Vigo County Historical Society

Book recounts home-front efforts

"What did you do during the war, Mommy?" is a question many children asked their mothers after hearing stories of what daddy did in the service during the war.

"Oh, I kept the home fires burning," "I worked," and "I waited for your father to come " were some of the answers I got when I asked my mom that question.

I had other questions, too, like, why did they have to collect milkweed pods, or why did they save waste fats? Why did they have posters that asked you to save old tires and scrap metal? This one really puzzled me--what were loose lips and how was it possible for them to sink ships?

Many books, movies and documentaries have been produced that tell us of the men and women who went to war but not much has been written about what happened at homes. Lately, since it is the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, a few books have been written to discuss what happened at home.

One such book is this week’s Historical Treasure, and what a treasure it is! The writing team of Dorothy Weinz Jerse and Judith Stedman Calvert has once again produced an outstanding book entitled, "On the Home Front in Vigo County, Indiana l941-1945." It features photographs by Kenneth W. Martin from the Martin Family Collection at the Vigo County Public Library.

From the forward written by Donald L. Layton, professor of history at Indiana State University to the Honor List of Dead and Missing from Vigo County, you will find page after page telling of the many ways people of the Wabash Valley served their country during a time of total war.

Why save waste fats? They went into the making of explosives. Old tires? Just one provided enough rubber for 12 gas masks. An old radiator? Provided enough steel needed for 17 .30-caliber rifles.

Most of us have heard of Rosie the Riveter but did you know about the women who knitted warm clothing for the boys overseas?

Others made, collected and repaired clothing and other items to be sent to refugee relief organizations such as Bundles for Britain, American Friends of France, Urgent Relief for France, Russian War Relief, as well as the Red Cross and its relief efforts.

Some people made bandages and surgical dressings for the Red Cross in the War Workshop in the basement of the Emeline Fairbanks Memorial Library. Recruiting pamphlets for the Red Cross stated, "One woman working a full eight-hour day cannot make enough surgical dressings to supply one badly wounded soldier."

It must have been effective, as the Terre Haute unit reported 12,018,214 worker hours recorded from January through May in 1943.

Everyone served: kids sold and bought War Stamps and Bonds, conducted paper drives, distributed Victory Garden Guides and collected milkweed pods. The floss from milkweed was used as a substitute for kapok, which was no longer available from Java. It provided buoyancy in life jackets and aviators’ jackets.

As for those loose lips, I’ll leave that for you to find out for yourself when you come to the museum to see the "On the Home Front" exhibits.