Maryland World War II Memorial

World War II drew more than 287,000 Maryland men and women into military service and claimed nearly 6,500 of their lives, while countless others on the home front in Maryland’s factories, shipyards, farms, hospitals, and military installations helped sustain the Allied war effort in what became the largest and most violent armed conflict in history. Beginning on September 1, 1939, the war lasted seven years and four months, engulfed fifty-seven nations, and involved armed forces totaling more than 99 million at peak strength; of the 12,123,445 Americans sent into service, more than 297,000 died and about 671,000 were wounded. The conflict grew out of depression-era hardship and the outbreak of war in Europe after Germany invaded Poland, leading the United States to mobilize manpower and industry before its formal entry after Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Maryland contributed early through the federalization of the 29th Infantry Division, the organization of several general hospitals, the operation of twenty-nine camps, bases, and detachments, and vast industrial output including aircraft, ships, electronics, weapons, and agricultural production. The war’s human cost was immense, with millions of military dead and wounded, tens of millions of civilian deaths, genocide carried out by Nazi Germany, and atrocities including the Bataan Death March and the deaths of many prisoners in enemy custody. American and Allied forces fought across North Africa, Sicily, Italy, Europe, the Atlantic, the Pacific, and the China-Burma-India Theater, while air campaigns, naval battles, island fighting, and the advance into Germany and toward Japan shaped the course of victory. The 29th Infantry Division, shared proudly by Maryland with neighboring jurisdictions, landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day, fought from Normandy into Germany, suffered 19,814 killed, wounded, injured, or missing, and captured 38,812 prisoners. Women served in unprecedented numbers in uniform and in wartime industry, and civilians at home accepted rationing, defense duties, volunteer work, and expanded production as part of a total war effort. After brutal combat across the Pacific and the use of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan surrendered on September 2, 1945, and the war’s end left a legacy of gratitude to all who served, especially those who gave their lives, were lost, were imprisoned, suffered atrocities, or remained missing in action.

Maryland · United States