A production of eMedia and South Carolina ETV (chime) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Bette Jamison> Welcome to Project Discovery, a production of eMedia of the South Carolina Department of Education and South Carolina ETV.

Hi.

I'm Bette Jamison.

And today, Project Discovery is at the South Carolina State Museum as we honor South Carolinians who served o The famous and the little known and discover how South Carolina made a significant, played a significant role in our nation's military history.

It's going to be a great show.

We're glad you joined us and also on Project Discovery is my co-host Lewis Huffman And Lewis is the social studies consultant at the South Carolina Department of Education Welcome, Lewis to Project Discovery Lewis Huffman> Glad to be with you here.

Bette> We have a student host today, Morga who's a sophomore at A.C.

Flora High School.

Welcome Morgan.

Morgan Adams> Thank you for having me.

Bette> First, Lewis, let's talk a little bit about Veteran's Day.

Veteran's Day is celebrated on November 11th each day, right?

Each year.

Lewis> Yes.

Veteran's Day is a federal holiday honoring all military veterans but it wasn't always known as Veteran's Day.

In fact the first one was called Armistice Day and it was to commemorate the ending of hostilities in World War I. And the Armistice was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson.

And the original armistice was signed in the 11th hour, of 11th day, of the 11th month in 1918.

Bette> So, November 11th, the 11th month, the 11th day, the 11th hour.

Wow!

But it was started for World War I but now it's changed?

Lewis> Now it was changed.

In fact it was changed in 1954.

President Eisenhower signed a law that created Veteran's Day honoring all military veterans.

Bette> So now Veteran's Day on November 11th, every year honors all the veterans of our wars.

But this is a special year, isn't it?

Lewis> This year.

The 11th day of the 11th month of the year 2011.

Bette> Wow, what a special Veteran's Day.

So thanks for telling us all about Veteran's Day We're going to be taking your questions later on in the program by e-mail.

Morgan, tell them about that.

Morgan> I will be eagerly be waiting for students e-mailing questions and if you, in fact if you want to go ahead, and e-mail them in, the email address is projectdiscovery@scetv.org.

Bette> Thanks, Morgan.

Hopefully we will be getting lots of questions.

Okay, I want you to meet somebody else.

This is Tom Falvey and he is the Director of Education at the South Carolina State Museum.

Thank you so much for letting Project Disc Tom Falvey> Oh, we love to have you.

Thank you Bette.

Bette> Tell us about the South Carolina Museum.

It's a great place.

Tom> It really is.

I think a lot of people have been to the museum Certainly we see thousands of students, every year, which is really a wonderful thing.

We see students of all ages and they come for all sorts of things.

The museum has four floors, We have science and technology, natural hi and of course cultural history, up here on this fourth floor, which is gre So it's a place where you can see art, wonderful art.

from South Carolina, Our focus is South Carolina history.

It's really about the state, it's cultural material, culture and the people who make it so interesting.

Bette> So, all about South Carolina, you can come here and learn so much.

Four floors.

Where are we today?

Right now, it looks like we are in the middle of the American Revolution.

Tom> That's right.

This is... You know, we started in 1988, this museum was built.

So, we have a small collection of Revoluti So, this is a small section but really a great, meaningful collection and it talks about some of the battles that happened, of course, more battles happened in South during the Revolutionary War than anywhere else in the Union.

Bette> What I like too is the fort.

The palmetto logs over there.

It's so realistic.

Tom> Yeah, that is one of our favorite places.

When students come, third graders always come for history lessons here and they always find out about this fort, Fort Moultrie and its history and its importance, in the Revolutionary War.

So, it is a great place to come and see.

Bette> You know, our state has played an important role in winning our independence from England years ago.

Let's start with the Revolutionary War going back to Orangeburg, South Carolina, the year, 1781 and heroes like the Swamp Fox.

Bette> The Battle of Eutaw Springs, South Carolina in September 1781 was the last engagement of the Revolutionary War in the Carolinas.

Over 2,000 ill-equipped, under-fed and barely clothed Americans attacked a force of 2,300 well-equipped British shoulders who were encamped in the cool shade beside the gushing springs.

Strategy for the attack is credited to the genius of General Francis Marion.

He knew every foot of the Santee swamps and river.

This last major battle in South Carolina completely broke the British hold in the south, and more importantly, it denied needed aid to the British forces in the north.

Only six weeks later British General Cornwallis succumbed to General George Washington at the Battle of Yorktown, and American independence was assured.

*Speaker> There is quite a bit of myth mixed up in what we know about Marion.

In fact, what we know about Marion versus what we think we know about Marion are radically two different things.

In a sense, I'm stripping away the myth from Marion, which is one of my research interests, but I think we're going to find quite a very intelligent man, a man who knew a lot about partisan warfare.

People studied him for years.

I don't think in the research that I'm fin I think all it does is, amplify just how well he was able to control the fortunes and misfortunes of the Lowcountry during that time when we were, the American cause was not well.

The British were in control.

He was able to keep a few men together long enough to give the British some trouble.

Walter Edgar> Whereas Marion understood the principles of guerilla warfare, fighting from behind trees and bushes and that sort of thing, but Marion took it one step further, and that was, these armed attacks on supply trains, on the rear guard.

That was not the way you were supposed to fight.

The rules of war as they existed, there were not very many rules of war, by was that you got two armies.

and you get a set piece and flat piece of land and you line up 100 yards across from one another and you stand shoulder-to-shoulder and you fire your muskets and whoever's got the most men standing at the end of it, sort of, wins.

Well, Americans had begun to adapt to frontier warfare.

You can look at Marion's campaign today and compare it to what Mao Se Tung wrote 200 years later.

It's a textbook for gorilla fighting, the will of the wisp, the Swamp Fox, whatever you want to call them.

You know h Hit the enemy where they least expect you and then disappear.

Your object is to not have a standing battle and to fight to the death.

Bette> Wow, Lewis there were really many skirmishes, many battles fought right here on South Carolina soil.

Lewis> Well there were, as Tom mentioned there were over 130 military engagements in South Carolina alone.

Bette> 130 right here in our state?

<Yes> All over the state?

Lewis> All over state, all throughout the state.

Bette> Well, we, we talked a little bit about the Swamp Fox but also now were there other people who were unknown heroes in the Revolutionary War?

Lewis> Many of us were probably aware of C who was the first American Patriot killed in Boston in 1770 when a group of angry towns people attacked the British regulars.

But we do have somebody here in South Carolina.

In fact we have several, one of them was Oscar Marion.

Oscar Marion was a servant to the Swamp Fox.

In fact, he accompanied him all throughout the war.

Bette> And really these are in the "Almost Invisible" book that Kate Salley Palmer has written.

These are stories called Almost Invisible Black Patriots of the American Revolution.

This book was authored by Kate Salley Palmer and her illustrations.

So, tell us a little about Marion's servant, who really was himself a hero in the war.

Lewis> He was.

As I said, he accompanied Francis Marion throughout the war.

In fact, he was recognized as an African-American patriot in a ceremony of the White House in 2006 by President George Bush.

Bette> So, really the African- Americans weren't serving in the American Revolution but oftentimes they accompanied the people they worked for to the war and were just as important behind the scenes, probably doing that cooking and cleaning and caring for as well as fighting for our Lewis> Absolutely, yes, there were.

Bette> So, you know also there were lots of women.

Women couldn't serve back then, but there were women who in the American Revolution really were heroes too.

Lewis> Yes, there were.

Bette> We have done a series with eMedia and South Carolina's Educational Television based on Idella Bodie's book, "South Carolina Women".

We have dramatized these stories.

Two of the famous women in the Revolution were Grace and Rachel Martin, and they were in South Carolina's back country, They were two sister-in-laws, who really, they met a British courier, he came and asked for directions and they realized that he was carrying messages to the British that could harm their husbands who were fighting for the Patriot cause.

So they dressed in their husband's clothes, and they accosted him at the bridge, took the papers and really saved the day.

Acted like they were young men who just ha and took the message away from him.

And so really fought for South Carolina's cause.

Lewis> Yeah.

Bette> Some of these women in South Carolina we have told their stories with South Carolina women, but there is an important one who was just as famous as Thomas Sumter, who was the Gamecock, as Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox and Andrew Pickens who was famous from Cowpens.

This young woman was only 14 when she helped our nation's cause.

Let's go meet Dicey Langston.

♪ Reenactor #1> If you spy again, you die.

It's that simple.

And I promise you, it will be by my own hand.

You've been warned.

Take heed.

♪ Reenactor #2> This is what happens to spie ♪ Narrator> The year was 1781.

South Carolina was in the midst of fighting the greatest army in the world.

One family struggled to stay united in a c where neighbor was fighting neighbor.

Families were divided in their loyalty.

>> We are brothers, but in name only.

For I am a Torey, you are a Patriot, torn apart by our political beliefs.

I pray we both live through this war.

But if we must fight, then fight to the death, dear brother, for I surely will.

Narrator> Dicey Langston was just 14 years old when she became known as the female Paul Revere.

Renactor Dicey> Papa.

Renactor #3> What have you done?

Renactor Dicey> To the British soldiers I'm just a child wandering around.

Don't pay a bit of attention to me.

So I can run James and the other Patriots.

Renactor #3> Spies hang, Dicey, even young spies.

Now you must promise me that you will not be sneaking out to see James anymore.

Narrator> This is the story of a heroine w to stop the killing of patriots by Bloody Bill Cunningham, Bloody Bill who was equally determined to stop Dicey from spying even if it meant killing Dicey to silence Renactor #2> We both know James Langston was in these parts.

And now his men are gone too.

Renactor #4> You think this is a warning?

Renactor #2> I think that sister of his did the warning.

Renactor #4> That young child?

She ain't o Renactor #2> - They nicknamed her.

Daring Dicey, they call her.

I hear she's been visiting her brother qui Renactor #4> Are going to hurt that girl?

Renactor #2> I'm going to hurt a spy.

Narrator> Don't miss the courage.

Renactor #2> Well, child.

Did you obey your father like a good girl or are you a Patriot?

Renactor Dicey> I'm always a Patriot.

Renactor #3> Dicey!

Narrator> Don't miss the danger.

Don't miss the bravery.

Renactor Dicey> Mark Renactor #5> You are serious?

You would kill me?

Renactor Dicey> Dead serious.

Narrator> Don't miss the intrigue.

Renactor #6> Here, you take this gun.

Renactor Dicey> Won't you need it?

Renactor #6> No.

You may need it more.

I took it off a British soldier.

He won't be needing it now, but you just might.

Narrator> Don't miss the romance.

Renactor #3> Lord Tom has been secret from you Dicey.

Narrator> Don't miss the betrayal.

Renactor #3> You gave me your word.

Renactor Dicey> Papa, please understand.

Renactor #3> Understand?

I understand that I trusted you.

But no mo Narrator> Even teenagers be heroes, but how far did Dicey go to protect her brother.

Renactor #2> Oh, you condemn revenge?

Renactor Dicey> Yes, I do.

Renactor #2> Would you have been so cheered up if your own father had been shot?

Shall we put that to the test?

Narrator> During the Revolutionary War some heroes were heroines.

Dicey Langston was a heroine, This is her story.

The story of Dicey Langston.

(foreboding music) Bette> Wow, the story of Dicey Langston.

Well, we've changed locations, We're still in the great South Carolina State Museum.

But we have moved over to the area that commemorates the Civil War.

So, Lewis, why is this an important year in terms of the Civil War?

Lewis> Well, it is the 150th anniversary, of the Civil War.

It's the sesquicentennial.

There are a lot of words that are just fun to say.

Sesquicentennial is one of them.

And because South Carolina played such an important role in the war, we had the first shots at Fort Sumter.

We were the first state to secede from the Union.

There are lots of important things that happened in South Carolina, so we are doing a commemoration of the Civil War from 2011 to 2015 to commemorate that time period of the Civil War back dur Bette> Great.

Okay.

We got an e-mail from a student.

Let's go over and talk to our student host, Morgan Adams.

Morgan, we got an e-mail from a South Carolina student?

Morgan> Yes, ma'am from Alex in Lexington.

Why do they call Francis Marion the Swamp Bette> Ooh.

Why did they call Francis Marion the Swamp Fox Yeah, why, Lewis?

Lewis> Well, they called him the Swamp Fox because of his tactics.

He was one of the first military people to what we now refer to as guerilla tactics.

He would hide in the swamp, which he knew well and he would come out and attack the British regulars and then fade back into the swamp and disappear.

Bette> Wow!

So, he used these tactics really to find his way.

He knew all about the Santee and the rivers and the area, so he would just hide out.

Wow!

Let's go back.

Do we have another e-mail, Morgan?

Do we have another e-mail from a student in South Carolina.

Okay.

Morgan, go ahead with that e-mail.

Morgan> From Melissa from McDonald Elementary, what was life like for a soldier in the Revolutionary War.

And were there women soldiers?

Bette> Okay.

In the Revolutionary War, it was tough, don't you think?

Tom Falvey> I know.

You see some of the depictions in the last set.

The folks who were trudging through snow with no shoes.

Like any battle, but you can imagine, ther to get people some of the equipment they needed.

Obviously, especially in some of those northern places and when it gets cold, awful conditions.

So very hard for any soldier.

Bette> And you know and we always say that the sweet potato saved the war because the American cause because sweet potatoes were plentiful, that is about what they had to eat a lot of times.

That transitions us well to this exhibit for the Civil War, Tom.

Because, you all are doing an exhibit that is going to grow over the years, the sesquicentennial.

Tell us about that.

And we can talk about the military life that you're showing here with the Civil War.

Tom> Right.

We've added two new sections since the sesquicentennial started.

And we are looking at the beginning of the and life of a soldier in our first two phases.

We have four more phases over the next few years Those will focus on the naval warfare, life at home and some of the other phases of the war.

The whole goal here is to build out the museum's new exhibit areas.

It was always the intention.

Now we are finally getting to do that in a phased approach.

Bette> That's great, because you can learn all about the lives of soldiers.

You know really during the first part of the war, the first year, they had food to eat because they brought it with them.

But after that a ration a day was just two ears of corn.

And most of the time that was green.

That doesn't sound pretty good.

Just two ears of corn.

Okay but right now we are going to go downstairs at the State Museum.

When you visit the South Carolina State Museum as a student you can often get to go to History Place, so let's go there.

Learn about that.

And then take a look at the Hunley.

Tom> Now we are here in History Place.

This is a little class room you may not be aware of.

This is where a lot of our history activities go on, the kind of lessons you can experience wit This is where we do a couple of really gre We are here with Kathy Hart, today.

Kathy handles the Docent training and the curriculum development for our new exhibits and existing exhibits.

Kathy thank you so much for being here.

Kathy> Oh, I'm glad to be here with you.

Tom> Well, let's talk about some of the things you can do out on the floor.

I know we have different grade levels that you can approach here.

What can we do for different grade levels, especially in this new part of the Civil War exhibit.

Kathy> We get to really zero in on some lessons for fourth graders and eighth graders, very different from what we've done in the past.

We're going to be tackling some difficult like the first military draft.

How about how to build a prison camp back during the Civil War time.

Did they even consider that at that time.

We will talk about Wayside Hospitals and how they came about.

The new strategic weapon for that time, the railroad.

There's lots of exciting things that we will address in that particular exhibit.

Tom> I know here in History Place we have a special activities for third graders that actually accompanies some of the things we can do out on the floor.

Kathy> In third grade, we like to bring the students into History Place.

And, as you can tell here, we have a lot of things.

A lot of artifacts or reproductions of things that a soldier might carry if he were out on the road, let's say.

So one of those things is this uniform.

Also the musket rifle.

What we do in here is we sort of pretend that we are in a recruitment office and we have one of the students dress up like Tom has done here.

So, that's always a lot of fun.

We have a good time that kids get to touch all of the different artifacts and dress up.

We'll get to learn things like what their shoes were like, if they had shoes.

That was always the big issue for the soldiers.

We have some shoes here that I can't wait to show the students because the left foot and the right foot actually match.

Tom, are those comfortable shoes?

Because you have tried them on.

They're not comfortable at all.

Kathy> They're not comfortable at all.

Tom> This is really hot and really heavy.

I can't imagine this being really wet and getting on a hot, hot day.

Kathy> True.

Because, it's wool.

Yeah, it was very hot.

Hard -- because you probably carried about 30 pounds of stuff, including this musket rifle, and all of your backpack and all these things that are here that - - the blanket and the shells that go in your rifle.

It was a heavy load to carry.

Tom> This must give kids a good idea of what it was like to be a soldier in really tough places.

I imagine this wool was great on a winter day somewhere up north but here in South Carolina it would be awful.

<I agree.> Tom> Thank you, Kathy, for showing us all these great activities at the South Carolina State Museum.

Bette> Tom, that looks like a lot of fun.

that you could really learn a lot here at the museum.

Tom> That's a great classroom.

And it's a great way to learn about what it was like to be a soldier, which is one of our classes we have about the Civil War.

Bette> You know, the women in the Civil War, there were women who went with their husbands off to war and helped do the cleaning and Because you know back then men really didn't cook.

They worked in the fields and the farmers.

Tom> That was the challenges of the early armies, and the early militia, trying to organize all that and make that happen in the field.

It is a very difficult process.

Bette> Okay.

Well, we are talking about the Civil War.

You might notice behind us is the model of the Hunley.

This is at the South Carolina State Museum.

Tell us about this model.

Tom> This is a 50-year-old model made in C What's great about this, of course it is one of the most recognizable things.

If you are on the third floor and you look you can't miss the Hunley.

And people see it and of course people ins and want to know more about it.

Bette> Okay.

ETV and State Department of Education produced a reenactment of what happened with the Hunley way back when and so let's take a look at this from the Palmetto Special, to learn more about the Hunley.

♪ Narrator> Lieutenant Dixon and his brave y were now prepared for their mission which if successful, could alter the course of the war for the south.

Reenactor> The crew is assembled, sir.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Reenactor> Give them hell... ♪ Reenactor> We're far enough out of reach, now Reenactor> Prepare to submerge.

Open ballast.

Rear ballast open.

Two feet.

Four feet.

Six feet.

We are at six feet below.

Reenactor> Close ballast.

We should be directly on course for the Ho Prepare to surface.

Adjust ballast.

Reenactor> Four feet.

Two feet and close ballast.

Reenactor> The Housatonic is approximately... one half mile dead-ahead.

Mr.

Carlton what's the reading on our speed?

Reenactor> As close as I can estimate, we've been averaging right at 3 and a half miles per hour.

Reenactor> That's fine.

We will go back down and continue on until we're too close for the heavy guns to hit us.

♪ Reenactor> Look, there's something causing on the surface.

Reenactor> It could be a school of fish, or porpoises, maybe.

Reenactor> Looks like a giant log.

Reenactor> Could be an old palmetto log.

I hear they are plentiful around here Reenactor> All right, men Our hour is coming.

Reenactor> I don't know what it is but it's heading directly at us.

Reenactor> Full speed ahead and let's ram that torpedo in their stern.

Reenactor> Sound the alarm.

Reenactor> Start the engine!

Start the engine!

(indistinct speech) [ ringing bell ] [ ringing bell ] [ ringing bell ] (explosions) That explosion sank the Housatonic in 27 feet of water.

All but five of the crew survived by climbing the rigging, which remained above the water.

All aboard the submarine lost their lives.

Tom> We are here with Dan Dowdey, today.

Dan Dowdey not only who works in our exhibits department doing wonderful graphics and other things but also as a member of the of the Hunley Commission team that does graphics and video work.

Dan, welcome to the show and thank you so much for being here.

Dan Dowdey> Well, thank you.

Tom> Tell us a bit why this model looks different from what we know today?

Dan Dowdey> This model was based on the recollections of Mr.

William Alexander.

He one of the original crew members of the Hunley.

Fortunately for him he was called away back to Mobile, Alabama the night, the day before the Hunley went out and sank the Housatonic.

His recollections was written down in the Scientific American in 1903, And by this time, he was in his 80's.

He had helped, along with Horace Hunley and James McClintock and Baxter Watson build three submarines.

Apparently he got the three submarines kind of confused.

when he did his article for the "Scientific American."

a lot of the historians base their work on his recollection in 1903, but they totally ignored the Chapman painting.

Mr.

Chapman had done a painting of the Hunley sitting on the dock.

A lot of historians did not like his rendition of the Hunley because they said it was too small.

Well, in fact, it was right on the money.

They should have paid more attention to what Chapman had painted.

Tom> Dan, what are the big differences bet and the actually Hunley submarine.

Dan> This model is 35 feet long, and it's five feet high, and it's four feet wide.

The original Hunley is almost 40 feet long.

It's three feet wide.

by four feet high.

The eight-man crew in the submarine, average height was between six feet, over six feet and five-foot-eight.

So, that was a really crammed space.

And you look at this submarine, which is much larger it's a different environment actually that these men were in and when you look at the size of these men.

Tom> What about the skin of the submarine and the difference between this and the ac Dan> As this replica is only built out of 11 gauge steel.

The original was built out of a boiler plate.

They had taken a boiler which is about three eighths of an inch thick and split it in the middle and added nine inches in the center of it to expand the upward height.

Tom> And of course the spar, there were differences in our spar versus what we know on the actually submarine, as well.

Dan> On the front end of the submarine, this is totally in error.

The original Chapman painting, if you notice the painting, it has a spar mounted on top but it also has a piece of a spar mounted on the bottom.

This was a three-foot iron section on which a 17-feet long piece of pipe was put on.

The medal spar on the very bottom of the s is what held the 90-pound charge.

The wooden spar on top was what used to raise and lower this, this bottom spar.

They would have to take the torpedo, the bomb, off the end of the spar.

Store it.

They would not keep it in the water all the time because it would leak and then it would become useless.

Bette> So, Lieutenant Dixon and his crew, these were true heroes.

You know, the Hunley had been tested and sank at the dock.

This was the second crew of the Hunley and they all perished February 17th, 1864.

We'll be back to talk more about the Hunley.

Morgan, do we have a question from a student?

Morgan> Yes, we do.

John in Myrtle Beach.

Do we actually know what happened to the Hunley?

Why did it sink?

Bette> Well, that is something we've been trying to figure out since we brought it up in August of 2000.

Tom> Right.

Like Dan says, that is the next thing we need to figure out.

With the research going on in North Charleston, that might be our next step.

Bette> Okay.

Let's take a look at the Hunley.

The Hunley, look, it's under water.

It was found in 1995 with Clive Cussler,...right.

It had lay there in the water undisturbed before it was found in shallow water really off the coast of Sullivan's Island.

One of the reasons people didn't find it was because they were probably looking for the (laughs) They thought it was different than it was.

Okay, now this is when they brought it up in August of 2000.

What a ceremony it was, with all the fleet out there.

They cradled it in this harness, in this metal frame that they built just for this.

There are all the boats in the harbor, welcoming the Hunley and really the crew because the crew was still inside the vessel.

There you see it is strapped, and one of our ETV colleagues said what if one of those had broken and it plunged back into the sea.

It is headed to the Warren Lasch Conservation Lab, there in North Charleston.

Look, those are reenactors with the blue lantern <That's great> that signaled they had fulfilled their mission.

They signaled that blue light saying we finished our mission.

We hit the Housatonic.

Here you see the Hunley coming in to where it's been for the last year since 2000 where all the scientists from around the world have worked to excavate the Hunley.

Look at all the artifacts.

You know that the tank is full of water.

and it has to be salt water because if you didn't put salt on it, the metal would corrode.

That is why it is in good shape, because the salt kept that metal from corroding.

Now we're really looking down inside as the scientists are working on the Hunley.

They found all sorts.

They found all of the remains of the heroic crew.

They found a coin that Lieutenant Dixon had in his pocket.

They even found articles of clothing.

I think we're going to see... look, they f Here is a shoe, coming out, still in tact, or a boot from the Hunley.

Wow, that is just incredible.

Tom> That is great for museums all over who are trying to interpret this and reinterpret for us.

Bette> The science, I mean, the science they are finding out is really going to help in terms of how, keeping mollusks off the metal so that it doesn't corrode the metal.

Here, look.

They all.

They took the masks of the faces and they're reconstructing all the faces so they can see what the crew really looked like.

Isn't that incredible?

Tom> That's the kind of stuff, people real they want to know the real human details.

Bette> Then the remains of the Hunley after they were looked at and all the science was done, they were actually buried at Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston in 2004 in a ceremony that was very much pomp and There is so much to learn about the Hunley.

Do we have another question, Morgan from a student?

Morgan> Yes, we do.

Savannah from Gilbert Middle School is ask did South Carolina women fight in the Civil War?

Bette> No.

Women did not fight in the Civil War but they certainly helped.

Let me introduce you, Let me introduce you and Joe is the curator of education at the South Carolina Confederate Relic Ro and Military Museum.

Joe, tell us about, when you talk about the Confederacy and the Civil War, tell us about the relic room, and what it is.

Joe Long> The last question is a great segue.

Did South Carolina women fight in the war.

Well, they were greatly involved in the war effort in so many ways, and also in ways that the war would be remembered afterwards.

Our place was started in 1896 as a museum, all founded by ladies.

All of them were, as far as they were concerned, veterans of the war because of difficulty that their lives had gone through during that period.

And the name itself is really an artifact in a way.

No one starts a museum in 2011 and names it a relic room.

A relic is different from an artifact A relic is something sacred that you travel to see to memorialize someone.

In the early days that's exactly what our place was, a place to memorialize the Confederate dea Bette> But now, it's really for all wars, right?

Joe> It didn't take very long.

You see these ladies in 1898 just two years later they saw their sons and their nephews go o the Spanish-American war.

And the museum's mission grew during World War I. In fact, we were a center of home front support for the American war effort.

Bette> Where is the relic room?

Joe> We share this beautiful building with our neighbors, the State Museum.

Bette> So you are right downstairs?

Joe> That's right.

If you are here, please come on in.

Bette> Okay, now I have to ask you a crazy Why are you dressed the way you are today?

This isn't a Civil War outfit.

Joe> No.

No it's not.

Although you might notice the cap hadn't changed all that much for the Navy.

But today, this is in honor of a World War I sailor from Columbia, South Carolina.

His name was James Griffin.

He wore the same rating on his arm.

He joined the Navy.

He called it a surge of instant patriotism after the sinking of the U.S.S.

Lusitania by a German submarine He would eventually be a crewman on one of the most effective weapons, used against the Germans submarines or the in World War I?

Bette> Wow!

And what is this you're holding?

Joe> Well, he didn't save too many things from his service.

He saved a wonderful scrapbook and he saved his flight helmet.

This is a World War I aviator's helmet.

If you look closely you can even see, that he wrote different places he went and craft that he served on, on the helmet itself.

You see, he became a pilot but not an airplane pilot.

Bette> What kind of pilot was he?

Joe> James Griffin would spent most of Wor flying blimps for the United States Navy.

Bette> Wow!

Okay, blimps are like the air ships.

Is that what you are talking about?

Joe> Absolutely, just like what you see at the football games.

Except today they are filled with helium, which is nice and safe.

In 1917 they were filled with hydrogen.

Which, as we know, hydrogen is a fuel.

Fuels are flammable.

So he's flying in a very flammable giant g Bette> Okay, so James Griffin was a South Carolinian from Columbia He fought in World War I. Let's learn more about World War I, because we're going to Camp Jackson, that was started in 1917.

♪ Narrator> A group of Columbia businessmen met together one afternoon raised the money, bought the original acreage 10 to 12 thousand acres, I can't remember But they bought that and made a gift to the federal government.

Beryl Dakers> There was little time to lose.

On June 2nd, 1917 Camp Jackson was established.

And just 11 days after the construction contract was signed, the first trainees arrived.

>> When the Army took it over and began construction in June of 1917 it was like a mining camp all of the sudden.

They had to build tram rails out from the city to it and railways because that is the way to get supplies and men out there.

By the peak of construction there were 10,000 laborers working to buil barracks, mess halls, auditoriums, stables for horses.

They even had an airfield there, amongst many things.

These things went up very quickly.

If you look at the photographs, we have fabulous photographs of all these places, Yeah, they're in World War I uniforms but some of them look like stockades from, you know, the B cowboy movies I used to watch in the 1940's and 1950s You're talking about wooden installations, I mean mud, tents, nothing permanent.

Beryl Dakers> Hundreds of buildings went up.

And three months after the start of construction some 8,000 more draftees came to the camp.

Educated and ambitious, a new generation was emerging, with the means to create a new way of life.

>> I think from the outset there was a great deal of hope and anticipation the war might serve as a platform for advancing civil rights for African-Ame Beryl> In South Carolina, the 371st infantry embodied that hope but like other attempts to attain equality this one met with resistance.

Bobby> The 371st emerges as this kind of interesting experiment of training, former agricultural laborers, training former sharecroppers to now engage in military combat.

The story is 371st was this rag-tag assembly of sharecroppers, and farmers who were eager to come to Columbia to train.

Who came tattered, barefoot, and there may be an element of that, because indeed that picture that emerges I think was probably a fair reflection of the poverty of which many of these men came from.

Yet, at the same time 371st included a number of literate, professional men.

Accomplished people came as a result of the Selective Service Act.

Some were not sort of immediate volunteers.

Many of them were called upon to serve and really had no choice to serve in serving >> But it turned out these soldiers quickly adjusted to military life.

That is one thing we keep seeing time and how adaptable, flexible these soldiers wer how well they took to training.

They eventually became probably the smarte and drilled unit at Camp Jackson.

They were given accolades by the post commander and the people of Columbia, you know, for this.

♪ The black citizens of Columbia adopted this regiment.

Beryl> At first, the Army didn't intend to send these men into battle.

The demand in France for troops and the confidence of the officers and their men put the 371st in the center of the action.

Not allowed to fight alongside White Americans, they were reassigned to the French army, armed with weapons they hadn't trained to use.

They faced tough fighting in the trenches.

>> They were stripped of all that and they were trained as a French unit and reorganized as a French unit.

Again, they were doubly looked like doomed for failure but they again rose above that.

Beryl> Their bravery earned them a citywide welcome home.

Bobby> No one could deny that they were quite honorable in their service and proved quite decisive in the French campaign against the Germans, so there is an early February 1919 masquerade in Columbia welcoming these men back to the city.

There is the presence of the governor who is there, there is the presence of the leading African-Americans including many who had some opposition to the war initially.

Bette> So the men of the 371st infantry, they were truly heroes right here from South Carolina from the Columbia area from Camp Jackson when they were trained.

You know, women also played an important role in World War I, because that was the time when the first women were enlisted, and they served as yeomen.

You know doing a lot of the jobs that the men had been doing who went off to war.

Marching from World War I to World War II, Lewis tell us important information as we step through history into World War II.

Lewis> Okay Bette, approximately, 166,000 South Carolinians served in World War II but hundreds of thousands of soldiers were trained in South Carolina.

Many others built ships and guarded the coastline against German u-boat attacks during the war.

We had five Medal of Honor winners from South Carolina during World War II.

Bette> Wow.

Morgan, thank you for joining us.

I know that you had a great experience.

You got to meet the Doolittle Raiders, who were certainly famous in World War II.

Morgan> Yes, I had the opportunity to go to one of their reunions and actually talk to the remaining Doolitt who actually flew with Doolittle himself in the raid.

Bette> What was this for?

You produced a film.

What did you do that for?

Morgan> I produced a short film for the national history competition.

It was a lot of fun.

Bette> Okay.

Well, let's take a look at what Morgan did on her great experience with meeting Doolittle Raiders, a clip from that.

Morgan> My name is Morgan Adams.

In the spring of 2009 I met four heroes of World War II, the Doolittle Raiders held their 67th reunion in Columbia, South Carolina.

I went to learn about their important role in history.

Bruce Cotner> If these fellows aren't the the living definition of heroes, then I don't know what is.

>> One of greatest stories of American aviation is the story of the American Doolittle Raiders.

>> The raid was conceived as a way to strike back at the Japanese homeland early in World War II in retaliation for Pearl Harbor.

Morgan> After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, the United States government asked for vol for a dangerous mission.

A group of 79 B-25 bomber pilots, led by Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Doolittle flew off the flight deck of the U.S.S.

Hornet to bomb Japan.

>> We took off 250 miles farther out than we had planned on because we encountered some Japanese ships out there, fishing vessels.

We knew they had radio equipment and had warned the mainland of Japan that our two carriers and our planes were coming, so we took off 250 miles more.

When we headed in towards Japan, we believed that the distance was so far now that we very likely would r over the North Sea as we headed in towards in the day, in the evening.

Bruce> I have tremendous respect for these fellows.

Because at that moment all those crew members knew that they probably weren't going to reach the safe Chinese air bases they intended to fly to on the fuel that they had because they had to launch early.

They launched and went anyway.

They did change the course of the war in the Pacific for the United States.

Truly, truly the really American heroes of and still to this day.

♪ Morgan> 67 years later the Doolittle Raiders returned to where they started training for their m in Columbia, South Carolina.

Bette> Wow, true heroes, the Doolittle Raiders.

That was something that Morgan got to meet them and create this video.

Morgan, do you have another e-mail from a student?

Morgan> I do.

Jason from Mount Pleasant is wondering did the Doolittle Raiders have anything to do with the Yorktown in Charleston?

Bette> Wow!

Did the Doolittle Raiders have anything to do with Yorktown?

Could you field that one Joe?

Joe> Jason, that is a little bit complicated.

The Yorktown that is now part of Patriot's in Charleston is the Second World War II aircraft carrie The ship she was named for, the U.S.S.

Yorktown, the first aircraft carrier in World War II did have to do with the Do but then it was sunk.

To carry on the tradition of the ship that had been sunk, the next aircraft carrier coming off the production line was named the U.S.S.

Yorktown in honor of one of the ships that helped with the Doolittle raid.

Bette> Great!

And boy at Patriot's Point, that's a great place.

You can learn so much about South Carolina history by visiting there.

Lewis, we have really marched through hist from World War I, II, and now we're going forward with the Korean and Vietnam War.

I'm going to ask you a question about that But first let's meet someone who's experie This is Colonel Kevin Shwedo, and he is retired from the U.S.

Army.

Right?

Kevin Shwedo> Correct Bette> Now, he is executive director of the South Carolina Department of Motor Welcome to Project Discovery.

Kevin> It's an honor to be here.

Bette> We're going to learn more about you in just a minute.

Lewis, tell us a little bit about this era, as we go from Korea to Vietnam.

Lewis> Well, Korea was known as a police action.

We had 466 South Carolinians killed in tha We had four of them receiving the medal of But as we move onto to Vietnam, I have two stories about two real heroes I'd like to share with you.

One is staff sergeant Joe Hooper, Joe Hooper was America's most decorated soldier from any international war, He was born in South Carolina.

He received more decorations than Alvin York in World War I or than Audie Murphy in World War II He received 37 medals in all, including the Medal of Honor, two silver stars, six bronze stars and two purple hearts, an amazing man.

The last Medal of Honor action occurred on Halloween night in Vietnam in 1972 when South Carolina Navy Seal Michael Thornton saved the life of his team's leader, Lieutenant Thomas Norris.

Now, the importance of this is that six months earlier Norris had been nominated for the medal of honor for his own heroic actions in the war.

It was only the second time in history that a Medal of Honor was awarded for saving the life of a Medal of Honor recipient.

Bette> Wow, that is great, a Medal of Honor recipient saved another Medal of Honor recipient.

<Yes> That is great!

Okay, Kevin, we want to know about your military service.

Tell us about it.

Col.

Kevin> I went to basic training in 1974 at the closing down of Vietnam, didn't experience any of it.

Went immediately to college, got a four-year degree at the University of North Carolina where I entered the Army in 1979.

As I entered the Army, the Army gave me tremendous opportunities.

I was commissioned an infantryman and they gave me responsibility on the very first day for 33 men.

My job was to train and prepare them for war.

The object was to be so strong going into war that you deterred war.

But if you had to fight the war, be able to win the war.

Sure...Go ahead.

Bette> Now tell us what you are doing now.

Col.

Kevin> I have gone from the responsibility of training those men and women to becoming the Executive Director of the South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles.

Bette> I'm sure that is a big job too, right?

Col.

Kevin> (laughs) It is.

The governor realizes the wealth of experience I got in that period of time, in terms of leading soldier, being the equ of a president, C.E.O., a chief operating officer, human relations resources director and a logistician.

She asked me to run the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Right now, I have responsibility for about 1,200 individuals at 68 sites.

Bette> Okay, we learned about Camp Jackson.

It's founded in Columbia in World War I. We've got about a minute.

Tell us about Camp Jackson, which is Fort Jackson today, and what it means to South Carolina.

Col.

Kevin> Camp Jackson was given to the given to the federal government in 1919.

It's been in existence the entire time since then.

We train about 75,000 soldiers, sailors, a 50,000 in basic combat training skills, 10,000 in job skills, whether they are mechanics, finance, clerk We train all the Army's chaplains, Navy's chaplains and Air Force's chaplains.

Most remarkably we train 5,000 sailors a year who come to Fort Jackson, learn three weeks worth of basic training or deploy to places like Iraq, Afghanistan and Djibouti.

Bette> Well, and let's talk a little bit about that because right now we are in the middle of war.

We have young men and women defending our country, just like our native sons have done all through the wars from the Revolutionary War.

We have native sons and daughters over in the Middle East.

And we thank you for your service and we thank them for their service.

Col.

Kevin> These are people that represent the 1% percent of America.

Less than 1% percent of Americans have ever worn their nation's uniform for a single day.

They come into the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard knowing that going to war is not a possibility it's a probability.

It's a matter of when they go, they come i They serve in every known imaginable job i and they do it under the harshest circumstances.

When they come back, they have been tested under fire.

They are individuals that are selfless.

Most importantly, courageous.

They come back with job skills that can't be replicated anywhere else.

I would, as I thank everybody for their service, encourage everybody in the audience tomorrow on Veteran's Day find a veteran, shake their hand, thank them for their service, because they are honoring that 1% percent of America that has served.

Bette> That is so true.

We have so many South Carolina sons and da who have done their part to defend our cou from the time of the Revolution to present day.

Okay, we have a student who has a question.

Morgan, are you over there?

Morgan> Yes, ma'am, Raven from Horry County is wondering when you were in the war how did it affect your life and how did your children react while you were at war?

Bette> So how did being, when you served, how did that affect your life and that of your children?

Col.

Kevin> I didn't have to go and fight the way many of... I've got a brother and a brother-in-law that have four tours to Iraq and four tours to Afghanistan.

I know what an impact it has on families.

Families,...do not sleep well at night.

They sleep and they pray for their service members each and every night and they worry each and every night as to whether or not their families are sa Just as importantly those service members that are in harm's way worry about their families.

That is one of the neatest things about South Carolina.

In 32 years I lived in 24 places but the one place that reached out and emb beyond the scope of any other place we'd e was the South Carolina community.

Those Sailors, Airmen and Marines sleep we knowing their families are in great hands.

Bette> South Carolina is a great place.

Morgan, we have another South Carolina stu Morgan> Yes.

Paige from Horry County is wondering, "What wars did you fight in?

What was life like during that time?

(Bette laughs) Col.

Kevin> I haven't had the opportunity to fight in wars.

I have been to Bosnia.

I have been to Kuwait, I have been to Qatar, in those areas.

And so, in terms of trigger-pulling it's just not there.

The object most of the time has been to prepare America's sons and dau for the eventual combat and to not sacrifice standards, make sure they have every experience, from hardened combat veterans to make sure that those young men and women didn't have to learn the lessons that their drill sergeants learned in comb Bette> We've got about 30 seconds.

So, If we have young men and women out who are viewing Project Discovery today, what can you say in terms of finding their way, as a life, a career in the military?

Col.

Kevin> I'm glad you asked that, because the conditions have changed.

The people who come into the Army today have to have a high school diploma.

They cannot have been in trouble.

They have to have scored in the top 50% percent of their high school graduating class.

They've got to be honorable individuals, stay out of trouble and fight hard to get in.

And we want them.

Bette> Great, okay, we have another famous South Carolinian who served in the military.

He has a message for all of us for Veteran's Day.

Meet our State Superintendent of Education, Dr.

Zais.

Dr.

Mick Zais> South Carolina's military h is undoubtedly rich.

From the battles fought on Palmetto State Soil during the American Revolution to the thousands of volunteers who served in the Pacific and European theaters of World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the ongoing conflict in the Mid-east.

The citizens of our state have played an important role in defending freedom.

Military men and women sacrifice time with their families and indeed their own safety to preserve and protect the American way of life.

Our annual Veteran's Day celebrations are the least we can do to recognize and honor the fine soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who have served our country.

Many of you have parents, relatives and friends who are veterans.

As a Vietnam veteran and retired Army Brigadier General, I have the utmost respect for those in uniform who have served our country with such distinction.

No other calling affords the sense of pride and is founded on such noble ideals.

Thank a veteran today and Happy Veteran's Day.

(indistinct speech) >> Thank you, Dr.

Zais.

That was a great message as we have Veteran's Day tomorrow.

What a special year in the year 2011, the 11th month, the 11th day.

Veteran's Day, which is now celebrated because it started back in World War I as Lewis told us for Armistice Day and now it celebrates all wars.

So, Veteran's Day really is a special time?

Col.

Kevin> It's a special time to honor those that have given so much.

Many have laid their lives on the line and passed but many are still burying the scars of war and need your encouragement and support.

Hunt them down, give them support, thank them for their service.

Bette> If you have enjoyed some of the video that we have seen in this program, we just gave you a little taste of some of the e-media and South Carolina ETV programs that we have from the Revolutionary War from the Civil War, from World War I, with over there.

You can go to our web site at www.emedia.scetv.org and find a list under Project Discovery, November 2011, find a list of those so you can see all of them.

Thanks everyone, all of you out there in the schools for joining us, Thanks to our special guests.

Thank you for watching "Project Discovery" and have a great day.