From the Dec. 16, 2011, WWAY News 3, Wilmington (NC) "USO building celebrates 70 years" by Katie Harden.
Located at Second and Orange streets, the Hannah Block Historical Building in downtown Wilmington has now been open since 1941. Wilmington historian, Wilbur Jones said, "There are only about five of this type of World War II USO buildings still standing." There is also one in Goldsboro, NC, now home to the Wayne County Historical Society Museum.
From the April 8, 2009, Wilmington (NC) Star-News "My Reporter"
The USO was built in December 1941 at 120 S. Second Street, one of 14 USO facilities built in Wilmington and New Hanover County. The Army Corps of Engineers constructed it for $80,000, the first of two they built. The other was for black military personnel.
The reason for so many USOs in the Wilmington area was the close proximity of the Army Anti-Aircraft Training Facility at Camp Davis and the USMC's Camp Lejeune. An estimated 35,000 GIs on leave each weekend would flood into Wilmington.
They Had to Have Some Place to Go. --GreGen
The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.
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