One of the most popular movies about World War II – and most realistic, in the opinion of the airmen who flew those precision bombing raids over Germany – was “Twelve O’Clock High” starring Gregory Peck. His character was based on Gen. Frank Armstrong, a Nash County native and a Wake Forest College student. The two men, Peck and Armstrong, became good friends as a result of the film.
That is just one of the many local aspects of World War II that will be explored this summer when the Wake Forest Historical Museum stages a special exhibit. The exhibit will open in the Wilson Gallery on June 22 and run through the first week of October, closing just before the Wake Forest Birthplace Society holds its annual meeting on Oct. 12. The exhibit will be free and open to all as are all the museum’s exhibits.
Museum Director Ed Morris said he hopes to show the film one Friday night while the exhibit is open.
The idea for the exhibit came from Wilson Montague’s personal effects. A local boy, the uncle of Allen Massey, he was shot down over Germany and died a few days later from his injuries, but after two young German boys pulled him from the wreckage and aided him. Both of those men now live and Durham and are invited to be on hand on the exhibit’s opening day.
Another local tie is Jody Totten, one of the heirs of the Crenshaw-Jones family, whose husband is a grandson of General George Patton and has offered to do a program during the exhibit.
Area residents will be asked to share their memories about the war and the part they or family members played in the war. It is probably time to look through the family photo albums and old trunks.
The museum at 414 North Main Street behind the Calvin Jones House is open Tuesday through Friday from 9 a.m. to noon and 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. and on Sundays from 2 to 5 p.m. It is open at other times by appointment. Its focus is the college which gave the town its name, the town that grew up around the college, and the individuals and institutions which have given both their distinctive characters.
