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Donor Spotlight: The Lupo Family in honor of Alvena & “Commodore” Thomas J. Lupo

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The General Motors TBM Avenger’s primary function was that of a torpedo bomber and was used in multiple countries, including the United States, Great Britain, Canada, and Australia during the war. The Avenger’s combat debut was at Midway in 1942. Six Avengers from Midway Island attacked the Japanese carrier strike force, but only one bullet-riddled Avenger made it home to Midway. None of the planes scored hits on the Japanese ships, but despite this disappointing result, the Avenger served as the US Navy’s primary torpedo bomber, effectively interdicting enemy shipping and delivering ordnance on enemy positions throughout the Pacific.

The Museum’s TBM Avenger has been generously donated by the Lupo Family in honor of Alvena and “Commodore” Thomas J. Lupo. Former Museum Board of Trustee Member Thomas J. Lupo, enlisted in the United States Navy and served as an aviator in the Pacific. He was known to his colleagues as “Lucky Loop,” and served with distinction aboard the USS Fanshaw Bay. The aircraft in US Freedom Pavilion: is painted to look like Lupo’s “Bayou Bomber.”

 

Donor Spotlight: Robert and Mary Lupo

Thomas J. Lupo

Thomas J. Lupo

The General Motors TBM Avenger located in the US Freedom Pavilion: The Boeing Center has been made possible through a generous gift by The Lupo Family in honor of Alvena and “Commodore” Thomas J. Lupo.

Robert E. Smith Lupo first met his wife Mary when they both attended a fraternity party at Tulane University in 1972. Robert recalls he poked fun at Mary when she first entered, carrying a glass of champagne, and the two soon hit it off. They married in 1980 after Mary graduated from medical school.

Robert and Mary first became involved with The National WWII Museum through Robert’s late father, Thomas J. Lupo. The elder Lupo was a former Museum Board of Trustees member and a Navy veteran of WWII, having served as an aviator in the Pacific. He was known to his military buddies as “Lucky Loop,” due to his successful attack runs on the IJN Yamato¸ one of the largest battleships in history. He earned many combat medals and citations for his heroism, including the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Philippine Legion of Honor and the Purple Heart. In 1986, the Military Order of the World Wars presented to “Commodore” Lupo its highest award for patriotism, the Silver Medallion Patrick Henry Award.

The Lupo family has been a part of The National WWII Museum family since its creation. Robert spoke of father’s participation in early discussions with Stephen Ambrose of the historian’s dream of building a WWII museum in New Orleans, initially focusing on D-Day invasions. Today, decades later, the Lupo family continues to proudly support the Museum, helping to advance its mission.

The Lupo family generously sponsored the General Motors TBM Avenger warbird that currently hangs in the US Freedom Pavilion: The Boeing Center. The aircraft is depicted as Lt. Thomas Lupo’s “Bayou Bomber” Avenger, flown during battle. At the dedication ceremony for the Avenger, Robert recalled that his father was incredibly proud to be honored in this way, and Mary said “there are no words” to describe the emotion the family felt.

Robert states that the family sponsored the Avenger to honor his father and to provide an educational tool for future generations. He believes that all humans strive “to leave something, whether it’s to our kids or community” and that giving to the Museum is an “incredible opportunity to leave something that continues to teach.” As Mary puts it, “It’s almost your patriotic duty if you can give.” The Lupos believe that it is important to support an institution that reaches across the generations. Mary calls the Museum “the thing in the city that I am most proud of.”

We are honored by Robert and Mary Lupo’s advocacy for the Museum’s cause and grateful for all they do to support the capital expansion.

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Worker Wednesday: Women’s History Month

For the month of March, Women’s History Month, the blog series, Worker Wednesday, devoted to war production employee publications, in particular those of Higgins Industries, the Eureka and Higgins Worker, will focus on women workers. Higgins Industries employed over 20,000 in plants across the New Orleans area. Among these employees were thousands of women. Higgins notably hired women and minority workers for skilled and supervisory positions and built vocational programs to instruct these workers in skilled tasks. One of these women was Industrial Nurse Mary Theresa Haik pictured below in the March 16, 1945 issue of the Higgins Worker.

Gift in Memory of Arnold Schaefer, 2012.359.003

Gift in Memory of Arnold Schaefer, 2012.359.003

Join us at the Museum on March 28th for a special Women’s History Month event “Beyond Rosie: Women’s Roles on the American Home Front.” See here for more details.

Post by Curator Kimberly Guise.

SciTech Tuesday: Operation Meetinghouse and Napalm

Just after midnight on March 9th 1945, residents of Tokyo heard the rumble of over 300 B-29s approaching. In a short time the bombers dropped their payloads of E-46 cluster bombs. This was Operation Meetinghouse, 70 years ago.

Earlier raids, including the Doolittle Raid, had not been very effective, so the March bombing of Tokyo was planned differently. Instead of high altitude strikes with conventional bombs, this raid used the B-29s at low altitude (5,000-9,000 ft) and at night, to take advantage of weaknesses in air defense, and to better target the cluster bombs.

Each of the cluster bombs held 38 M-69 bomblets, which the cluster bomb released at about 2,000 ft. These M-69s were pipes, filled with explosives, cloth, and a jelled gasoline called Napalm. The M-69s ignited a few seconds after landing, and sprayed globs of ignited fuel. These devices had been used earlier in Dresden.

For the March 9th raid on Tokyo, the initial wave of about 225 bombers targeted a part of the city that held working class residents who worked in manufacturing. These neighborhoods included the port and docks. The pattern of targets was made to take the shape of an X. This way the second wave of bombers could use the flames as a target. The bombing was meant to overwhelm firefighting abilities and cause a great conflagration.

From that perspective, it was a success. an area of almost 16 square miles was completely destroyed in a huge fire that burned at 1,000oF. Most of the structures in the targeted area were older, traditional buildings made of wood, and so they were vulnerable to fire. Most estimates put deaths at 100,000, injuries at 1 million, and homeless at 1 million. The industrial output of Tokyo was cut in half.

These estimates of casualties are likely very low. The population density of that part of Tokyo was at least 100,000 per square mile. This means that over 1.5 million people lived in the completely burned area, where the bombs and fire came and passed very quickly. Even at the low estimates, Operation Meetinghouse killed more people than any other single raid in WWII, including Dresden, and the nuclear detonations at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Napalm was developed in 1942 by chemists at Harvard University. Early incendiaries used plant latex, which was in short supply during the war. It included phosphorus, so that it would burn for a long time and be resistant to extinguishers. Napalm is made by mixing a dry brown powder with gasoline, at which point it gets sticky and extremely flammable. It was first tested on the Harvard University football field.

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

This is a map made by occupying US Military of bombed portions of Tokyo in 1947.

This is a map made by occupying US Military of bombed portions of Tokyo in 1947.

Donor Spotlight: Bill and Dina Riviere

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B-24 Liberator and Norden Bombsight

The United States produced three heavy bombers in WWII, one of which was the B-24 Liberator. The B-24 has the distinction of being the most produced US combat aircraft of all time – more than 18,000 by the end of the war. The Liberator was a powerful symbol of US industrial might, armed with 10 .50-caliber machine guns and carrying an 8,000 pound bomb load.

On the floor of the US Freedom Pavilion: The Boeing Center sits the impressive B-24 Bomber and Norden Bombsight exhibit, made possible through a generous gift by Bill and Dina Riviere. The exhibit honors Bill’s father, First Lt. Clarence Riviere, highlighting his bravery as a B-24 bombardier in the South Pacific.

The Norden bombsight could be found in many medium and heavy bomber aircraft in the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II. It was such a closely guarded piece of technology that bombardiers had to swear an oath to protect the secrets of the device by destroying it before letting it fall into enemy hands, even at the cost of their own lives. The USAAF wartime claims of the Norden being able to place a bomb in a pickle barrel at 20,000 feet were greatly exaggerated. In reality, the Norden bombsight was a complex machine consisting of many gearwheels and ball bearings, prone to produce inaccuracies when not in proper calibration, which was often the result of the aircraft’s turbulent journey to the target.

 

Donor Spotlight: Bill and Dina Riviere

Bill Riviere in Flight

Bill Riviere in Flight

The Rivieres, who were first introduced by a mutual friend at a holiday party in December of 2000, have been involved with the Museum since its creation. Bill attended the opening ceremony with his father, while Dina was nearby watching the parade of veterans on Poydras Street. She remembers that the parade was “much more emotional than you thought it would be.”

Bill knew that the creation of the Museum would be “special due to the personnel involved,” particularly founders Stephen Ambrose and Nick Mueller, as well as some of the influential trustees they each knew in the business community. The Rivieres became charter members soon after the opening and attended many functions at the Museum. It was at one of these events, the annual Victory Ball, where Bill met Stephen Watson, now the Museum’s Executive Vice President. The two quickly hit it off when they discovered they were both alumni of Nicholls State University.

First Lt. Clarence Riviere

First Lt. Clarence Riviere

Riviere questioned Watson about the fact that there was no Norden bombsight on display in the Museum which, according to Bill’s father, was “the thing that won the war.” Watson explained that there were three in Collections behind the scenes, but that the Museum was interested in displaying a strategic bombing exhibit in the upcoming Boeing Center. This sparked a brainstorming venture. Watson worked with Riviere to gather information on his father’s combat record in the Pacific so that his personal history could be on display with the equipment he was so proud of.

Riviere states that his father rarely discussed the war when he grew up, and only started to open up about his role in the 1990s, when his grandchildren began to ask questions. When Lt. Riviere passed away, Bill and Dina went on a hunt for information, searching through three old suitcases that the Lt. had kept in the attic. They discovered a wealth of information.  Lt. Riviere had kept every document he had received during his time in the Pacific, from his flight log to transfer requests to the arrival of a new pair of socks. Included in the suitcases were many photos of Lt. Riviere in uniform, none of which Bill had seen before, as well as a letter written by his commander recommending Lt. Riviere for the Silver Star.

The B-24 exhibit and Norden bombsight exhibit opened in 2014 with a commemorative ceremony on what would have been Lt. Riviere’s 95th birthday.  Bill notes that his fondest memory of the Museum so far was having his mother present at the dedication of the exhibit. Many family members from Thibodaux and surrounding areas came in for the celebration. Dina said that the most rewarding aspect of their gift, and why they continue to give, is because of the inspiration the Museum gives to veterans. She believes that, because of the institution, there is “much more open dialogue” about the war and that it is “rewarding to see that shared with future generations.”

First Lt. Clarence Riviere with Crew

First Lt. Clarence Riviere with Crew

Bill went on to say that “to donate is one thing, but the sacrifice of those who served is unimaginable.” He states that, even living with someone who participated, it is hard to grasp the sacrifice and the amount of human resources the war effort took. The Rivieres choose to donate so that these stories are never lost. They agree that, “this Museum is a mere tribute to the sacrifices that those in the war effort gave. And we need to do all we can to preserve this for generations to come.”

The Museum is so fortunate to have the encouragement and dedication of Bill and Dina Riviere. We are most grateful for their ongoing support of our programs and capital expansion.

Worker Wednesday: Women’s History Month

For the month of March, Women’s History Month, the blog series, Worker Wednesday, devoted to war production employee publications, in particular those of Higgins Industries, the Eureka and Higgins Worker, will focus on women workers. Higgins Industries employed over 20,000 in plants across the New Orleans area. Among these employees were thousands of women. Higgins notably hired women and minority workers for skilled and supervisory positions and built vocational programs to instruct these workers in skilled tasks.

The issue March 3, 1945 issue of the Higgins Worker featured women in several columns. One piece focused on women workers who were actually leaving Higgins  to enter the service. Oris Huet and Catherine Manfee who had both worked in the Payroll Department were departing Higgins in March 1945 (Oris after nearly five years!) to join the WAVES. (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service), the women’s division of the US Navy.

Gift in Memory of Arnold Schaefer, 2012.359.003

Gift in Memory of Arnold Schaefer, 2012.359.003

Join us at the Museum on March 28th for a special Women’s History Month event “Beyond Rosie: Women’s Roles on the American Home Front.” See here for more details.

Post by Curator Kimberly Guise.

SciTech Tuesday: Plans for The Gadget

In early 1945 the Manhattan Project had made great progress, but its promise to provide bombs by August of the same year was very optimistic.

In simplest terms, an atomic bomb works by creating an uncontrolled nuclear reaction in radioactive materials like 238Ur or 239Pu. The project, at great effort and expense, was producing sufficient quantities of these isotopes, but the problem of how to build a bomb that created a critical mass of them at detonation and not before had yet to be solved.

A gun mechanism, in which a small amount of material was shot into a larger amount of the same material, was originally planned for use. It ended up being the trigger for the 238Ur bomb that was used on Hiroshima. 239Pu was easier to produce in large quantities for a bomb than 238Ur, but it would take more to bring it to critical mass. Seth Neddermeyer showed the teams at Los Alamos that as it began to undergo fission, a mass of 239Pu would expand and become less dense, thus not achieving critical mass. He suggested a different trigger mechanism—implosion. The idea was that several smaller masses of 239Pu arranged around a hollow core would be pushed together quickly by explosions surrounding them. Working out the right dynamics to find a configuration and triggering mechanism took almost a year of experimentation. John von Neumann, who contributed mathematical work to optimize the size and placement of charges, and Edward Teller, who figured out how to change the density of the plutonium metal to achieve critical mass, were prominent members of the implosion team.

Another challenge of the plutonium bomb was that the plutonium samples they had contained a lot of 240Pu. This isotope spontaneously undergoes fission at a high rate, and might prevent a large chain reaction. This also meant that implosion would be necessary.

The complexity of the implosion mechanism required the scientists and engineers working on that part of the project to conduct many experiments. Most of these (called the RaLa tests) used 140Lanthanum because it was less dangerous and expensive. Eventually they also tested what we would call today a ‘dirty bomb.’ Using waste products from reactors, they detonated a test bomb to see the results.

All this work testing the bomb mechanics culminated in the Trinity Test in July 1945. This bomb was code-named The Gadget. At first Groves and Oppenheimer were concerned it might not work, so they built a very expensive metal containment chamber in which they planned to detonate the bomb. This would allow them to recover the 239Pu which had cost so much time and money to isolate. However, by the time they actually conducted the test they were confident it would work, having been through over 240 RaLa tests.

After the Trinity Test, the path was clear to delivery of the bombs on schedule.

This is the last week to apply for Real World Science, a weeklong residential seminar to learn how to teach STEM with history.

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

Edward Teller's id badge from Los Alamos
von Neumann's Id badge from Los Alamos
notes from 1942 meeting at Los Alamos on bomb mechanisms

Seth Neddermeyer's ID badge for Los Alamos
The Gadget-the bomb made for testing at Trinity-loaded into the tower and ready to go.

Donor Spotlight: Pratt & Whitney

Vought Corsair skimming clouds at 400 miles per hour. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, Gift of Mary Noble, from the collection of The National WWII Museum.

Vought Corsair skimming clouds at 400 miles per hour. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, Gift of Mary Noble, from the collection of The National WWII Museum.

One of WWII’s most iconic “warbirds” was the Corsair, manufactured from 1942 until 1953, with more than over 12,000 planes produced. The carrier-based F4U Corsair was used by the US Navy and Marine Corps, particularly in the Pacific Theater campaign. On the Corsair’s maiden flight, she broke the speed record for a single-seat fighter aircraft by exceeding 400 mph in level flight.

Pratt & Whitney produced the R-2800-18W engines for the aircraft, producing up to 2,450 horsepower. The Vought F4U Corsair on permanent display in The National WWII Museum’s US Freedom Pavilion: The Boeing Center has been made possible through a generous gift by Pratt & Whitney.

 

 

 

 

Pratt & Whitney Donor Spotlight

David Hess

David Hess

Former Pratt & Whitney President David Hess, a member of the Museum’s Board of Trustees, and now UTC Aerospace Business Development Senior Vice President, played a key role in the sponsorship of the plane. David has spent his entire career at United Technologies Corp., Pratt & Whitney’s parent company. He spent his first 30 years at Hamilton Sundstrand before becoming Pratt & Whitney President in 2009. He was named to his current role in January 2015.

After learning of UTC’s support of the Museum, and his own reflections on the role Pratt & Whitney played in the war effort and its continued role in protecting the country’s freedom, David decided the Museum was a cause he would like to support.

Without question, Pratt & Whitney was instrumental in helping the United States win WWII. The company built almost half of all plane engines used during the war. The demand for airpower was so high that the company expanded from building 5,000 airplane engines a year to 50,000 at the height of the war. Employment at Pratt & Whitney soared from 3,000 individuals to 40,000. According to David, “It was a very exciting time for us.”

Since this surge of production was such a large part of the company’s history, David understood the importance of supporting the Museum, and became a member of the Board of Trustees. Although he has no personal family connection to WWII, his father was in the Navy ROTC in college and caught the tail end of the Korean War.

The sponsorship selection of the Vought F4U Corsair was a very deliberate choice by David and the company. Not only did Pratt & Whitney build the engine, but also the company that built the propellers (then called Hamilton Standard, today known as United Technologies Aerospace Systems) is also a member of United Technologies Corp. David states that most aerospace parts were built under United Technologies during that time, which speaks volumes to the major role the company played in the Allied victory.

Roosevelt visits Pratt & Whitney

Roosevelt visits Pratt & Whitney

David notes that his relationship with the Museum is strengthened by the role of President Nick Mueller and his involvement in “taking the Museum from a sleepy little one, to one of the top Museums in the world.” He went on to say that Dr. Mueller’s passion and dedication is inspiring, and that his energy is a major force in making the Museum the first rate institution that it is. “The Museum is a wonderful cause and I support it because it is vitally important that today’s Americans, as well as generations to come, understand the importance of this chapter in history, and the cost of freedom.”

The Museum is exceptionally grateful for the commitment and generosity of David Hess and Pratt & Whitney in helping the Museum complete our Road to Victory capital expansion.

 

Classroom Ideas for Women’s History Month

 

Army WACs (Women's Army Corps) giving the "V" for Victory signal, 1944. From the collection of The National WWII Museum. 2011.065.1347.

Army WACs (Women’s Army Corps) giving the “V” for Victory signal, 1944. U.S. Army Signal Corps, Gift in Memory of Maurice T. White, from the collection of The National WWII Museum. 2011.065.1347.

Women in WWII were essential to winning the war. Many of us tend to think of the iconic Rosie the Riveter when we think about women’s contributions during the war, and indeed over 6 million women worked in industrial jobs during WWII. However, American women contributed to the war effort in many other ways, and had to overcome gender stereotypes and discrimination to do so.  This Women’s History Month, introduce your students to the variety of women’s WWII experiences with classroom resources from The National WWII Museum.

A great way to get your students to think about the changes in social expectations and work opportunities for women over time is to compare and contrast primary sources like yearbooks. Our “See You Next Year! High School Yearbooks from WWII” website at ww2yearbooks.org features yearbooks by state, including one from an all-girls Catholic school in Ohio, St. Ursula Academy. The 1945 Scroll yearbook shows Ursuline alumnae that were serving in the military at home and overseas, offers condolences for women who have lost family members, and contains student aspirations for life after the war. Teachers can have their students reflect on how 1940’s women’s roles are similar or different today by comparing their own contemporary yearbook with others from the WWII era, such as Louisiana’s Isidore Newman School or Illinois’s Carl Schurz High School, which show the highly gendered expectations for women to be caregivers and secretaries.  There is even a lesson plan called “Society’s Struggles” which helps students explore how yearbooks show the intersection of inequalities regarding gender, race and ethnicity during the 1940s.

Resources like the Women at War Focus On feature, propaganda posters, and oral history interviews from The Digital Collections of The National WWII Museum illustrate the diversity of women’s WWII experiences. Whether it was serving in the military or the Red Cross at home and overseas, surviving life as a POW in the Pacific, to civilian work operating canteens and providing entertainment for soldiers, American women could be found almost everywhere during the war.  Highlights from The Digital Collections include interviews with Lois Meyer, who challenged sexism as one of the first female officers in the U.S. Marine Corps; Martha Erickson discussing her top-secret work with the OSS (Office of Strategic Services; forerunner of the CIA);  and Women Air Force Service Pilot (WASP) Helen Snapp, who talked about the dangers (including death) faced by some women aviators.

Although many post-war women, including millions of “Rosies,” were fired from their jobs to make room for returning men in the workforce, the impact of women’s powerful wartime experiences encouraged others to continue breaking social and economic barriers inside and outside of the home. Here are a few more educational suggestions for you to explore:

 

 

For additional ideas and resources for Women’s History Month, please visit our Education blog, follow us on Twitter @wwiieducation and sign up for our free monthly e-newsletter, Calling All Teachers.

Post written by Megan Byrnes, K-12 Curriculum Coordinator.

St. Ursuline Academy in Toledo, Ohio, was an all-girls Catholic school. This page from their 1945 yearbook highlights graduates' wartime service. See the whole yearbook at ww2yearbooks.org.
A riveter works on a Vultee A-31 "Vengence" dive bomber in a Nashville, TN plant, Feb. 1943. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Movie star Bette Davis visits Fort Benning to raise troop morale, Oct. 1944. U.S. Army Signal Corps, Gift in Memory of Maurice T. White, from the collections of The National WWII Museum. 2011.065.1660.

Helen Snapp was a female pilot who served in the WASPs (Women's Air Force Service Pilots). Despite their important and dangerous work flying and delivering planes, the WASPs were forced to disband in December 1944 and were denied military recognition and veterans benefits until the 1970s. Listen to her entire interview at ww2online.org.
Navy nurse Jane Kendiegh tends to a wounded soldier on a ship off of Iwo Jima, 1945. Gift of Charles Ives, from the collection of The National WWII Museum. 2011.102.548.
Champion welders, Delta Shipbuilding plant, 1943. Gift of Mildred Aupied, from the Collection of The National WWII Museum.

Army WACs (Women's Army Corps) giving the "V" for Victory signal, 1944. From the collection of The National WWII Museum. 2011.065.1347.
"Make a Date with Uncle Sam!"SPARS (Coast Guard) recruitment poster, Courtesy of The National Archives and Records Administration.

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Col. Jesse Traywick: “I could listen as long as you could talk…”

In late February 1946, Colonel Jesse Thomas Traywick, Sr. visited his niece Jean’s class at the Goode Street School, an elementary school in Montgomery, Alabama. Hardly half a year had passed since Traywick had been released from over three years of imprisonment by the Japanese. Some of the children wrote Traywick thank-you letters, including his niece Jean, whose letter (pictured in the center below) stated “I appreciate you coming here very much. One little girl said I was lucky to have an uncle like you.”

Traywick had served in the Philippines as Gen. Jonathan Wainwright’s G-3, or Assistant Chief of Staff and was entrusted to deliver a handwritten letter of surrender to Maj. Gen. William Sharp. Although Wainwright had agreed to surrender, General Homma wanted assurance that the forces under Maj. Gen. William Sharp would also put down their arms. Traywick was held as a prisoner of war  by the Japanese from the fall of Corregidor on 6 May 1942, until the end of hostilities in August 1945.



Gift of Jesse T. Traywick III, 2005.169

Post by Curator Kimberly Guise

Home Front Friday: Waxing the Way to Victory

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!

Never underestimate the honey bee! The influence of these creatures on our world is enormous, and the aid of bees and beekeepers during World War II was necessary to winning the war. In fact, the Department of Agriculture in Washington DC deemed the honey industry ‘essential’ during wartime, even requesting a 20% increase in production in 1942 just to keep up with demand for both honey and beeswax. How is this possible?

Well, the USA loves its sugar, but during World War II, the Japanese occupied many countries we formerly purchased sugar from, meaning a shortage and rationing. Honey became the obvious and easily accessible substitute. In addition to honey, beeswax was used to coat air planes, shells, drills, bits, cables and pulleys, adhesive tape, varnishes, canvases, awnings, anything and everything! Beeswax prevented rust, strengthened, and waterproofed and we had access to it at home. In fact, on certain occasions, beekeepers were deferred from military service just to keep up production of honey and wax!

INFO FROM : http://www.apinews.com/en/news/item/25964-usa-beekeeping-and-its-impact-on-world-war-ii (which also has some cool propaganda posters for beekeeping during WWII)

There is simply no denying the value of bees during World War II, and the benefits do not end there – even today, we can experience the gifts of beeswax in our home by burning beeswax candles! Believe it or not, in addition to waterproofing the family plane, beeswax can be used to purify the air. Beeswax releases negative ions when burning, which neutralizes the positive charge of air contaminants (like pollen, dust, and dirt), allowing them to be sucked into the burning candle or drop to the floor.

We know this information is incredibly mind blowing, but there’s more! Here are five simple steps to creating your own beeswax candles:

1. Prepare jars – we used mason jars found around the house. Use cotton square wicks – these are not the same as for paraffin candles as beeswax burns slower so requires a larger wick – and wrap them around a pen or pencil.

beeswax step 2 melt the wax

2. Melt wax – we used 1 lb of beeswax. Use a double boiler – or we used a small metal mixing bowl inside of a saucepan. After the wax is melted, add about ¾ cup of coconut oil. It smells lovely, but any oil will do.

beeswax step 3 set the wick

3. Set wick – pour just a bit at first to get the wick to stick.

beeswax step 4 pour the candle

4. Pour candle – After about a minute, the jar can be filled the rest of the way with the melted wax.

beeswax step 5 trim the wick

5. Trim wick – after you are sure the wax is set, go ahead and trim your wick. But wait to burn the candles for 24 hours, just to make sure the mixture is set.

beeswax voila

Voila! The instructions were what we found worked after consulting many DIY candle-making websites. Should you like more comprehensive information, such as using alternate sized jars or wicks, or how to filter beeswax, we found this blog very enlightening.

Posted by Laurel Taylor, Education Intern and Lauren Handley, Assistant Director of Education for Public Programs at the World War II Museum