Wartime Wednesday: Pillow Talk

Wartime Wednesday: Pillow Talk

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Unlike “sweetheart jewelry” that got its start during World War I, the giving of sweetheart pillow covers or shams seems to have started during the War of 1812. In a letter from Private Abner McDonough of Wilmington, Delaware to his mother, he says, “some of us fellows took ahold {sic} of a good idea, Sunday week, which has led us to make special remembrances for our loved ones back home. We was wondering what to do with the sacks the feed for the mules comes in, and they’re {sic} being a lull in the fighting hereabouts and us having some free time for a chance, we got us some needles and colored threads and sewed words of true sentiment, and designs too, on the sacks, then stuffing them with pine needles and sewing up the ends…”

The Civil War also saw soldiers and sailors send home pillow covers, but by the Spanish American War, “Mother” pillows were massed produced by commercial companies and sold on military bases. Some were also sent home from members of the Civilian Conservation Corps. According to one source, “it was America’s entry into World War I that opened the floodgates to the manufacture and sale of Mother pillows.” Statistics from the Federation of American Retailers of Felt Products and Novelties, more than twelve million pillows were sold between 1917 and 1920. World War II would see almost that many sold. One site indicates the cost was approximately $7.00.

Because silk was required in the manufacture of parachutes, the covers were initially made of rayon, a

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fiber generally derived from wood pulp. Eucalyptus trees are the primary source, but bamboo, soy, and cotton may also be used. With the invention of nylon in 1938 by DuPont, many covers from the mid- to end of the war were of this fabric – often touted as helping the Allies win the war.

Rarely used to cover pillows, the shams were often framed and hung on the wall, or stashed in a cedar chest for safekeeping. The majority of the covers denoted the military base, and many included poems or sentiments. Some just indicated Mother, Wife, Sister, or Sweetheart. Scenes and unit or branch insignias were often embedded among ivy or flowers. More often than not, fringe edged the covers.

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The Wright Museum is the proud recipient of a collection of nearly two hundred covers and associated items from author Patricia Cummings, whose book Sweetheart & Mother Pillows: 1917-1945 is considered a landmark study. The covers were featured in the museum’s 2021 exhibit Shaped by Conflict.

Have you ever seen a sweetheart pillow?

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Estelle's Endeavor

Will a world at war destroy a second chance at love?

Estelle Johnson promised to wait for Aubry DeLuca, but then she receives word of his debilitating injuries. Does she have the strength to stand by him in his hour of need?

Aubry DeLuca storms the beaches at Normandy, then wakes up in the hospital, his eyes bandaged. Will he regain his sight? Will the only woman he’s ever loved welcome him home or is he destined to go through life blind and alone?

Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3vf1lbi

Wartime Wednesday: Let Me Call You Sweetheart

Wartime Wednesday: Let Me Call You Sweetheart

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The “Great War” or “The War to End All Wars,” sent young men across the globe to fight. In addition to letters, many of the soldiers sent keepsakes home to families and girlfriends. Dubbed “sweetheart jewelry,” the items were often handcrafted while in the trenches. Twenty years later, the world was again at war, and the custom of sending these pieces flourished. By this time, most of the items were machine-made and sold to U.S. soldiers.

Despite the moniker, sweetheart jewelry wasn’t just given to girlfriends. Mothers and sisters also received items from sons and brothers. Brooches, pendants, and bracelets were the most popular pieces, but with metal being tightly rationed, the jewelry was manufactured with Bakelite (a resin), celluloid, wood, mother-of-pearl, shell, ivory, rhinestones, enamel, and sometimes wire. Rarer pieces were made with platinum, sterling silver, silverplate, brass, gold plate, gold-filled, and even solid gold.

Patriotism was the prevalent theme of the jewelry, with the American flag and eagle most often

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depicted. Hearts were also used on a large percentage of the pieces, as were the nation’s colors of red, white, and blue. During the war, V is for Victory became a catchphrase, and manufacturers began to use Victory as a marketing tool on everything from Victory Wax Paper to Victory Fly Swatters. Therefore, it’s unsurprising that the V made its way into the jewelry industry. In addition to signifying the region of the world where the soldier or sailor was serving, sweetheart jewelry often featured a V, with wings being another symbol widely used.

Heart-shaped lockets, bracelets, earrings, and rings were most often sent to girlfriends and wives. Another popular item was a sweetheart compact. Also heart-shaped, the compact could also be found in other shapes such as oval, square, rectangular, or even in the shape of an officer’s hat.

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The women who received these items wore or used them with pride, and perhaps created a connection with their loved ones thousands of miles away. Having received a charm bracelet from my husband while we were dating and adding charms associated with an event as the years have passed, I understand how valuable sweetheart jewelry was to the recipients (although I cannot relate to the worry they must have felt). Whenever I visit the sweetheart jewelry display at the Wright Museum, I wonder about the stories and relationships behind each piece.

Have you ever received a piece of jewelry of great significance?

________________

Estelle's Endeavor

Will a world at war destroy a second chance at love?

Estelle Johnson promised to wait for Aubry DeLuca, but then she receives word of his debilitating injuries. Does she have the strength to stand by him in his hour of need?

Aubry DeLuca storms the beaches at Normandy, then wakes up in the hospital, his eyes bandaged. Will he regain his sight? Will the only woman he’s ever loved welcome him home or is he destined to go through life blind and alone?

Purchase Link:  https://amzn.to/3vf1lbi

Wartime Wednesday: The Stage Door Canteen

Wartime Wednesday: The Stage Door Canteen

WikiImages

Two and a half decades before the attack at Pearl Harbor, the Stage Women’s War Relief organization was formed to coordinate charitable contributions during The Great War, as WWII was then known. Activities included creating workrooms for sewing uniforms and other garments (with a reported output of nearly two million items), setting up clothing and food collection centers, selling Liberty Bonds, and presenting benefit performances to raise funds. The organization also opened a canteen on Broadway for servicemen. In 1919, the SWWR turned its attention to helping veterans and civilians recover from the war, eventually ceasing operations.

Fast forward to 1939. By request of the U.S. government, Playwright and director Rachel Crothers reestablished the organization as a branch of the British War Relief Society but called it the American Theatre Wing. Founding members were a “who’s who” in the industry including Josephine Hull, Gertrude Lawrence, Theresa Helburn, and Mary Antoinette “Toni” Perry, who would eventually be the inspiration for the Tony Award.

The group initially conducted fundraising events and clothing drives to send overseas to the British

Photo: Library
of Congress

people. However, after the December 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, the focus shifted to the American war effort. On March 3, 1942, the first canteen opened at the former Little Club, located under the “44th Street Theatre” in Manhattan, and was donated free of charge by its owner Lee Shubert. Newspapers reported that more than 1,250 servicemen attended opening night with two hundred “actresses of varying importance as hostesses and seventy-five name actors as busboys.”

Two days prior, the public was invited to view the establishment for the price of donations to the kitchen. More than one thousand pounds of sugar was collected! Recruiting was serious business, and applicants were told they would be expected to work through the entire war and required to provide a substitute if they had to miss a shift.

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Despite the lack of alcohol served, the canteen was an instant success. Operating seven nights a week, the building was filled to the gills with servicemen and young women dancing to the music of famous bands and rubbing shoulders with Hollywood and Broadway stars. Food was free to the troops, and the public was generous in its donations of canned goods and other items. Songwriter Irving Berlin contributed all profits from his hit “I Left My Heart at the Stage Door Canteen.” Soon other canteens opened in Boston, Newark, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Washington, DC. Los Angeles’s canteen nearly surpassed the popularity of Broadway’s original facility thanks to its cadre of movie stars. Near the end of the war, London and Paris would each boast a canteen.

Unusual for the times, the canteens were open to servicemen of all Allied nations from every branch of service, mingling men of all nationalities and colors, creating “one of the few democratic institutions in existence anywhere.” (Theatre Arts Magazine, 1943).

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Murder of Convenience

Betrayal, blackmail, and a barrage of unanswered questions.

May 1942: Geneva Alexander flees Philadelphia and joins the USO to escape the engagement her parents have arranged for her, only to wind up as the number one suspect in her betrothed’s murder investigation. Diagnosed with a degenerative eye disease, she must find the real killer before she loses her sight…or is convicted for a crime she didn’t commit.

Set in the early days of America’s entry into WWII and featuring cameo appearances from Hollywood stars, Murder of Convenience is a tribute to individuals who served on the home front, especially those who did so in spite of personal difficulties, reminding us that service always comes as a result of sacrifice.

Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/u/4Ax9aN

Wartime Wednesday: Hawaii's Home Front After Pearl Harbor

Wartime Wednesday: 

Hawaii’s Home Front After Pearl Harbor 

Pixabay/WikiImages

The December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor forced the United States into war with Japan. The following day, Germany declared war on the U.S., and the country became embroiled in WWII. Within hours of the attack, the Territorial Governor stripped himself of his administrative powers, and Hawaii (still a territory at that time) was put under martial law. 

Under military law, the normal judicial process is suspended, therefore courts, witnesses, and juries are unnecessary. Instead, a military tribunal handles all violations and metes out punishment as it sees fit. With more than a third of the residents being of Japanese descent, the government was in a quandary about what to do with them. Interning the individuals, as was being done on the mainland, was impractical for numerous reasons, therefore it was hoped that martial law would take care of the situation. 

All residents over the age of six were fingerprinted and issued identification papers that were to be

Pixabay/Cytis

carried at all times and produced upon demand. Curfews and blackouts (including electricity shutoff after sundown) were implemented, the media and mail were censored, and food, gasoline, and other items were rationed. Business hours were assigned and alcohol was prohibited. 

Traffic was monitored and special garbage collection was administered. Civilians were banned from photographing coastal locations, but they were also used to dig holes for bomb shelters and place barbed wire around beaches, water pumping stations, electrical installations, and government buildings. Gas masks were issued and regular drills were held to prepare for gas attacks or air raids. 

Pixabay/David Mark

Waikiki’s beachfront hotels were closed to the public and taken over for the exclusive use of the military (whose five branches all had a presence on the islands). Seven POW and internment camps were located on Oahu, the big island, Maui, and Kauai. 

Hawaii was forever changed as a result of WWII, and many scholars feel the statehood that followed fourteen years later had a direct correlation to the war.

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About Under Cover:

In the year since arriving in London, journalist Ruth Brown has put a face on the war for her readers at home in the U.S. Thus far, juggling her career and her relationship with Detective Inspector Trevor Gelson hasn't proven too challenging. The war gets personal for Ruth when her friend Amelia is murdered, and Trevor is assigned to the case. Life gets even more unsettling when clues indicate her best friend, Varis, is passing secrets to the enemy. Convinced Varis is innocent, Ruth must find the real traitor as the clock ticks down toward Operation Husky-the Allied invasion of Sicily. Circumstantial evidence leads Trevor to suspect her of having a part in Amelia's death, and Ruth must choose between her heart and her duty.

Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3pGWa0P

Wartime Wednesday: License Plates during WWII

Wartime Wednesday: License Plates During WWII

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Do you give your license plate much thought? Do you have a “vanity tag?” In the early days of automobiles, registration wasn’t required. Finally, in 1901 New York became the first state to require license plates, interestingly made by the individual owners, rather than being issued by state agencies. Typically handcrafted on leather or iron, they featured the owner’s initials. Two years later, Massachusetts distributed the first state-issued plates. Reporting the very first plate issued to Frederick Tudor, a worker with the highway commission, featured the number “1.” One of his relatives reportedly still owns the plate, and to this day in Massachusetts having a low-numbered plate is highly desired.

The earliest American license plates were made from porcelain baked onto iron or ceramic, but they

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were fragile and most didn’t last. By the 1930s plates were made of metal, and a new plate was issued each year upon renewal. However, in 1942, that practice came to a screeching halt with the advent of World War II. Metal was needed for the war effort, and many automobile factories were converted to munitions or other war-oriented purposes. In an effort to conserve metal, many states stopped issuing front plates and revalidated the plate with a small metal tab indicating the year. Other states, such as Wisconsin reduced the size of their plates. Eventually, some states issued stickers to affix to the windshield.

Other states experimented with alternate materials for license plates such as a soybean-based fiberboard. The method of production is similar to today’s medium-density fiberboard (MDF). Heat and pressure bind layers of material into a flat, usable shape, with soy fibers and glue or soy flour as a binder.

Interestingly, Illinois and Michigan had the most success with soy-based materials, partly because of the efforts of carmaker Henry Ford, who for many years prior to the war had touted soybeans as a renewable material that could be used to create a wide range of plastics, especially within the automotive industry. In 1941, he had unveiled a plastic-bodied car constructed of panels made of “soybean fiber in a phenolic resin with formaldehyde used in the impregnation.” The plastic had been developed in his Greenfield Village Soybean Laboratory.

A downside to the use of soybean plates was their attraction to animals. One website told a story about a goat that was “reputed to have eaten an Illinois license plate in 1943.” An article in the Great Falls Tribune (Illinois) reported about an incident with a turkey, and a story in the Helena paper warned citizens of the likelihood of pigs being attracted to the plates.

Fortunately, with plates made of metal again, being pilfered by animals is no longer an issue!

___________________

Will a world at war destroy a second chance at love?

Estelle Johnson promised to wait for Aubry DeLuca, but then she receives word of his debilitating injuries. Does she have the strength to stand by him in his hour of need?

Aubry DeLuca storms the beaches at Normandy, then wakes up in the hospital, his eyes bandaged. Will he regain his sight? Will the only woman he’s ever loved welcome him home or is he destined to go through life blind and alone?

Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3TNRrHP

Wartime Wednesday: Mary Taylor Previte, Internee

Wartime Wednesday: Mary Taylor Previte, Internee

Photo courtesy
weihsien-paintings.org
/Mprevite/

Would you jump from a low-flying airplane to rescue people you don’t know? Mary Taylor Previte (rhymes with brevity) asked herself that very question many times over her life.

The daughter of third-generation missionaries to China, Mary was nine years old when armed men arrived at her boarding school and announced the property now belonged to the “Great Emperor of Japan.” For that first year, life remained the same. Then the Japanese needed the school for another purpose, and soldiers loaded the residents onto a boat, then a train, then trucks to transport them to Weihsien, a “Civilian Assembly Center” near the city of Weifang, Shandong, China.

When she arrived, the camp was already filled with internees: businesspeople, entertainers, doctors, Protestant ministers, and Catholic priests and nuns. Considered enemy aliens, the inhabitants were British, American, Belgian, Scandinavian, Canadian, and Australian.

Conditions were squalid, with little food to go around. Blankets were scarce, and residents spent all

winter shivering. Barbed wire and booby traps surrounded the camps with soldiers watching from guard towers or patrolling the grounds with dogs. Prisoners were required to wear their prisoner numbers at all times, and roll calls occurred daily. The children learned to count in Japanese so they could count themselves off. Dignitaries often visited.

Of the nearly 2,000 inmates, about 360 were children. Fortunately, the adults did all they could to create “normalcy” in the camp. Mrs. Previte remembers one teacher often saying, “School will go on. We will win this war, and when we do, you will compete with boys and girls who have been going to school all this time, and so school will go on.”

A Brownie troop was started, and concerts, classes, and lectures were given. Both children and adults would perform plays. The Salvation Army band was created, and they created an anthem that was a mix of the Canadian, British, and American national anthems – a victory medley, as it was called.

Difficulties were turned into games. In an interview shortly before her death, Mrs. Previte said, “Saturday was the Battle of the Bedbugs. We’d hold rat-catching competitions. My little brother John was the winner of the fly-killing championship.” She went on to share that despite their constant hunger, “we never lost our humanity or even our manners. You might be eating boiled animal brains out of a soap dish, and a teacher would come up behind you and say: Mary Taylor, sit up straight! They were right. People who gave up those normal routines got sick.”

According to Mary, the August day the camp was liberated was so hot, one couldn’t walk barefoot on the dirt. The war had ended, but the inmates had no idea. Soldiers parachuted to the ground and stormed the gates, receiving no resistance from the guards. During the hysteria and joy, the band began to play their “victory medley.”

In 1997, Mary decided to track down her liberators so she could thank them personally. She would find all (or their widows) but one. Eighteen years would pass before she was able to locate the Chinese interpreter, “Eddie” Cheng-Han Wang.

Mary passed away three years ago today as a result of injuries she sustained after being struck by a car while on her morning walk. She was 87.

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Estelle's Endeavor

Will a world at war destroy a second chance at love?

Estelle Johnson promised to wait for Aubry DeLuca, but then she receives word of his debilitating injuries. Does she have the strength to stand by him in his hour of need?

Aubry DeLuca storms the beaches at Normandy, then wakes up in the hospital, his eyes bandaged. Will he regain his sight? Will the only woman he’s ever loved welcome him home or is he destined to go through life blind and alone?

Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3TNRrHP

Wartime Wednesday: The Army-Navy E Award

Wartime Wednesday: The Army-Navy E Award

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“Victory depends in large measure on the increased war production we are able to get from our factories and arsenals…this is a total war. We are all under fire…soldiers and civilians alike-no one is a spectator. To win we must fight and to fight we must produce.” So said, President Franklin D. Roosevelt during one of his fireside chats.

In an effort to encourage the production of materials in America’s factories, the army created the Army-Navy “E” Award, an honor presented to companies whose facilities achieved “Excellence in Production (“E”) of war equipment. Also known as the Army-Navy Production Award, it was created in July 1942 by the War Department who merged the Navy “E,” Army “A,” and Army-Navy Munitions Board “Star” into a single, service-wide award.

Of the 85,000 companies involved in producing materials for the military effort, approximately five

percent earned this prestigious award, and about half of those were bestowed on plants having less than 500 employees, considered “smaller war plants.” All factories engaged in production were eligible, as well as government facilities and contractors. Interestingly, although it was an industry award, Iowa State University received recognition for its contribution to the production of uranium for the Manhattan Project, and Dr. Harley A. Wilhelm received the award for inventing the “Ames Process” for the extraction, purification, and mass production of uranium for the Manhattan Project.

Facilities were nominated by district procurement officers, chiefs of supply services, agencies concerned with production, and the commanding officers for the Materiel Commands. Reasons for the nomination were included, and an award board reviewed the information before making a final decision. Ceremonies were conducted with an Army officer and Navy officer who presented the management team with a pennant and employees with pins. Plants that maintained an outstanding record or performance for six months after receiving their original award were given a star award, which a white star added to their pennant.

Criteria for the award included excellence in quality and quantity of production as well:

• Overcoming production obstacles
• Low rates of absenteeism
• Avoidance of work stoppages
• Maintenance of fair labor standards
• Training of additional labor forces
• Effective management
• Good record-keeping on accidents, health, sanitation, and plant protection

The award was terminated three months after the end of World War II, on December 5, 1945.

___________________

Will a world at war destroy a second chance at love?

Estelle Johnson promised to wait for Aubry DeLuca, but then she receives word of his debilitating injuries. Does she have the strength to stand by him in his hour of need?

Aubry DeLuca storms the beaches at Normandy, then wakes up in the hospital, his eyes bandaged. Will he regain his sight? Will the only woman he’s ever loved welcome him home or is he destined to go through life blind and alone?

Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3MVBQnr

Wartime Wednesday: From Reporter to Spy

Wartime Wednesday: From Reporter to Spy

WikiImages

One of my favorite research books is Sisterhood of Spies written by Elizabeth “Betty” Peet McIntosh. She highlights the exploits and bravery of women who served in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), and I didn’t realize until I’d reached the end of the book that she also served.

Born in Washington, DC to parents who were both reporters, Betty was raised in Hawaii and learned to speak Japanese. After graduating with a degree in journalism from the University of Washington in 1935, she worked as a correspondent with the Scripps Howard news service. Stationed in Hawaii, she was in Honolulu during the attack at Pearl Harbor. Shortly, thereafter she moved to Washington, DC where she covered Eleanor Roosevelt and governmental activities.

In 1943, knowing of Betty’s fluency in Japanese, she was recruited to join the OSS by a family friend

WikiImages

who asked her if she “wouldn’t like to do something more interesting than the work you’re doing.” Her response: Only if she could go overseas. The man assured her he could guarantee her wish, but the word spying didn’t enter the picture until after she signed on. Once her training was completed, she was sent to India, then also stationed in Burma and China. In all three locations, she was part of Operation Morale, where along with future chef Julia Child, she created “disinformation,” documents, and postcards aimed at undermining Japanese morale. She also developed propaganda leaflets.

One site told about an assignment during which she helped create a radio script for a popular Chinese fortune teller. Part of the script said, “something terrible is going to happen to Japan. We have checked the stars and there is something we can’t even mention because it is so dreadful and it is going to eradicate one whole area of Japan.” Later that day, the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, an event McIntosh and her team had not known about prior to writing the script. Later, she would be involved in a mission to deliver “black Joe,” an explosive disguised as a lump of coal. Her responsibility was to pass the “coal” to an operative who smuggled it onboard a train ferrying Japanese soldiers.

Pixabay/DiGiFX Media

She remained with the organization when it became the CIA and met her husband, a “dashing young pilot” while in Asia. They married in 1962. She continued to work until her retirement in 1973, indicating that the atmosphere at the CIA was different than that in the OSS: “There was a little bit of bureaucracy, which had set in like rigor mortis above us, and some people were sort of…they didn’t have imaginations…they didn’t want to do things as we did in the OSS.”

She passed away in 2015 three months after her one-hundredth birthday.

________________

Will a world at war destroy a second chance at love?

Estelle Johnson promised to wait for Aubry DeLuca, but then she receives word of his debilitating injuries. Does she have the strength to stand by him in his hour of need?

Aubry DeLuca storms the beaches at Normandy, then wakes up in the hospital, his eyes bandaged. Will he regain his sight? Will the only woman he’s ever loved welcome him home or is he destined to go through life blind and alone?

Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3SuXWPI

Wartime Wednesday: Parachutes and Wedding Dresses

Wartime Wednesday: Parachutes and Wedding Dresses

I’ve been married thirty-nine years this month, but I remember the search for my wedding gown as if it was yesterday. One Saturday morning shortly after I got engaged, my mom informed me that we were going to go “window shopping” for a wedding dress. Indicating that she and Dad weren’t sure what sort of costs were involved, they wanted me to do some reconnaissance. I’m not much of a shopper, but this was different. This was a once-in-a-lifetime garment that I’d wear, and I wanted it to be special. I didn’t think we were poor, but with my father as the only breadwinner, four children to raise, and having just finished putting me through college, I figured they didn’t have a whole lot of extra money.

Of we went, in one store after another. The blur of frothy white gowns became overwhelming. I began to worry that I’d never find anything. In one shop, I watched a daughter and her mother argue over the “perfect” dress. Apparently, Mama wanted the world to know they could afford to spend heavily on the gown. Every dress she selected was embellished with sequins and beads. The daughter wanted a simple Grecian gown. We left, and I’m not sure who won.

At our last stop, I donned a dress that brought tears to my eyes, but I hesitated to tell Mom, thinking

we were still only window shopping. She must have seen the look on my face because she said, “That’s the one, isn’t it?” I nodded, and she grinned as she pulled out her checkbook. “Surprise! If you really want it, I will buy it.” I was flabbergasted. The dress cost $210 – a huge amount in my eyes because we’d signed an apartment lease with a monthly rent of $484.

Since the beginning of time, women have wanted a special dress for their wedding, but times of war sometimes thwart the effort. During World War II, fabric was rationed and difficult to find in some cases. As a result, the trend began to make bridal gowns from parachute silk (or nylon). The standards for parachutes were stringent, so if any fault was found, the item became available as surplus and available for purchase.

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Some women used the chutes that saved their fiancés’ lives, while others’ loved ones brought home parachutes they’d taken from enemy soldiers, German and Japanese primarily. One site told of a Bergen-Belsen survivor wearing a dress reportedly made from a German soldier’s parachute. Talk about a meaningful dress. Another site told of an American soldier who used his parachute to propose rather than a ring (hopefully, she received a ring later!)

The size of the parachutes enabled women to create dresses with voluminous skirts, puffed sleeves, long trains, and ruffles. Lots of the dresses were passed down through families, and in recent years many of the dresses have made their way into museums. The Wright Museum where I am a volunteer docent is fortunate to have one such dress. The gown is so small, we had to create a form on which to display it; modern dress forms are too large.

__________________  

Will a world at war destroy a second chance at love?

Estelle Johnson promised to wait for Aubry DeLuca, but then she receives word of his debilitating injuries. Does she have the strength to stand by him in his hour of need?

Aubry DeLuca storms the beaches at Normandy, then wakes up in the hospital, his eyes bandaged. Will he regain his sight? Will the only woman he’s ever loved welcome him home or is he destined to go through life blind and alone?

Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3SuXWPI

Wartime Wednesday: Ack Ack Girls

Wartime Wednesday: Ack-Ack Girls

Despite all my research into World War II England, I somehow missed the “Ack-Ack Girls.” Members of the Auxiliary Territorial Services (ATS), one of the many Auxiliary Services that women ages 20-30 were required to join. Interestingly, British engineer Caroline Haslett was the first to propose that women be used in gun crews. Churchill enthusiastically approved the suggestion, and his youngest daughter, Mary Soames, was one of the first volunteers to serve at a gun site (located in London’s Hyde Park). The nickname came from the distinctive sounds made by the guns.

The crews were mixed-gender squads, with one woman acting as a spotter
(using binoculars to find enemy planes), two women were range-finders (using a large piece of equipment to calculate the distance a shell would have to travel to hit the target), and predictors (working out the length of the fuse necessary to make sure the shell exploded at the right height). Once trained, the entire process only took a few seconds. Because of a royal proclamation forbidding women to fire the weapons, men handled that task – the thought being “life-givers” shouldn’t be expected to be “life takers.” Given the rank of gunner, the women were attached to the Royal Artillery.

Women were subjected to the same intensive training and were selected through a rigorous testing

program that included fitness, hearing, eyesight, nerves, and mathematical abilities. By the time the program was up and running in full, the blitz was over, however, the Luftwaffe continued to drop bombs across Britain for the duration of the war, so the crews were stationed around the nation.

Courtesy of Imperial
War Museum

One reference I found quoted an officer who said, “The girls cannot be beaten in action and in my opinion, they are definitely better than the men on the instruments they are manning. Beyond a little natural excitement which only shows itself in rather humourous (sic) and quaint remarks, they are quite as steady if not steadier than the men. They are amazingly keen at going into action, and although they are not supposed to learn to use the rifle, they are as keen as anything to do so.” Apparently, it’s safe to assume some of the women operated the gun.

Conditions were dangerous and many crews lost their lives (nearly 400 Ack Ack girls were killed in just three months during the early days of the program.) There is a memorial to the women of the Ack Ack Command in the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.

________________

Will a world at war destroy a second chance at love?

Estelle Johnson promised to wait for Aubry DeLuca, but then she receives word of his debilitating injuries. Does she have the strength to stand by him in his hour of need?

Aubry DeLuca storms the beaches at Normandy, then wakes up in the hospital, his eyes bandaged. Will he regain his sight? Will the only woman he’s ever loved welcome him home or is he destined to go through life blind and alone?

Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3SuXWPI

Wartime Wednesday: Armed Services Editions

Wartime Wednesday: Armed Services Editions

Author photo

Perhaps you’ve heard of Victory Gardens and Victory Mail (later v-mail). Maybe you’re even familiar with the Victory Liberty Loans, but are you aware of the dozens of U.S. manufacturers and organizations that jumped on the bandwagon early during World War II to capitalize on the concept?

The Dalemar Paper Company of Lodi, NJ produced a “Victory Pack” of waxed paper for food preservation and Dee-Jay Farms sold “Victory Chicken.” Children could assemble a Victory Jeep from paper or purchase a wooden Victory Tank or Victory Broadcasting Truck. Victory bags - canvas totes to carry groceries - were also popular. One company even put out a “Victory Swatter” (fly swatter).

But my favorite, for obvious reasons, is the Victory Book Campaign.

In 1939, there were only 174,000 men serving in the Army. By the end of 1942 there were 5,400,000, in 1943 there were 7,000,000, and by the end of the war, there were 8,300,000. Naval strength increased by 1,400,000 sailors. Needless to say, it was a massive challenge to equip and organize the rapidly growing force, and despite the government’s understanding of the morale-boosting potential of good reading material, supplying books to military camp libraries simply could not be an immediate priority. Congress allocated money for buying new books, but the process was slow, and the book distribution was limited to bases with new construction.

The American Library Association, the American Red Cross, and the United Service Organizations

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(USO) stepped in to fill the void and created the National Defense Book Campaign with a goal to have the public donate books for soldiers and sailors. The Victory Book Campaign, as it was renamed, was wildly successful in one sense. Nearly eleven million books were donated. However, almost half of those were unusable for various reasons. Eventually, the cost of shipping and unsuitability of soldiers carrying heavy hardcover books made the project untenable, and the program dissolved.

But the idea of supplying the men with reading material was still valid, so another organization was founded by booksellers, publishers, librarians, authors, and others. Called the Council of Books in Wartime, the organization was a non-profit and not connected to the government in any way.

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Philip Van Doren Stern of Pocket Books, producer of the first mass-market, pocket-sized paperback, was project manager, and his first order of business was to design a book that fit into the pockets of military uniforms. A volunteer advisory panel selected the fiction and nonfiction books that would be printed. During the four years of its existence, CBW issued 122 million copies of 1,324 titles.

That’s what I call victory.

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Will a world at war destroy a second chance at love?

Estelle Johnson promises to wait for Aubry DeLuca to return from the war, but then she receives word of his debilitating injuries. Does she have the strength to stand by him during his hour of need?

Aubry DeLuca storms the beaches of Normandy, then wakes up in a hospital, his eyes heavily bandaged. Will the only woman he’s ever loved welcome him home or is he destined to go through life blind and alone?

Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3SuXWPI

Wartime Wednesday: Tennis star Alice Marble

Wartime Wednesday: Alice Marble

How does one go from being the winner of eighteen Grand Slam tennis championships to an editor for DC Comics to a spy running, or rather driving, for her life?

Life for Alice Irene Marble began on September 28, 1913 in Beckwourth, California as the fourth of five children to a high climber lumberjack and his wife, a former nurse. When she was five years old, the family moved to San Francisco where her father passed away two years later. As a result, her older brothers left school to find jobs.

She did well in academics, but where she really excelled was athletics, and eventually played seven sports in high school, including basketball and baseball. Preferring that she pick up a more “ladylike” sport, her brother Dan gave her a tennis racket. At first, she had little use for the game, but within a short time fell in love with it, going on to win local then several California junior tournaments. By the time she was twenty-three, she’d won the singles title at the U.S. Championships as well as the mixed doubles title with Gene Mako. For the next four years she’d win every match she played. In 1940, she went professional and earned the equivalent of $2 million.

Her abilities and fame led her to hobnobbing with Hollywood’s elite from movie stars to industry

leaders. In 1941, she met publisher Max Gaines at a cocktail party where he proposed a new character for his All American Comics universe – Wonder Woman. Would Alice be willing to endorse the effort? She agreed with the caveat that he include stories about real female heroes from history such as Clara Barton, Dolly Madison, and Eleanor Roosevelt. By the end of the evening, she was an associate editor with the company.

Within a year, she was chafing at the bit. She wasn’t making a difference. In her mind, she wasn’t sacrificing anything or giving enough. A few months before, she’d received a tuberculosis diagnosis which meant she couldn’t enlist. She spoke to youth groups encouraging them get involved and entertained the troops at military bases, but she still felt a void.

Then in 1942 she met Captain Joe Crowley. The handsome pilot spoke five languages and worked for Army intelligence. After a whirlwind romance, the two married, but then the dreaded telegram came eighteen months later informing her that he’d been killed in action after being shot down over Germany. Depression settled over her, and she attempted to kill herself. When friend and widower of Carole Lombard, Clark Gable heard what happened, he sent a card saying “If I can do it, so can you.”

While in recovery, Colonel Linden of Army intelligence showed up. Would she be willing to play a tennis exhibition in Switzerland, and by the way, also renew acquaintance with an old boyfriend so they could learn about his Nazi connections and investors. With nothing to lose, she said yes and was soon headed over the ocean. “Hans,” whose real name was never released, welcomed her with open arms, and she was able to infiltrate her way into his life. One night while collecting evidence, her cover was blown, and she raced out the door, a Nazi agent on her heels. She jumped into Hans’s Mercedes and barreled down the road. The German followed her in his own vehicle and eventually caught up with her. She tried to flee on foot, was shot in the back, and left for dead. Sometime later, she woke up in a hospital, the evidence gone. But at least she was alive. And she would go on to live another forty-five years.

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About Estelle's Endeavor

Will a world at war destroy a second chance at love?

Estelle Johnson promised to wait for Aubry DeLuca, but then she receives word of his debilitating injuries. Does she have the strength to stand by him in his hour of need?

Aubry DeLuca storms the beaches at Normandy, then wakes up in the hospital, his eyes bandaged. Will he regain his sight? Will the only woman he’s ever loved welcome him home or is he destined to go through life blind and alone?

Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3RSujHe

Wartime Wednesday: The Office of Civilian Defense

Wartime Wednesday: The Office of Civilian Defense

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Because aviation was still in its infancy, the United States didn’t have to worry about attacks from other countries during World War I. However, the government established a Council of National Defense to coordinate resources for national defense and to boost public morale. The organization helped set up local defense councils to direct efforts in health, welfare, and other activities, but the volunteer needs were small.

By the second world war, that changed. Airplanes were advanced enough to be able to reach the United States. Air raids and other attacks in populated areas of Europe gave rise to fear that similar attacks could happen in the US. More than six months before America entered the war and prompted by a letter from New York mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, President Franklin Roosevelt set up the Office of Civilian Defense (OCD) to coordinate state and federal measures to protect citizens in war-related emergencies.

Roosevelt appointed LaGuardia as the organization’s director. The four operating divisions were as follows:

• Federal-State Cooperation: provided a link between the federal government and local governments to foster communication in order to handle individual needs that resulted from war such as health, housing, volunteers, recreation, welfare, and child care.
• Protection Services: trained and organized volunteers in the efforts required to protect citizens such as organizing evacuations, blackouts, auxiliary police and fire services, and outfitting protective buildings.
• Protective Property: loaned protective property and equipment purchased by OCD to local communities.
• Industrial Protection: helped protect industrial plants against dangers such as fire and enemy sabotage.

There was only seventy-five paid staff in the OCD. The rest of the work was done by the more than

Courtesy loc.gov

eleven million volunteers that made up 14,000 local defense councils around the nation. In order to volunteer, individuals had to meet age, citizenship, and training requirements, then volunteers were given positions based on their skills and interests. Once accepted, the volunteer was required to take an oath of loyalty. Youth under the age of sixteen could join the Junior Citizens Service Corps.

People could volunteer in fire protection (responsible for extinguishing incendiary bombs), communication (air raid drills, blackout, relaying messages by bicycle and radio in the event the telephone system was disabled), evacuation (coordination with the army to move people to safety), shelters (distributed flyers explaining the different types of bombs, designed shelters, and trained in tunneling and other protective techniques), and gas (distributed gas masks and protective clothing, taught the public how to identify different gases and instructed people on emergency decontamination measures).

In addition, the OCD had efforts in place to restore transportation, communications, and other services after an attack, prepare emergency hospitals and mobile medical teams, and keep watch for enemies in the sky.

Courtesy loc.gov

After the attack at Pearl Harbor, Roosevelt replaced LaGuardia with Harvard Law School professor (and New Dealer) James Landis to head the organization. He reorganized the agency, moving what he saw as “superfluous” departments to other agencies, and recruited new personnel. After a year of no air raids or enemy threats, Landis recommended that the organization be abolished. The president didn’t agree, but Landis resigned, so Roosevelt appointed Deputy Director John Martin as acting director. Upon his resignation in 1944, Lt. General William N. Haskell was put in charge until the agency ceased operations in 1945.

Check out this promotional film from 1942: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBv5IYDpc9o

_______________________

Estelle's Endeavor

Will a world at war destroy a second chance at love?

Estelle Johnson promised to wait for Aubry DeLuca, but then she receives word of his debilitating injuries. Does she have the strength to stand by him in his hour of need?

Aubry DeLuca storms the beaches at Normandy, then wakes up in the hospital, his eyes bandaged. Will he regain his sight? Will the only woman he’s ever loved welcome him home or is he destined to go through life blind and alone?

Pre-order link: https://amzn.to/3R5uSNM