Traveling Tuesday: Kentucky

Traveling Tuesday: Kentucky

Known as the “Bluegrass State, Kentucky was admitted in 1792 as the 15th state. Louisville and Lexington, Kentukcy’s largest cities are home to over twenty percent of the population. Located in the south, Kentucky is one of four commonwealths of the United States; the other three being Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Massachusetts. Bordered by Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, and Missouri, Kentucky is part of the southern region of the U.S.

Kentucky was heavily involved in World War II. The Army Air Force established numerous airfield for training pilots and crews of fighters and bombers. The First Airforce operated Godman/Fort Knox and Fort Campbell. Air Technical Service command operated Louisville Aircraft Modification Center, and Troop Carrier Command operated Bowman Field and Lexington Air Field. Many of the bases were converted to municipal airports and some were returned to agriculture. Several remained Air Force installations.

The commonwealth was home to eleven prisoner-of-war camps with the largest being at Campbell, Knox, and Breckinridge County. The bulk of the prisoners were German. Many of the prisoners were used to fill the labor void in construction projects and the agricultural industry. Farmers would contract with the government to use the POWs.

Fort Knox was also the temporary home to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

As with the rest of the country, Kentucky was the location of manufacturing plants that converted their facilities to war materiel production. The Louisville Slugger factory switched its production from baseball bats to rifle stocks. One of only five percent of businesses to do so, they were award the Army Navy E Award for their contributions. In Lexington, factories produced parachutes. Ford switched from cars to Jeeps and produced more than 100,000 vehicles by the end of the war. Distillers stopped making bourbon to produce industrial alcohol.

More than three hundred thousand Kentuckians served in the armed forces, with nearly 4,000 wounded and 8,000 giving their lives. One Kentuckian, Franklin Sowsley was one of six Marines who raised the second flag on Iwo Jima. He would be killed weeks later by a sniper.

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Are a new life and new love possible in a country devastated by war?

Barely married before she’s widowed after Pearl Harbor three years ago, journalist Cora Strealer travels to England where she’s assigned to work with United Press’s top reporter who thinks the last place for a woman is on the front lines. Can she change his opinion before D-Day? Or will she have to choose her job over her heart?

A sought-after journalist, Van Toppel deserves his pick of assignments, which is why he can’t determine the bureau chief’s motive for saddling him with a cub reporter. Unfortunately, the beautiful rookie is no puff piece. Can he get her off his beat without making headlines…or losing his heart?

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Traveling Tuesday: The Bluegrass State

Traveling Tuesday: The Bluegrass State

One of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth, Kentucky was originally part of Virginia. Bounded by the Ohio River to the north, and the Appalachian Mountains to the east, it is famous for horse racing, bourbon distilleries, coal, and blue grass music. However, during World War II the “Bluegrass State” turned its attention to other things.

Like many other states, Kentucky became the home to several thousand prisoners of war, mostly German. The POWs were absorbed into the workforce to take the place of the men who had left for the armed forces or defense jobs. Bobby True recalls his father contracting with the government to use the prisoners on his 800-acre farm. In some cases, friendships developed. One farmer stated, “I made a friend with one of them. His name was Hans and after the war I kept correspondence with him. He lived in Munich.”

An interesting change took place on some of Kentucky’s farms. Because of Japan’s attack on Asia, the major producer of rope, many farms converted from food and tobacco production to hemp-a crop used to make rope for Navy ships.

Kentucky also became the location of factories, three hundred in Louisville alone that employed nearly 75,000 workers. Production included weapons, vehicles, equipment, tools, and canned goods. The city became the world’s largest manufacturer of artificial rubber, and the Ford plant produced more than 100,000 Jeeps. Shipyards in Jeffersonville did their bit and built water craft by the hundreds.

Fort Knox also expanded to include an air base. Other air bases were created, including Fort Campbell in Hopkinsville and Bowman Field in Louisville. Of the more than 300,000 Kentuckians who served, 7,917 gave their lives in the ultimate sacrifice.