Home Front Friday is a regular series that highlights the can do spirit on the Home Front during World War II and illustrates how that spirit is still alive today!
During World War II you might have had a friend ask you to help the soldiers out by picking up your needles and yarn and knitting your bit. The Red Cross popularized the slogan as early as World War I and then revived it with propaganda, leaflets and campaigns to get people to knit for soldiers.
On the Home Front during World War II, knitting served as one more way Americans could support the war effort. The November 24, 1941, cover story of the popular weekly magazine Life explained “How To Knit.” Along with basic instructions and a pattern for a simple knitted vest, the article advised, “To the great American question ‘What can I do to help the war effort?’ the commonest answer yet found is ‘Knit.’” Thousands of Americans picked up their needles to knit socks, mufflers and sweaters to keep American soldiers warm and provide them with a handcrafted reminder of home.
Knitting Instructions for War Work * Number 1 For the Services. Issued by the Canadian Red Cross Society, November 1940. From the Education Collection at The National WWII Museum.
Army, Navy, Air Force and Hospital Needs and general instructions Index describes different branch needs, along with appropriate colors
1940 Knitting instructions for a sweater and a scarf
The Red Cross supplied patterns for sweaters, socks, mufflers, fingerless mitts (which allowed soldiers to keep their hands warm while shooting), toe covers (for use with a cast), stump covers and other garments. Cold, wet, sore feet were the enemy as surely as German or Japanese troops.
“The Navy needs men, but it also needs knitters,” newspapers cried. After the war, some knitters dropped their needles for good. Others kept on knitting throughout their lives in a wide variety of colors — any color, many swore, but Army-issued khaki or olive drab! Today knitting is popular once again and many enjoy the process of creating something useful. Luckily, the spirit of sharing is alive and well too. The Museum has been fortunate enough to be the receiving ground for a great civic service project for the past 8 years, running our own “Knit Your Bit” campaign, so you can send in your hand-made scarves to be distributed to veterans around the country.
Home Front Friday is a regular series that highlights the can do spirit on the Home Front during World War II and illustrates how that spirit is still alive today!
Letters are one of the most common World War II artifacts. During World War II troops stationed all over the world corresponded with people on the Home Front through V-Mail, a technology at the time that saved valuable cargo space by converting letters to microfilm stateside, then the negatives would be blown up and printed before being delivered. As primary sources, letters sent by V-mail offer great insight into how soldiers and their loved ones handled things like shortages, rationing, and the fear of war.
Authors of "Life Between the Letters: The Chuck and Mary Felder Story"
This week we hosted a Meet the Author event featuring Lana Lynne Higginbotham and Mary Felder about their book Life Between the Letters: The Chuck and Mary Felder Story. Felder spent the evening sharing her World War II love story, preserved through letters, and published with co-author Higginbotham. The book particularly focuses on the correspondence the couple sent each other for V-J Day as that anniversary is this week. Before email and text messaging, those on the Home Front might hear from their loved one overseas only occasionally, even if they diligently wrote letters daily, due to the reality of fast-moving divisions and combat conditions. Mary shared her correspondence with her husband Chuck. Many of her family were present at the event and the stories, while personal to Mary, remind us of how every single person alive during World War II has their own story.
Home Front Friday is a regular series that highlights the can do spirit on the Home Front during World War II and illustrates how that spirit is still alive today!
Since farmers markets are overflowing with bountiful produce right now, let’s kick things off with a focus on Victory Gardens. Here are some facts about Victory Gardens in World War II:
Due to labor and transportation shortages – trains and trucks were being used to move soldiers and equipment, Americans were encouraged to grow their own to ensure everyone at home had enough to eat.
Not everyone was an experienced gardener, so the government issued educational pamphlets, as did seed and agricultural companies, that included growing techniques and recipes.
America responded. There were 20 million gardens everywhere from rooftops and empty lots to backyards and schoolyards.
40% of produce, which made over 1 million tons, consumed in America was grown in victory gardens. People learned how to can and preserve so the harvests lasted all year.
We have our own Victory Garden here at The National WWII Museum where we host elementary field trips to our garden. A second grade class planted some Kentucky Wonder Beans while here in mid-May. Over the summer, many of our Museum employees walk by the Victory Garden on the way in and have been so delighted by the beans’ progress that we’ve started calling them the magic beans.
Just sprouting.
Starting to overflow the box!
Time to give them something to grow on.
So tall!
If you run across beans at the farmers market or if you happen to have some in your own victory garden, here’s a simple recipe for boiled beans from the recipe collection of a World War II officer, Frank Dorn:
From “A General’s Diary of Treasured Recipes” by Brigadier General Frank Dorn, Gift of Herb Sayas, from the Education Collection at The National WWII Museum.
