Traveling Tuesday: Nevada and WWII

Traveling Tuesday: Nevada and WWII

Nevada gets short shrift in comparison to its famous city, Las Vegas. The state offers much more than gambling and chorus girls, and during WWII stepped up to “do its bit” like the other U.S. states and territories.

Mining was a major industry in Nevada well before the war began. However, as demand for copper, silver, and other important raw materials rose, mining companies expanded operations, hiring thousands of personnel who worked around the clock. In just two years production almost doubled when it rose to $43,864,107. One of Nevada’s most important contributions was magnesium. At its peak, the state mined five million pounds per day for a total or more than one hundred sixty six million ingots by war’s end, one-quarter of all magnesium used by the War Department for munitions casings and aircraft parts.

As with other states in the West, Nevada’s weather, wide open spaces, railroad connections, and proximity to California made it an excellent location for training pilots. Four airfields (Reno, Tonopah, Indian Springs, and Las Vegas) became the major installations, but there were others throughout the state. Targets were set in the deserts so that B-17 and B-24 crews could prepare for missions. Six hundred gunnery and 215 co-pilots graduated every five weeks, and by the end of the war 45,000 gunners had completed training in Nevada, including those who were tasked with dropping the atomic bombs on Japan.

Despite its remoteness from either coast, Nevada was not used as a site for the internment of Japanese or prisoners of war. Governor Edward Carville refused on the grounds that he didn’t not want his state used “as a dumping ground for enemy aliens.” The few enemy aliens who did reside in Nevada were faced with mixed response. Not all Japanese were forced to move to relocation camps, but many who stated were required to adhere to new restrictions and laws such as registering themselves and turning in all weapons and short-wave radios.

Hoover Dam Bunker

Built between 1931 and 1936, Hoover Dam (formerly Boulder Dam) is located over the Colorado River on the border of Nevada and Arizona. A major provider of hydroelectricity for the defense factories in California, the facility was considered a vulnerable target. Government agencies monitored possible German and Japanese threats and precautions were taken to ensure its safety. In addition to being protected by over eight hundred men from Camp Williston, access to the dam by visitors was restricted, and navigation on Lake Mead around the dam was prohibited.

Men and women from around the state served in uniform with distinction, and nearly 600 soldier, sailors, and airmen lost their lives.

Traveling Tuesday: Montana During WWII

Home to Glacier National Park, Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, and Yellowstone National Park, Montana is a combination of mountain ranges, prairies terrain, and badlands. Located in the northwestern United States, it is bordered by Idaho, North and South Dakota, Wyoming, and three Canadian provinces. Despite being the third least populous state in the union, Montana made significant contributions to World War II.

War Dogs: Dogs for Defense was a program started by dog fanciers (mostly members of the AKC). The program asked US citizens to volunteer to give their dogs to the military for use as sentry dogs initially. Ultimately, dogs were also trained  and sent overseas to be used for mine detection, delivering messages, and scouting out the enemy. If you want more information about this interesting segment of US WWII history, watch my podcast about Dogs for Defense on YouTube.

Camp Rimini is now a ghost town just outside of Helena, but was once a training camp for sled and pack dogs during WWII. Journalist Karen Fischer states in her article: “Rimini’s long winters and deep snow...were also ideal for training men and dogs in Arctic rescue and survival techniques, so the camp became the source of the teams and equipment used by the Arctic Search and Rescue Units of the Air Transport Command.”

Mining:  The need for copper, zinc, manganese, and other minerals skyrocketed during the war and revived the Montana mining industry. The metals were used to produce materiels such as weapons, vehicles, and other tools. Robert I. Nesmith was the chief photograph of the "Copper Commando" newspaper during the war, and he took hundreds of picture in Montana that displayed the work of everyday miners.

Because of the labor shortage as men went off to war, mining companies struggled to find employees, and the federal government pressured them to hire nontraditional workers, including women. The move met with resistance. Union officials and copper workers argued that women could not work in mines or smelters because they lacked the physical strength and stamina to do the job. Women worked in a variety of positions from picking up debris to bending wire to oiling machinery. Many of the women expressed pride that they could hold their own doing "men's work." Ursula Jurcich recalled that smelter work "wasn't any more strenuous than housework."

Fort Missoula: Built in 1877 by the US Army to protect settlers in Western Montana from possible threats from Native Americans, the fort was remodeled between 1908 and 1914 before becoming a military training center during WWI. Nearly abandoned, it was taken over by the Civilian Conservation Corp in 1933 then handed to the Department of Naturalization and Immigration in 1941 for use as an Alien Detention Center. The 1,200 Italians house here were primarily merchant seamen, World's Fair employees, and the crew of an Italian luxury liner seized in the Panama Canal. About 1,000 Japanese-Americans and a few German-Americans were also interned at the fort.

Have you ever visited this majestic and historic state?

Traveling Tuesday: Wyoming and WWII

Traveling Tuesday: Wyoming and WWII

Situated in the Mountain Region, Wyoming is the least populous state and the second least densely populated state. At 253,600 square kilometers, Wyoming is about half the size of Spain and slightly larger the UK. Bordered by Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, and Idaho, the state had a population of about 250,000 people in 1940.  

About ten percent of the Wyoming’s men served in the Armed Forces, but the state played many more roles during World War II.

Army Air Bases: The Army Air Force (the Air Force separated from the Army in September 1947) established numerous airfields for training fighter and bomber pilots and air crews. The two major fields were located in Casper and Cheyenne. The fate of the bases is varied. Some became municipal airports while others were retained by the Air Force. Some were left to go back to the agricultural fields they had been. Meanwhile, the hundreds of “temporary” buildings still survive.

Camp Douglas POW Camp: From 1943 to 1946, the camp of 180 buildings housed Italian and German prisoners-of-war. Very few of the buildings remain, but the Officer’s club still stands. Inside the walls are covered in murals depicting western life and folklore. Painted by three Italian prisoners, the murals are now on the National Register of Historic Places with the National Park Service. The installation of the camp created a housing shortage for military personnel (not housed in the camp), so most residents of the city rented out rooms. In addition, because of the number of men who left to serve, there was a shortage of workers in the agricultural industry. Therefore, the some of the prisoners were used to fill the void. At its peak, the camp housed more than 3,000 inmates.

Heart Mountain Relocation Camp: Many people are aware of the internment of Japanese citizens from the west coast states, but did you know there was a large population of Japanese, Italian, and German folks in Wyoming? Forced to register and carry photographic identification cards after the attack on Pearl Harbor, many of these people eventually lost their jobs. According to one article, railroad employees were fired, but miners continued to work. (Did no one else want the job? Did the government decide they couldn’t do any harm working deep in the mountains?) Eventually the Japanese were evacuated to the Heart Mountain Relocation Center located between Cody and Powell. Japanese from California were also transported there. The camp closed November 10, 1945, more than three months after the end of the war.

Mining: Coal mining in Wyoming commenced in 1867 with the arrival the Union Pacific Railroad. Coal was necessary to power the locomotives. Working this hard, dangerous job thousands of miners lost their lives from explosions and fires. In the early 1900s laws were passed to ensure worker safety. Coal had many uses, and its demand skyrocketed during WWII. Wyoming also mined iron and produced oil for the war effort.

A beautiful state with a proud history. Have you ever visited?