Get in the Scrap! Wrap-Up

The school year has officially reached a close, and with that came the end to the first year of The National WWII Museum’s Get in the Scrap! service learning program on May 31. This project, which took each school about 1 to 3 months to complete, focused on the importance of recycling and conserving energy today through explanation of why scrapping was so important on the Home Front during the World War II era. This program offered students from fourth to eighth grade a parallel to the lives of students their age during the war.

Get in the Scrap! called students to save items like water bottles and pennies as well as encouraged them to read primary sources about school salvage drives to collect rubber, steel, plastic, and paper on the American Home Front. These items were used to create weapons, supplies, and other necessities that the soldiers required to fight in both the European and Pacific Theaters. Some students who participated in Get in the Scrap! took a creative approach to the scrapping effort by decorating light switch plates and crafting with their left over water bottles.

Others found their competitive sides in a Penny War, which was one of the most popular activities for the schools. The Penny War is a one-week long competition to see which class could save the most pennies, and at the end of the week they could donate their savings to a charity of their choice or invest in purchasing new recycling bins for their school. At LT Ball Intermediate School in Tipp City, Ohio, the students who completed the Penny War donated their savings to the Honor Flight, which is a non-profit organization that helps veterans travel to Washington, D.C. to visit memorials and monuments dedicated to their service.

Overall, Get in the Scrap! had a positive impact on all of the participants. Many teachers reported back that their classes had become more environmentally aware. Some even took what they had learned and applied it outside of the classroom by asking their parents to buy recycle bins for their homes. Other teachers said that this project significantly drew their students’ interest to World War II history. Chesapeake Academy had a WWII veteran come in a speak with the students about life both the Home Front and battlefronts during the war.

Get in the Scrap! will pick up again with the new school year this coming September. You’ll find more photos and successes of our students who participated this past year using the hashtag #getinthescrap on Twitter or Instagram. Sign up for the Museum’s monthly e-newsletter “Calling all Teachers!” for the latest Get in the Scrap! news and project updates.

Post by Camille Weber, Education Intern and Chrissy Gregg, Virtual Classroom Coordinator

Posted : June 8th, 2016
Post Category :
- Education

Explore the War in the Pacific with These Summer Reading Titles

: Use the hashtag #getinthescrap on Twitter or Instagram to explore what participants in the Museum's national service learning program have been up to this year.

: In the Marianas, US Army and Navy builders constructed airfield facilities that allowed B-29 Superfortress bombers to fly from Saipan, Tinian, and Guam to rain fire and explosives on the Japanese home islands. (National Archives and Records Administration, 342-FH-3A-39165.)

: Using armored amphibious tractors, a joint US Navy-Marines-Army force captures Kwajalein and Roi-Namur in the Marshall Islands in early 1944. These islands hold strategic airfields and naval bases and are a key stepping-stone to the Mariana Islands. (National Archives and Records Administration, 111 SC 187435.)

Summer is approaching, so this month’s Calling All Teachers e-newsletter features recommended reading for you and your students.

Two of the featured titles – Graham Salisbury’s Under the Blood-Red Sun and Jonathan Fetter-Vorm’s Trinity – explore World War II in the Pacific. Another – Tanita Davis’s Mare’s War – chronicles one fictional veteran’s experiences in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC).

Since the Museum has hosted webinars with these authors, you and your students can view the archived programs here.

The June Calling All Teachers e-newsletter also provides a recap of the Get in the Scrap! Service Learning Project, which ended its inaugural year May 31. The newsletter also highlights the entertaining and educational end-of-the-year and summertime activities that you can find in the Museum’s Kids Corner.

Finally, this month’s Calling All Teachers shines the spotlight on D-Days in Europe and the Pacific. D-Day was the military term used to indicate the date for a planned assault, and on June 15, 1944, just days after the Allied capture of Rome and the Normandy invasion, US troops invaded Saipan in the Mariana island chain. The target was an air base that would bring the Japanese home islands within range of B-29 Superfortress bombers.

American forces followed the invasion of Saipan with amphibious assaults on the Mariana islands of Tinian and Guam. By examining these Pacific D-Days alongside the more famous D-Day in Normandy, students can develop a better sense of the war’s scale and complexity. Bringing the war in the Pacific to your students will also become a lot easier through new resources the Museum is about to release. Stay tuned for more details next month!

Get more classroom resources and ideas by signing up for our free monthly e-newsletter Calling All Teachers and following us on Twitter @wwiieducation.

Post by Dr. Walter Stern, K-12 Curriculum Coordinator at The National WWII Museum.

Posted : June 7th, 2016
Post Category :
- Education

American Spirit Awards 2016 | American Spirit Medallion Recipients

The American Spirit Awards is an awards gala celebrating individuals and organizations whose work reflects the values and spirit of those who served our country during the World War II years. On Friday, June 10, 2016, The National WWII Museum and Whitney Bank will honor those who inspire others through their own acts of courage, sacrifice, initiative and generosity—particularly in the areas of leadership, service to country or community and education.

This prestigious honor of the American Spirit Medallion is bestowed upon individuals who demonstrate extraordinary dedication to the principles that strengthen America’s freedom and democracy. Through their work and philanthropy, American Spirit Medallion recipients exemplify the highest standards of integrity, discipline, and initiative while making unselfish contributions to their community, state, or the nation. Past recipients of this honor include WWII Medal of Honor recipients like Vernon Baker, Van T. Barfoot, Walter D. Ehlers, and Hershel “Woody” Williams, and notable public figures like Tom Brokaw, Gary Sinise, Tom Hanks, and Collin Powell.

This year, the Museum is humbled to present this honor to Dr. Norman C. Francis and Governor William Winter.

NORMAN C. FRANCIS

As president of the nation’s only historically black and Catholic university from 1968 to 2015, Dr. Francis guided Xavier University’s growth both in size and dimension. Through his leadership, the university instituted a core curriculum and was nationally recognized as a leader in minority education. Xavier has been especially successful in educating health professionals. In premedical education, Xavier has been ranked first in the nation in placing African American students into medical schools since 1993. Named by his peers as one of the 100 most effective college and university leaders, Dr. Francis, who retired as president at the conclusion of the 2014-2015 academic year, is often cited for his involvement in the community and for his work on the national, state and local levels to improve education. He has served in an advisory role to eight US presidential administrations on education and civil rights issues, and has served on 54 boards and commissions. In 2006, President George W. Bush presented him with the nation’s highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

GOVERNOR WILLIAM WINTER

Long before leading Mississippi as governor from 1980 to 1984, William Winter served as an infantry officer in America and in the Pacific during World War II. After returning home, he began a career in elected public service. Throughout his career, Winter’s mission has been to strengthen public education while championing racial reconciliation as well as historic preservation and economic development. He has served as chairman of the Southern Regional Education Board, the Commission on the Future of the South, the National Civic League, the Kettering Foundation, the Foundation for the Mid South, the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and the Ole Miss Alumni Association. He was a member of President Clinton’s National Advisory Board on Race and was instrumental in the founding of the William Winter Institute for Racial Reconciliation at the University of Mississippi. He was awarded the Profile in Courage Award by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation. An attorney in the Jones Walker law firm in Jackson, Mississippi, he is a graduate of the University of Mississippi School of Law.

During the ceremony the Museum will also honor veterans and those with a direct connection to World War II who have served our country with distinction and, upon retirement, continue to lead by example with the Silver Service Medallion. Learn more about this year’s Silver Service Medallion recipients.

Proceeds from the American Spirit Awards support educational programming at The National WWII Museum—including the ongoing development of classroom materials and professional development opportunities for teachers in schools across the country as well as online experiences that bring the Museum and its research resources to students around the world. Learn how you can support these efforts too.

Posted : June 2nd, 2016
Post Category :
- Museum News

American Spirit Awards 2016 | The Silver Service Medallion Recipients

The National WWII Museum President and CEO Gordon H. “Nick” Mueller will present The Silver Service Medallion to veterans and those with a direct connection to World War II who have served our country with distinction and, upon retirement, continue to lead by example. Each recipient, Jerry Yellin, Richard E. Cole, and Betty Reid Soskin, exemplifies core values that were critical to the Allied war effort – teamwork, optimism, loyalty and bravery.

JERRY YELLIN

In 1942, two months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Jerry Yellin volunteered for the US Army Air Forces on his 18th birthday. Jerry completed fighter pilot training at Luke Air Field in August of 1943. He spent the remainder of the war flying P-40, P-47 and P-51 combat missions in the Pacific with the 78th Fighter Squadron. Captain Yellin participated in the first land-based fighter mission over Japan on April 7, 1945. He also has the unique distinction of having flown the final combat mission of World War II on August 14, 1945 — the day the war ended. On that mission, his wingman, Phillip Schlamberg, became the last man killed in combat during World War II. After the war, Jerry went on to write about his experiences during World War II and is the author of numerous books including “Of War and Weddings,” “The Blackened Canteen,” “The Resilient Warrior” and “The Letter.” Jerry is currently working on a feature film about his life titled “The Last Man Standing.” This documentary will explore Jerry’s experiences coming to terms with the war and his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Jerry and his late wife Helene celebrated 65 years of marriage and had four children.

RICHARD E. COLE

Richard “Dick” Cole is one of the remaining two Doolittle Raiders, the 80 servicemen who struck an early, inspirational blow against Japan in World War II. Cole had completed pilot training with the US Army Air Forces in July 1941, and as a newly commissioned second lieutenant, was eager to serve after the Pearl Harbor attacks. In early 1942, Cole volunteered for a dangerous mission he knew nothing about. Three months later, on April 18, 1942, he was in the co-pilot’s seat of General Jimmy Doolittle’s B-25, bound on a one-way trip over Tokyo on the first American counterstrike of the war. After reaching mainland Asia in the B-25, Cole remained in the China-Burma-India theater for more than a year after the Doolittle Raid, only to return to service there from October 1943 to June 1944. He was relieved from active duty in January 1947 after the war’s end. Cole was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross with two Oak Leaf Clusters, the Air Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster, Bronze Star Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal, and Chinese Army, Navy, Air Corps Medal, Class A, 1st grade for his service during the war. Cole retired from the US Air Force with the rank of lieutenant colonel.

BETTY REID SOSKIN

Betty Soskin (née Charbonnet) grew up in a Cajun/Creole African-American family that settled in the San Francisco area after massive river flooding devastated Louisiana in 1927. Her parents joined her maternal grandfather, George Allen, who had resettled in Oakland at the end of World War I. Betty worked as a file clerk in a segregated union hall, Boilermakers A-36, during World War II. In 1945 she and her young husband, Mel Reid, founded a small Berkeley music store – Reid’s Records – that remains in operation. Betty has since held positions as staff to a Berkeley City Council member and as a field representative serving West Contra Costa County for two members of the California State Assembly. She was named a Woman of the Year by the California State Legislature in 1995, and in 2005 was named one of the nation’s 10 outstanding women by the National Women’s History Project. At 94, Soskin still works as a park ranger for the Rosie the Riveter World War II/Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, California.

During the ceremony the Museum will also bestow the prestigious honor of the American Spirit Medallion to individuals who demonstrate extraordinary dedication to the principles that strengthen America’s freedom and democracy. Learn who this year’s American Spirit Medallion recipients are here.

Posted : June 2nd, 2016
Post Category :
- Museum News

1942 Scripps National Spelling Bee Championship

Image from Time Magazine

On May 26, 2016, after 24 championship rounds, the 89th Annual Scripps National Spelling Bee saw the crowning of two co-champion spellers, Jairam Hathwar and Nihar Janga.

74 years ago today, the 18th Annual Scripps National Spelling Bee was held with eleven-year-old Richard Earnhart from El Paso, Texas taking the top prize. Wearing ‘lucky’ Number Thirteen, Earnhart captured the 1942 championship by correctly spelling the word ‘sacrilegious.’ For his prize, Earnhart received $500 and a two-day trip to New York City. When asked how he was enjoying Manhattan, Earnhart replied that he found it ‘swell…but I would kinda like to get back to normal life sometimes.’

The National Spelling Bee would not occur again until 1946; Scripps postponing all future contests until the successful conclusion of WWII.

This post by Collin Makamson, Student Programs Coordinator @ The National WWII Museum

Posted : May 27th, 2016
Post Category :

Home Front Friday: We Salute You!

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!

Last Saturday was National Armed Forces Day! You may be able to imagine why this special day is so near and dear to the Museum.

Before World War II, the United States had more horses than people in its military. It ranked 18^th in army size, just behind Romania. That all changed after the attack on Pearl Harbor. People began registering in droves, and before long, the United States military had swollen massively for the war effort. At its peak, 12,364,000 Americans came under the jurisdiction of the United States military – the second largest military in the entire war, with only the Soviet Union beating it out.

After Pearl Harbor, America launched a massive campaign to recruit new soldiers into the military. Artists, filmmakers, and intellectuals were hired by the government to encourage enlistment.

: via the National Archives

: via the National Archives

: via the National Archives

: via the National Archives

: via the National Archives.

This very famous image of Uncle Sam was actually created during the First World War. However, the poster was brought back with a vengeance when the United States entered into World War II. (via the National Archives)

The recruitment process was not for the faint of heart. Not long after being accepted, new recruits would be shaved, given a new uniform, and hauled into barracks. They were then put through very rigorous training to get them in peak physical condition so that they may have a better chance of survival at the front. Training was also designed to teach the new recruits how to follow orders and work together as a team. They were taught how to operate weapons swiftly and without hurting themselves, to fly planes and to launch ships. Of course, just about everything had to be done with pounds and pounds of heavy equipment on their backs!

81st Infantry Division soldiers during review at the Camp San Luis Obispo parade grounds on 5 February 1944.

81st Infantry Division servicemen marching throughout California landscape during training exercises at San Luis Obispo, California on 14 March 1944.

81st Infantry Division 105 mm Howitzer Motor Carriage/ Priest troops preparing 105mm shells to use during training exercises at San Luis Obispo, California on 14 March 1944.

81st Infantry Division soldiers during training exercises at San Luis Obispo, California on 14 March 1944.

Our hats go off to all of the young men and women who dedicated their time, services, and even lives to the United States Armed Forces. In honor of this very special day, we are going to teach you how to make your very own paracord survival bracelet:

WHAT YOU NEED:

Paracord
Plastic buckle
Scissors
Lighter

STEPS:

Measure out between 7-10 feet of paracord. It is better to have too much than too little to work with!
Use your lighter to burn the ends so they don’t fray.
Fold your paracord in half so that the ends meet. Slip both ends of the paracord through one end of the buckle. Bring them back around and put them through the loop created at the other end and tighten.
Slip both ends of the paracord through the other side of the buckle. Pull until the length between the two buckles is your desired wrist size. Don’t pull too tightly!
Unbuckle the buckle. Be careful to keep the wrist measurement you just took – don’t let the loose side of the buckle slide around! Separate the two strands of paracord that are not part of the measurement.
Start with the left strand. Lay it over the measurement section. Then, take the right strand and lay it on top of the left one.
Wrap the right strand around backward and thread it through the loop made by the left strand. Pull both strands and tighten. This is your first weave.
Next, do the same thing on the right side. Lay the right strand on top of the measurement section, and then lay the left strand on top of the right strand. Wrap the left strand backward and thread it through the loop made by the right strand. Pull and tighten. This is your second weave.
Repeat these steps, alternating sides, until you get to the end!
Once you get to the end, make a final weave closest to your buckle. Then, take your scissors and clip the excess paracord. Use your lighter again to singe the edges so they don’t fray. If you like, you can mold the singed edges while they are still warm to flatten them out and make them less likely to come undone. Be careful – the cord will be hot!
All done!

Posted by Katie Atkins, Education Intern and Lauren Handley, Assistant Director of Education for Public Programs at The National WWII Museum.

Posted : May 27th, 2016
Post Category :
- Education
- Home Front Friday

Remembering Melvin Rector

One of the last images taken of Melvin Rector on tour with The National WWII Museum’s Masters of the Air 2016 tour.

The National WWII Museum recently hosted one of the most emotional tours in the history of the institution’s travel program. During Masters of the Air 2016, we lost Melvin Rector, Technical Sergeant, 339th Bomb Squadron, 96th Bomb Group, shortly after finishing a tour of RAF Uxbridge just outside of London. The loss of Melvin is surely on the hearts and minds of everyone who attended the tour, as well as Museum staff and Melvin’s family who were here back in the States.

The special care Melvin received in England, along with the abundant media attention, was a testament to Melvin’s service. Melvin was a radio operator/gunner on a B-17 and flew eight combat missions over Germany in the spring of 1945. Four of his missions encountered heavy flak, and on April 3, 1945, his plane returned with several holes in the wings.

Tour historian Donald L. Miller, PhD and tour manager Maddie Ogden represented the Museum with honor and the utmost professionalism while managing Melvin’s arrangements and continuing on with a memorable tour. We are grateful for their service to the Museum’s travel program.

Melvin Rector passed away at 94 years old. He joined the Masters of the Air tour so that he could see his air base one more time, but unfortunately he passed away only three days before the group was to arrive at RAF Snetterton Heath. The bravery, courage, and sacrifice that Melvin exhibited during the war years has become our nation’s heritage. His fearlessness and determination will live on for many years to come.

Posted : May 25th, 2016
Post Category :
- Museum News

SciTech Tuesday: Nylon

What are you wearing?

In 1940 the answer was likely some combination of cotton and wool–maybe silk and linen.

Today there is a huge range of synthetic fibers used to make clothes. Spandex, lycra, dry-wick, polyester, acrylic–these fibers in today’s clothes all owe their existence to nylon.

Just at the beginning of the Great Depression, Charles Stine was head of DuPont’s chemistry division. He had convinced the executives at the company to give him money to build a new laboratory and fill it with scientists. At first he had trouble getting chemists to move from academia to industry, but eventually he found a young scientist named Wallace Carothers, who taught Organic Chemistry at Harvard. Carothers was intrigued by the research on polymers conducted by a German scientist, Hermann Staudinger. He wanted to see if he could make polymers, long chains of organic units, from smaller and simpler chemicals by stringing them together.

Carothers found success pretty shortly, when in 1930 a research assistant in his lab created a very long polymer they could pull into long threads. This was the first polyester. It was impossible to use in clothes because it’s melting point was too low, and it was soluble in water, but it was a start.

Eighty-two years ago today, May 24, 1934, another research associate of Carothers’, made thread from a polyamide that was strong and elastic. It was the first nylon. Unfortunately one of the precursors in its synthesis was very difficult to make. The research continued, and they found a way to use benzene as a starting product. By 1938 DuPont was building a nylon production facility in Delaware.

DuPont decided to focus on making fibers for textile companies to make stockings, replacing silk. Nylon stockings entered the retail market in 1940, and by 1942 DuPont fibers were in 30% of all stockings.

All that changed immediately in 1942. Nylon production was diverted to make ropes. tire cording, and parachutes for the military. When production of nylon returned to the retail market after the war, demand was incredible. In one case in Pittsburgh in July 1946, 40,000 women formed a line over a mile long to wait for the release of 13,000 pairs of nylon stockings. Struggling to meet demand throughout the rest of the 1940s, DuPont licensed the manufacture of nylon in 1951.

By the 1960s nylon, polyester and other synthetic fibers were at their peak, comprising more than 60% of all fibers produced worldwide. Shortly after that they lost some of their luster, and by the 1970s had decreased to about 45% of all production. In the last two decades new forms and uses of synthetics fibers have increased, and not just in clothing. Similar forms of the same fibers are used to make furniture and kitchen products.

: By late in the war, parachutes like this one were all made from nylon. From the collection of the NWWII Museum.

: An ad from Sears in 1940, when nylon stockings first entered the retail market. From the Education Collection at the NWWII Museum.

: An ad from 1948 when nylon returned to the retail market. From the Education Collection at the NWWII Museum.

: Collecting used stockings for recycling during the war. From the Education Collection at the NWWII Museum.

: This is Wallace Carothers posing for a company photo in his DuPont lab. From WikiMedia Commons.

Posted by Rob Wallace, STEM Education Coordinator at The National WWII Museum.

Posted : May 24th, 2016
Post Category :
- Museum News

Worker Wednesday: Edna Bougon Rushing

This month we’ve received many special donations, including a welder’s mask used at Higgins Industries by welder Edna Marie Bougon Rushing. The mask was donated by her daughter Ina Rae Whitlow during a visit to the Museum. Edna is on the right in the center photo and far left in the photo on the right. Edna Bougon Rushing was one of roughly 25,000 employed by Higgins Industries in the New Orleans area. Thank you to Mrs. Whitlow and to all of our artifact donors for helping us tell the story of American experience in WWII!

Post by Curator Kimberly Guise.

Posted : May 18th, 2016
Post Category :
- Featured Artifacts
- Worker Wednesday

Home Front Friday: Hello Nurse!

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!

Yesterday was International Nurses Day, a very special day for us here at the Museum!

Nurses are some of the most important people in our society today, and the same thing was true during the war. Before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the United States had fewer than 1000 nurses in its Army Nurse Corps. By the time World War II had come to a close, that number had ballooned to more than 50,000 women! The army established specific nurse training procedures to teach its new recruits the ropes, with special programs dedicated to anesthesiology and psychiatric treatment.

Army nurses served under enemy fire in field and evacuation hospitals, on hospital trains, hospital ships and in general hospitals overseas as well as in the United States. Because of their aid, fewer than 4 percent of the American soldiers who received medical care in the field or underwent evacuation died from wounds or disease!

Nurse Corps at Fort Benning, Georgia, circa 1942-43

Ensign Jane Kendiegh, USNR, of Oberlin, Ohio, the first Navy flight nurse to set foot on any battlefield, bends over a wounded Marine on the airstrip on Iwo Jima, 6 March 1945

The government recognized the tremendous service that nurses brought to the war effort, and began offering free education to nursing students between 1943 and 1948. Initially, the number of Black nurses allowed to serve in the Army Nurse Corpse was limited to 160, but a public outcry forced the authorities to drop that policy in 1944. After that, more than 2000 black students enrolled in the Cadet Nurse Corps program and funding for Black nursing schools increased dramatically.

Being so close to the front, many of these army nurses suffered wartime casualties, just like the soldiers on the field. There were 201 army nurse casualties during the war, with 16 of them being caused directly by enemy forces. Sixty eight American sevrvicewomen were captured as POWs in the Pacific. However, more than 1,600 nurses were decorated for bravery under fire and meritorious service!

Nurses during army training at Fort Meade, Baltimore, Maryland, 1940s

Army nurse adjusts an IV inserted into a soldier’s arm. Soldier is lying on hospital bed with head bandaged. Italy. 1944-45

Nurse assisting an injured soldier in Italy, 10 November 1943

Nursing provided many opportunities for women to branch out during the war. The Army Nurse Corps, the Navy Nurse Corps, and the American Red Cross all gave women the opportunity to participate, sometimes even militarily, in the war effort. Hitler, meanwhile, called America foolish for putting its women to work….which is probably why he lost the war!

In honor of National Nurses Day, we’re going to teach you how to make your very own ice packs and heating packs – the perfect remedy for sores, scrapes, and bruises!

What you need for an ice pack:

Plastic bag
Rubbing alcohol
Water
Food coloring (optional)

Steps:

Mix one cup of rubbing alcohol with 2 cups of water. The less water you add, the less dense your gel will be.
Place the mixture in a plastic bag. Try to get as much air out of the bag as you can – this will prevent it from popping. If you like, you can use two bags to protect further against leaks.
It may help to add a bit of brightly colored food coloring to your ice pack so you can see what it is at a distance – and to signal to little kids that it isn’t for eating!
Freeze! The gel inside will get cold enough to soothe while still remaining soft and pliable.

What you need for a heat pack:

Old sock or other cloth container
Uncooked rice or oatmeal
Needle and thread (optional)
Scents (also optional)