Did you know that Wilmington is a World War II Heritage city?

Well, right now I'm here with Captain Wilbur Jones, a native of Wilmington who started the project.

Captain, can you tell me how did this all get started?

- It was a 12 and a half year project in 2007 and went to the city council, the county commissioners to get us started with the resolutions and we proclaimed ourselves as America's World War II City, but no one was really around to give that authorization from a national standpoint.

So I am connected with our Congressman Mike McIntyre, and we began a long process through legislation in the US Congress, which led to eventual legislation signed by President Trump in 2019, 12 and a half years later.

And then it was really concluded in 13 years when we put the entry panel sign of the "Welcome to Wilmington" and a little entry panel sign that said, 'Welcome to Wilmington, America's first World War II Heritage City."

And I went home that night and enjoyed a good bottle of French wine.

- [laughs] Sounds like a great way to do that.

What are the things about Wilmington that make it a World War II heritage city?

- Well, there were two criteria that we proposed in the legislation and which became part of the qualification process.

And the first criterion was, what did you do during the war for the war effort?

Did you build ships, planes, tanks?

And we had that pretty well covered for all of the contributions we made during the war.

And the second criterion, which to me was just as important, how did you preserve that history?

And you're standing in the hub of our World War II activities.

Now we're standing in the Hannah Block, Historic USO/Community Arts Center.

It was built in 1941 by the federal government and the local governments for recreation purposes as all USOs were during World War II for the service men and service women to come and enjoy a night off and dancing and music and snacks and making phone calls back home.

And the building was preserved, fortunately due to a very concentrated effort by the public.

And it's now one of the, oh, less than handful World War II USO buildings still standing in the United States.

- Can you share with me some other sites around town that are historic in nature?

- Well, yes, certainly.

Wilmington High School had two Medal of Honor recipients, as far as we know, the only high school in the country that had multiple Medal of Honor recipients.

And we have honored them with a beautiful masonry memorial at New Anaba High School and also at a middle school and a beautiful nature park called Halliburton Park.

We've had three German prisoner of war camps here, and we put up markers to two of them.

- How about the battleship?

- Well, I don't want to forget the battleship because that's our crown jewel.

And it was one of the big reasons why we were able to move Wilmington up to the head of the list when it was being considered as the first American World War II Heritage City.

We've got our battleship.

- Well, now that Wilmington has been declared a World War II heritage city, what's next?

- To keep plugging it to capitalize on, take advantage of this national, even global recognition for Wilmington.

I hope that we'll be able to do that.

- The Hanna Block historic USO is at 120 South 2nd Street in Wilmington, and it's open every day except Sunday.

And for more information about other World War II sites in Wilmington, go to Wilmington and beaches.com.