WAR ZONE

Public awareness turned at the end of March, when the City of New York sank after a U-boat attack. A passenger ship from Europe, the City of New York carried a Yugoslavian woman who was pregnant, Desanka Mohorovic. On the lifeboat after the sinking, Desanka gave birth to a son, whom she later named after the ship that rescued them, the destroyer USS Jesse Roper. Newspaper stories about the sinking of the ship and the birth of Jesse Roper Mohorovic indicated that the US Navy had not completely ridded the North Carolina coast of the deadly U-boats.

By April, the North Carolina coast was feeling the full effects of the U-boats' sting. About 122 ships had been destroyed. Bodies of servicemen and merchant sailors washed ashore for children to find. The US government issued warnings about talking about merchant sea routes and schedules. Blackouts were scheduled at night for all coastal residents and shopkeepers, and curfews were issued to keep residents from driving with their headlights on. Residents of Hatteras, Ocracoke and other coastal towns talk about driving at night with black tape over their headlights and about the widespread suspicions about spies in hotels and restaurants.

War Zone synthesizes the stories of US merchant sailors, US Coast Guard members, coastal residents, and relatives of key participants in the violent drama of 1942. In addition, curators from the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum in Hatteras, NC and the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago add insight and analysis of the events between January and July 1942.

"The Outer Banks has been neglected and overlooked for so long in North Carolina history," said Duffus. "The Coast Guard and Navy were in the middle of a war. In addition, there was a huge sacrifice made by merchant seamen, who served their country and did so without much recognition."

Michael Gannon talks about the US' attempt to catch German spies and also rectifies some of the coastal rumors about U-boat crewmen who would come ashore and eat in the restaurants and buy groceries.

While some servicemen began relationships that sprouted into lasting marriages, many others said good-buy to friends that would never return. But in late April, the tide began to turn for the US. The USS Jesse Roper, the same destroyer that had rescued the survivors of the City of New York, spotted a U-boat in its path and chased it to its eventual destruction. Military aircraft spotted another U-boat and destroyed it as well. A total of four German subs were sunk off the North Carolina coast--the most of all states and Canadian Provinces. US Navy members treated the enemy survivors with surprising compassion. Beginning in May, the US began using convoys of ships, a tactic that England had recommended and that finally led to the defeat of the U-boats. The American retaliation against the U-boats signaled that the end of the U-boat war in the Western Atlantic was in sight.

By the time World War II ended, over 5000 merchant seamen and civilians had been killed and 397 vessels had been destroyed. Although Germany's U-boat operations claimed more lives than Pearl Harbor and wreaked more destruction, few Americans even know about them. War Zone brings to light a tragedy in US history that has been in the shadows too long.

Producer