at Camp Davis, NC, around 1942 or 1943 during World War II. Photograph taken or collected by an unidentified Army soldier serving with the 514th Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) Regiment at Camp Davis at the time.
WWII 243.B1.F2.25: Photograph of three unidentified U.S. Army anti-aircraft soldiers believed to be serving with the 514th Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) Regiment, posing outside on the grass between rows of barracks at Camp Davis, NC, around 1942 or 1943 during World War II. Photograph taken or collected by an unidentified Army soldier serving with the 514th Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) Regiment at Camp Davis, NC, at the time.
The 514th’s 1st Battalion became the 217th Coast Artillery Battalion (Sep). The 514th’s 2nd Battalion became the 639th Coast Artillery Battalion (Sep), though it was also labeled as the 639th Anti-Aircraft Artillery (AW) Battalion on signs at Camp Davis. Finally, the 514th’s 3rd Battalion became the 363rd Coast Battalion (Sep). Elements of the 514th may have gone for additional training in Miami Beach, Florida, between February and May 1943. Little is known about this, but the unit would return to Camp Davis assigned to their new battalions or groups by May 1943.
WWII 243.B1.F2.24: Photograph of two U.S. Army soldiers with shovels digging and doing ground work around a barracks at Camp Davis, NC, around 1942 or 1943 during World War II. Photograph taken or collected by an unidentified Army soldier serving with the 514th Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) Regiment at Camp Davis, NC, at the time.
WWII 243.B1.F2.4: Snapshot of an unidentified U.S. Army anti-aircraft soldier serving with the 514th Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) Regiment, wearing his full gear and pack, holding a bayonetted rifle while posing outside on the front steps of a barracks at Camp Davis, NC, around 1942 during World War II. Photograph taken or collected by an unidentified Army soldier serving with the 514th Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) Regiment at Camp Davis at the time.
WWII 243.B1.F2.8: Snapshot of three unidentified U.S. Army anti-aircraft soldier serving with the 514th Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) Regiment, standing on the front porch of a barracks at Camp Davis, NC, around 1942 during World War II. Photograph taken or collected by an unidentified Army soldier serving with the 514th Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) Regiment at Camp Davis at the time.
WWII 243.B1.F2.13: Snapshot of a group of U.S. Army soldiers sitting around playing a game of cards in the unit laundry facility at Camp Davis, NC, around 1942 during World War II. Photograph taken or collected by an unidentified Army soldier serving with the 514th Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) Regiment at Camp Davis at the time.
514th Coast Artillery Photograph Album: A Mystery In Pictures
WWII 243.B1.F3.6: Photograph of an unidentified U.S. Army anti-aircraft soldier serving with the 514th Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) Regiment (left) and a soldier named O. F. Rent (right), wearing their full Army uniforms, posing outside next to the camp section sign for the 514th Coast Artillery at Camp Davis, NC, around 1942 during World War II. The regiment’s barracks are seen in the background. Photograph part of a photo album the unnamed soldier kept during the war.
A recent acquisition by the Military Collection at the State Archives of North Carolina is an original photo album from an unidentified U.S. Army anti-aircraft artillery soldier from 1942 to 1943 (with some post-1943 prints included). The unidentified Army anti-aircraft artillery soldier to whom the photo album in this collection belonged served in the 514th Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) Regiment, and appears after the unit’s division to have been assigned to the 639th Coast Artillery Battalion. Nothing is known of his life, including his name, hometown, rank, or full service history. One photo in the album is captioned as being given to a man named “Henry,” while another photograph that looks like the man identifies him as “Carl Spear.”
WWII 243.B1.F4.1: Photograph of U.S. Army soldiers PFC Philip Moos Jr. of Gackle, ND (right), and two unidentified soldiers posing outside of the Ration Department building at Camp Davis, NC, around 1942 or 1943 during World War II. Photograph taken or collected by the unidentified Army soldier in the center, who was serving with the 514th Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) Regiment at Camp Davis, NC, at the time.
WWII 243.B1.F7.25: Photograph of two unidentified U.S. Army soldiers hanging from a pole on part of an obstacle training course at Camp Davis, NC, around 1942 or 1943 during World War II. The barracks and other buildings of Camp Davis are seen in the background. The soldier at right had been serving with the 514th Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) Regiment at Camp Davis around the time.
WWII 243.B1.F8.11: Photograph of an unidentified U.S. Army anti-aircraft soldier serving with the 639th Coast Artillery Battalion [or 639th Anti-Aircraft Artillery (Automatic Weapons) Battalion], standing with his hand on the sign for the Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 639th Anti-Aircraft Artillery (AW) Battalion, Barracks Number 2 at Camp Davis, NC, around 1943. Photograph part of a photo album this soldier kept during the war.
He may also have been from Providence, Rhode Island, area, as he wears a T-shirt in some of the photographs from the Providence YMCA. We know that this soldier was going through basic training at Camp Davis by October 1942. Between February and May 1943, he and his family were in Miami Beach, Florida; whether this was for a furlough or for his advanced military training is unclear. By the late spring of 1943, this soldier was again at Camp Davis.
WWII 243.B1.F8.10: Photograph of an unidentified U.S. Army anti-aircraft soldier serving with the 514th Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) Regiment, carrying a travel bag, waving to the camera outside of the Lake Waccamaw Train Depot at Lake Waccamaw, NC, around 1942 or 1943 during World War II. This soldier was stationed at Camp Davis, NC, at the time.
WWII 243.B1.F8.16: Snapshot of a large formation of U.S. Army soldiers marching during an unidentified parade or exercise at Camp Davis, NC, around 1942 or 1943 during World War II. One of the soldiers is seen carrying an American flag. Photograph collected by an unidentified U.S. Army anti-aircraft soldier who had been serving with the 514th Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) Regiment at Camp Davis at this time.
The majority of the collection includes 229 original photographs taken or collected by the unidentified soldier while he was stationed at Camp Davis and Miami Beach. The photographs feature scenes of feature U.S. Army camp life, basic training, anti-aircraft artillery training, life in the military barracks, and training exercises, around Camp Davis and Miami Beach. The most unique scenes include pictures of an empty training obstacle course where this soldier and his soldier friends posed in humorous images, which allows the viewer to see from personal perspectives views of the training grounds used by so many Camp Davis trainees in WWII.
WWII 243.B1.F6.17: Partly overexposed photograph of four unidentified U.S. Army soldiers sitting in a boat holding up a line of fish they caught fishing in a waterway at Wrightsville Beach [possibly on Harbor Island], NC, around 1942 or 1943 during World War II. The soldier at far right (wearing a hat) was serving with the 514th Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) Regiment at Camp Davis, NC, at the time.
WWII 243.B1.F7.7: Photograph of two unidentified U.S. Army soldiers standing next to the directional sign for the USO Club Building at Harbor Island at Wrightsville Beach, NC, around 1942 or 1943 during World War II. The soldier at right was serving with the 514th Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) Regiment at Camp Davis, NC, at the time. Soldiers are seen in the background along a bridge leading to another area along Wrightsville Beach.
There are also rare photographs of the men enjoy some time off at the Harbor Island USO Club at Wrightsville Beach, NC. The photo album features scenes in Wilmington, NC; Lake Waccamaw Train Depot, NC; Wrightsville Beach, NC; and Harbor Island USO Club, NC. Nothing is known about this individual after 1943; though he may have stayed in a veterans hospital in 1944 and 1945, as there are scenes from unidentified military veterans hospitals around Memorial Day 1944 and in the summer of 1945.
WWII 243.B1.F5.22: Photograph of an unidentified U.S. Army anti-aircraft soldier serving with the 514th Coast Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) Regiment, posing on the front steps of the USO Club Building at Harbor Island at Wrightsville Beach, NC, around 1942 or 1943 during World War II. Photograph part of a photo album this soldier kept during the war while he was stationed at Camp Davis, NC.
The album offers a personal look at anti-aircraft artillery basic training at Camp Davis in the first year of America’s involvement in WWII. The majority of the images from this album have been digitized and placed online in the State Archives’ Flickr page here.
Resources
Information for this historical note was taken directly from William C. Gaines article “Coast Artillery Organizational History, 1917–1950: Part II, Coast Artillery Regiments, OR and AU,” published in The Coast Defense Journal Vol. 23, No. 3, August 2009. Viewed at https://cdsg.org/wp-content/uploads/pdfs/FORTS/CACunits/CACreg2.pdf
514th Coast Artillery (AA) Regiment Photo Album, WWII 243, WWII Papers, Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, N.C.
