Name: How a WWII battleship was saved from being turned into scrap
Uploaded: 2025-11-12T00:48:02.384Z
Duration: 2 min 58 s
Description: After years of service to the nation, the Battleship North Carolina was about to fade quietly into history -- until school children came to the rescue.

After years of service to the nation, the Battleship North Carolina was about to fade quietly into history -- until school children came to the rescue.

Wilmington

The USS North Carolina, the most decorated American battleship of World War II, was nearly scrapped in 1961 after years of service. A grassroots fundraising campaign, notably involving tens of thousands of schoolchildren each donating a dime, raised enough money to bring the ship to Wilmington, North Carolina, where it now serves as a memorial.

The campaign collected $330,000—equivalent to $3.5 million in 2025 dollars—ensuring the ship's preservation. Today, the battleship stands as a symbol of sacrifice and community effort, with many visitors and former donors reflecting on its historical significance and the unity it inspired.

How a WWII battleship was saved from being turned into scrap

In tonight's Eye on America, the story of a World War II veteran. After years of service to the nation, this highly decorated hero is about to fade quietly into history. Then, as Mark Strassman reports, school kids came to the rescue. It's massive, and it dwarfs everything around it. Welcome aboard the battleship North Carolina. Stem to stern, America's most decorated World War II battleship. Now a shrine to sacrifice docked in Wilmington, Jay Martin is the memorial's executive director. People feel about the battleship the same way people in New York feel about the Statue of Liberty. It's a part of us. It's a symbol of America and what makes America great. The North Carolina set sail in 1941 as America's greatest maritime weapon, earning 15 Battlestars, island hopping in the Pacific Theater. But you're about to hear another story of heroics, the rescue of this battleship. By 1961, it was months away from being sold for scrap. A grassroots drive here sent out an SOS, save our ship. Let's bring the North Carolina home. North Carolinians would donate to tow the battleship here from the scrap heap in New Jersey. Somebody came up with the idea of, let's mobilize school children and if they each give a dime, we'll raise a substantial portion of the money we need to raise the battleship. This ship was saved one dime at a time. That's exactly right. And it took a whole lot of them. Tens of thousands of school children responded. The drive raised $330,000, that's $3.5 million in 2025 dollars. The North Carolina was saved. Hey, Frank. Donors like Frank Carter, now a 75-year-old retired school teacher, touring the ship he helped salvage. Our teacher came in one day and said, we're raising money to get the battleship to come to Wilmington because it's going to be destroyed. When the battleship actually showed up, the people who had given felt like, you know, we've really done something here. Carter says all his classmates knew a World War II veteran. His father, Frank Carter Sr., was a soldier in North Africa. Do you, in some ways, feel your father when you walk on the ship? I feel him on the ship. I still see him as a soldier, even though I never saw him, other than in pictures. Tourists stepping onto the ship today. You just have a lot more respect for the service. Step into an era when people pull together. Almost every day I meet somebody who says that their dime saved the ship. Child heroics saved a battleship after she helped save the world. For Eye on America, I'm Mark Strassman in Wilmington, North Carolina.

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