World War II in Mid-America

By all accounts, the Second World War was one of the most singular world shaping events of all time. Never before had such a war been fought by and effected so many differing nations; over fifty countries or dependencies were involved in one way or another. The casualty rates were staggering by all accounts. Estimates on the military and civilian death toll vary from sixty million to around seventy-five million, and this does not include the millions upon millions that were wounded, injured, or displaced.
Like the First World War, the United States was a relative latecomer to the Second World War, not fully becoming engaged in the conflict until after the 7 December 1941 Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and other Allied Pacific outposts. Once engaged, however, the United Stated entered the war with everything it had, eventually fighting in every theater of the conflict and sending over sixteen million of its sons and daughters to the fight. Over three hundred twenty thousand of these would be either killed or wounded.
Unlike many of the previous wars, however, and even the wars since—the Korean War, the Vietnam Conflict, and even the first Persian Gulf war (1991), as well as the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan—the Second World War did not just involve the military. In World War II the entire country went to war, with those that stayed home full-heartedly supporting the war effort in any way they could throughout its entire duration. There were no anti-war riots, and very few, if any, anti-war protests. There were very few draft dodgers; for that matter, it was considered nearly a disgrace for any able bodied man of service age to be seen on the streets throughout the United States not in uniform. Many of the disabled even attempted to enlist, sometimes more than once, to ‘do their part’; some would eventually be accepted. Others lied about their age to enlist, some actually being in their mid-teens. It was also a time when movie actors, directors, and producers, professional athletes, politicians, and sons of presidents and congressmen flocked to the recruiting stations—not to do so would have been considered unpatriotic.
Those who were not able to serve in the military due to their gender, age, health, or, in some instances, where the need was greater for the individual to serve in factories or on farms for the nation’s and the war effort’s good, including the parents, grandparents, wives, sisters, brothers, girl friends, and even children of the servicemen and women, eagerly and unwaveringly served their country’s war effort in other ways. They not only stood firmly behind the war effort, they also endured rationing, many times going without such staples as sugar, new clothes, new shoes, tires, gasoline, silk stockings, and new cars. Even old cars often sat idle for months and sometimes years on end when repair parts or replacement tires became non-existent. These Americans gathered and donated, without expecting any reimbursement, anything the government requested for the war effort. They also helped and supported each other, many times without even being asked to do so, and they seldom if ever grumbled about their difficulties and shortages—because it was for the war effort.
What follows is their story, many times quoting their own words using the exact dialect and idioms in which they related them, representing their thoughts, their views, and how they experienced the war, with no apologies made nor intended to conform to the modern concept of political correctness. These accounts are not from a politician’s view, or a military leader’s view, or even a historian’s view, but the view of the everyday citizen, soldier, sailor, and airman who lived through the World War II era. Although it is a story that centers around one small, rural, mid-western community, this community can easily be considered indicative of nearly every small, rural community in the heartland of America. The area of the country for this narrative was chosen simply because it is the town and community the author grew up in; it is a community he is familiar with. But it is also a community that readily represents many thousands of other rural, small American towns throughout the country.
Although it is in fact a story about the Second World War, it is not intended to be in itself a history of the war. Instead, it will only cover the theaters and battles of the war that were experienced—and then only to the extent that they were experienced—by those individuals included within these pages. It is the story, however, of the honest, hard working, patriotic American of that generation. It is the story of the soldier, the airman, the Marine, and the sailor; why, how, and where they fought in the war, as well as how the war affected their lives—including many of their pre-war as well as post-war experiences. It is also the story of the housewife, the factory worker, the farmer, the girlfriend, and the children of the era. The story of how they too willingly sacrificed to win the war against Japan and Nazi Germany; and how the war changed their lives, as well as how they lived their lives before, during, and after the war. In short, it is a study of how rural small-town America contributed to and fared during the Second World War through the eyes of some of those who witnessed and lived it.
Our story begins in the mid 1930’s, since this is when most of those featured grew up, struggling through the Great Depression, a time when many did not even have electricity and running water in their homes and country schools. A time when youngsters walked a mile or more to and from school—in all forms of weather. It was also a time when one out of every four adults was out of work, and had been for quite some time due to the Depression. We then move onto that fateful day in December of 1941 when the United States was suddenly and shockingly forced into World War II, and then follow our featured characters from year to year as the war progressed and finally came to an end.