Home Front Friday: Coffee Takes a Cut

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!

We live in a day and age where merely one cup of coffee will not suffice to give you the caffeine boost you need for your workday. This addiction is not a new trend, though. Our fellow Americans were craving a second cup of jo’ long before the era of World War II, as well as during. Coffee was, and is, not simply a drink, but rather a way of life. It brings people together, today, at cafes to catch up with old friends, make new friends, or finish a great book. During early WWII up until April 1942, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt held a popular radio show called, “Over Our Cups of Coffee.” She discussed current events with the American public through the radio, with the goal in mind to share the discussion over a cup of coffee, as is implied by the name of the show. It was only a matter of time before this popular drink was soon added to the list of items that needed to be rationed.

War ration book that holds stamps to buy coffee.

Coffee stamps, as well as stamps for other rationed items.

On November 29, 1942, the rationing of coffee commenced and people quickly learned how to creatively extend the life of their grounded beans. Coffee experienced cuts because a majority of ships needed to be used by the Navy, and merchant ships traveling from the South American and Latin American countries that grew coffee beans were in too much danger of attack by German U-boats that patrolled the open waters. Also, soldiers fighting in the European and Pacific Theaters relied on coffee for boosts of energy during their long days and nights. To learn more about the time span of coffee rationing, check out this article.

Lee Harris of the American Red Cross offers coffee to Private Joe Bergles in Loiano, Italy on 2 January 1945.

Description of the above photo from the collections of The National WWII Museum.

Newspaper articles were published as well as write ups in LIFE magazine to give ideas to people of how they can get more drink out of their bean. One of the suggestions made was to add chicory to their supply of coffee for the week. The hot commodity added to New Orleans coffees today was used by Americans on the Home Front to create a larger blend and to add a hint of flavor.

This ad from the Pan-American Coffee Bureau informs people that the cuts on coffee are due to shipping problems. It goes on to remind people that coffee is too good to waste.

Little to our surprise, coffee rationing was not so popular, so when President Roosevelt removed it as one of the first items to come off of the ration list in July 1943, coffee consumption found itself at a new high a year later. Distance does truly make the heart grow fonder, and in this case, the heart was in dire need of fulfilling its coffee craving.

When you are met with extra coffee in your pot on your way out the door to go to work, what can you do with it besides dumping it down the drain? There’s always the option of a to-go cup, but think of all the ways you can salvage the perfectly usable drink just as our Home Front citizens had to during a period of constantly working to save, reuse, and recycle.

Here are a few ideas to expand your coffee horizons:

Coffee Ice Cubes: pour the coffee into a tray and let it freeze. Add them to your iced coffee in the morning or enjoy a popsicle.
Store it in a pitcher and put it in the refrigerator to have a cup of iced coffee the next morning or later that day for an early evening pick me up.
Coffee Brownies: next time you make this chocolate-y dessert, use your left over coffee instead of milk for a distinct mocha taste.
Stain white paper for an antique look.
“Coffee” acid loving plants are real. These include Holly, Azaleas, and Japanese iris, just to name a few.
Hot Chocolate with coffee instead of milk: sweet and savory in a single warm cup.
If you add coffee to your pot roast, it makes the broth richer.

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

Posted : July 8th, 2016
Post Category :
- Education
- Home Front Friday

Remembering Tuskegee Airman Roscoe C. Brown Jr.

Roscoe Brown with the P-51 Mustang replica painted in the likeness of the plane he flew during the war. Today a restored P-51 Mustang hangs there as a tribute to his service.

Dr. Brown with the P-51 Mustang replica painted in the likeness of the plane he flew during the war at The National WWII Museum in 2013. Today a restored P-51 Mustang hangs there as a tribute to his service.

Roscoe C. Brown Jr., PhD, a decorated member of the pioneering African American Tuskegee Airmen in World War II and later an educator, died July 2, 2016, at age 94.

A restored P-51D Mustang painted in the likeness of the “Red Tail” fighter Dr. Brown flew in the war is part of The National WWII Museum’s fleet of warbirds in US Freedom Pavilion: The Boeing Center. Dr. Brown is also featured in Fighting for the Right to Fight: African American Experiences in World War II, a Museum special exhibit now currently embarked on a two-year tour.

Dr. Brown was a “great friend of the Museum,” said Gordon H. “Nick” Mueller, PhD, president and CEO, recalling him as a repeated “distinguished and honored speaker” who participated in the opening ceremonies for the pavilion that now houses the tribute P-51.

“Roscoe Brown led a full and important life—a life of meaning,” Dr. Mueller said. “We all remember him as a leader, a man of courage, an educator, and an inspiration to all who knew him. He was a role model to African Americans throughout his life, and will continue to be.”

A Washington, DC, native, Dr. Brown attended Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts, departing the day after his graduation for training at Keesler Field in Biloxi, Mississippi. From there, he moved on to Tuskegee, Alabama, for further training at the Tuskegee Institute and Tuskegee Army Air Base.

In total, Dr. Brown flew 68 combat missions, a combination of strafing runs and escort missions for heavy bombers and P-38 reconnaissance flights. He downed a German jet near Berlin during an escort mission on March 24, 1945.

“As we got over the outskirts of Berlin, I first saw these streaks, which I knew were jets. . . . And they were coming up to attack the bombers,” Dr. Brown said in his Museum oral history, recorded in 2012. Brown executed a “reverse peel” to maneuver into engagement with one of the jets.

“He didn’t see me,” Dr. Brown said. “And then I turned into his blind spot, put on my electronic gun sight, and brrrrp—boom! There he was.

“The bomber-escort missions required a lot of discipline. They were longer missions in the main, and you knew you were doing good. . . . Escort missions gave us our reputation. We got the reputation of being so-called ‘Red Tailed Angels,’ because of the fact that we stayed close to the bombers.”

The success the Tuskegee Airmen achieved in battle became a symbol of bravery and skill, helping refute notions that African Americans were inferior performers in the military, especially in roles requiring advanced training. As the Airmen became well-known for their stellar flying record and distinctive aircraft, they were able to begin breaking racial barriers abroad and eventually at home.

“Many of the bomber pilots . . . remembered the Red Tails,” Dr. Brown said in his oral history. “[They said,] ‘We saw the Red Tail P-51s and they were our saviors.’ . . . Many of them did not know—most of them did not know—that we were African American.”

In April 2016, a restored P-51D Mustang painted in the likeness of the “Red Tail” fighter Dr. Brown flew in the war joined The National WWII Museum’s fleet of warbirds in US Freedom Pavilion: The Boeing Center.

Dr. Brown earned the Distinguished Flying Cross during World War II. In 2007, Brown and five other airmen accepted the Congressional Gold Medal on behalf of the Tuskegee Airmen. He earned a doctorate in education after the war and served as a professor at New York University, then served as president of Bronx Community College for 17 years. He later joined The City University of New York Graduate Center as director of the Center for Urban Education Policy.

The Museum’s P-51, restored by San Diego’s Flyboys Aeroworks and dedicated at a ceremony in April 2016, bears the unmistakable Tuskegee Airmen “Red Tail.” The Mustang also carries the nicknames “Bunnie” and “Miss Kentucky State” to mirror Dr. Brown’s wartime aircraft. “Bunnie” was Dr. Brown’s daughter’s name; “Miss Kentucky State” was a crew chief’s salute to an admired homecoming queen back home.

“I am deeply saddened to hear of his passing,” said Tommy Lofton, the Museum historian and curator who conducted Dr. Brown’s oral history. “I was honored to have the opportunity to conduct an interview with him in 2012 for the Museum and spent the better part of that day enamored by his wartime experiences. I will always remember him and I feel that he is one of my personal heroes of the war.”

Learn more the service of Tuskegee Airman Roscoe C. Brown Jr., PhD. Watch his oral history in The Digital Collections of The National WWII Museum.

Posted : July 6th, 2016
Post Category :
- Museum News

Explore Our New Curriculum Series

: US Marines evacuate a wounded comrade from the front lines on Iwo Jima. (National Archives and Records Administration, 80-G-412493.)

: American servicemembers on Guadalcanal. (From the Collection of The National WWII Museum, 2002.069.144.)

: The first draft of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's address to Congress following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. (Franklin D. Roosevelt Library.)

This month’s Calling All Teachers e-newsletter highlights From the Collection to the Classroom, the Museum’s new multimedia resource for teaching middle and high school students the history of World War II.

We will premier the first volume in this series, The War in the Pacific, during our July 11–15 Summer Teacher Institute, and you can stream select Institute sessions LIVE. All you need to do is register here.

In addition to primary source-based lesson plans, The War in the Pacific includes topical overview essays, reference materials, and two introductory essays and a video from leading Pacific war historian Richard B. Frank. You’ll also find accompanying videos, artifacts, and oral histories from the Museum’s galleries at the curriculum’s online home: www.ww2classroom.org.

To complement this first volume of From the Collection to the Classroom, forthcoming volumes will be The War in Europe, The Home Front, and The Legacy of the War.

This month’s Calling All Teachers e-newsletter also provides details for reserving one of the Museum’s traveling artifact trunks for your classroom through our Operation Footlocker program along with information about booking a STEM Field Trip.

Finally, this month’s Calling All Teachers e-newsletter shines the spotlight on the US decision to use atomic bombs during World War II and the Museum’s new curricular resources that allow students to explore the persistent controversy over the use of nuclear weapons.

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 : July 5th, 2016
Post Category :
- Education

FLAGS, MEMORIES, AND IWO JIMA

U.S. Marines of the 28th Regiment, 5th Division, raise the American flag atop Mt. Suribachi, Iwo Jima, on Feb. 23, 1945. Strategically located only 660 miles from Tokyo, the Pacific island became the site of one of the bloodiest, most famous battles of World War II against Japan. (AP Photo/Joe Rosenthal)

US Marines of the 28th Regiment, 5th Division, raise the American flag atop Mount Suribachi, Iwo Jima, on February 23, 1945. Strategically located only 660 miles from Tokyo, the Pacific island became the site of one of the bloodiest, most famous battles of World War II against Japan. (AP Photo/Joe Rosenthal)

The Marine Corps has officially spoken and affirmed the work of two history buffs that Pharmacist Mate 2nd Class John Bradley is not in Joe Rosenthal’s immortal photograph of the flag raising on Iwo Jima and that the sixth man in the image is Private First Class Harold Schultz. For many this raises an unanswered question: How could Bradley have abided his misidentification as one of the famous flag raisers while Schultz maintained silence about his actual participation? While a firm answer is beyond our reach, we can try to understand that context will steer us away from unwarranted judgments about either man.

There are two critical factors here well outside the understanding of most Americans. The first is that Joe Rosenthal’s image captured the second flag raising on Mount Suribachi. As the participants understood events, the first flag raising was the great event. They merely participated in a much lesser moment to raise a second and larger flag atop Mount Suribachi. None of them had the slightest inkling that they were in an immortal photograph.

The second critical factor is that both men, by the end of their service on Iwo Jima, were in a state of mental fog beyond comprehension to those who have not endured parallel experiences. The flag raisings came on the fifth day of the fighting; the battle would go on for another 31 days. During that time, extreme physical and emotional stress pummeled participants in an endless series of kill-or-be-killed moments while they witnessed countless comrades killed or maimed. They endured on mere shards of sleep. This combination shredded the brain’s ability to retain and to organize memories—not to mention the brain’s conscious or unconscious work to suppress terrifying or profoundly disturbing memories. Bradley had participated in the first flag raising. It is entirely plausible that even though he had no specific memory of being in the famous photograph, he was easily swayed by others to believe he was. And make no mistake: Bradley was a genuine hero as evidenced by the award of the Navy Cross, a decoration just below the Medal of Honor.

Aerial view of Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima showing US landings taking place on February 24, 1945. US Navy Official photograph, Gift of Charles Ives, from the collection of The National WWII Museum.

For Harold Schultz, one quite plausible explanation for his silence is that he had no memory, or an uncertain memory, of participating in the second flag raising. And for Schultz there may have been yet another factor–he survived while a great many others perished. His innate sense of honor precluded him from advancing himself as a participant in an event he did not see as actually heroic and thus to elevate his recognition over that of many dead comrades.

Ultimately, as the Marine Corps Commandant correctly affirmed, “It’s not about the individuals and never has been.” It is impossible to distinguish the faces of any of the flag raisers in the image. The power of the image is and always will be the stunning symbolism of collective effort and valor.

Richard Frank is an internationally renowned expert on the Pacific war. After graduating from the University of Missouri, he was commissioned in the US Army, in which he served for nearly four years, including a tour of duty in the Republic of Vietnam as an aerorifle platoon leader with the 101st Airborne Division. His works include Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account of the Landmark Campaign, which won the United States Marine Corps’ General Wallace M. Greene Award; Downfall: The end of the Imperial Japanese Empire, which won the 2000 Harry S. Truman Book Award; and MacArthur. He has appeared numerous times on or consulted for programs on television and radio, and was also a historical consultant and appeared as a key interviewee in the HBO miniseries The Pacific. He is working on a narrative history trilogy about the Asia–Pacific war. Frank also sits on the Museum’s Presidential Counselors advisory board.

Hear him speak at The 2016 International Conference on World War II, titled 1946: Year Zero—Triumph and Tragedy, November 17-19, 2016, in New Orleans.

Posted : June 30th, 2016
Post Category :
- Museum News

SciTech Tuesday: Zyklon B

On June 20, 1922 a German company filed for a patent on a new formulation of a pesticide/insecticide, which it called Zyklon B (zyklon is German for cyclone).

After its first use as a pesticide in California citrus plantations in the late 19^th century, hydrogen cyanide came to be used in all sorts of circumstances as a fumigant. In the US it was used to fumigate train cars, the clothes of immigrants, and in Germany it was used to kill lice and rats. In World War I, a form of hydrogen cyanide, known as Zyklon, used as a chemical weapon by the German military.

After World War I, this form of hydrogen cyanide was banned. The scientists at a German chemical company came up with a new formulation, getting the cyanide from the waste products of sugar-beet production, and packaged the hydrogen cyanide with diatomaceous earth in a canister, along with a chemical irritant to warn of the product’s toxicity. They called it Zyklon B to differentiate it from the earlier, banned, product. From 1922 to the start of the war, most of the sales came from outside of Germany.

Hydrogen cyanide is a very potent toxin. It binds with the iron compound in an enzyme called cytochrome c oxidase in cells. This enzyme is necessary in production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is required by cells in energy transfer. Without ATP cells cannot survive, and without cytochrome c oxidase cells can’t make ATP. Hydrogen cyanide reacts with cytochrome c oxidase and keeps it from making ATP. In aerial forms, such as Zyklon B, it enters the body quickly. In a human of about 150 lbs only 70 milligrams of Zyklon B can be fatal in 2 minutes.

In 1941 the German SS was experimenting with methods of efficiently killing prisoners. A captain tested Zyklon B on a group of Russian POWs at Auschwitz in a building basement. By early 1942 Zyklon B became the SS’s preferred method for killing prisoners and was used to kill at least 1 million prisoners. Many of these were at Auschwitz, where the practice originated.

Two of the scientists who developed managed Zyklon B production were tried and executed in British military court for knowingly delivering the chemical to kill prisoners. Different forms of hydrogen cyanide are still used today as pesticides.

: Hydrogen cyanide, while highly toxic, is a simple combination of three common and essential elements of life: Hydrogen, Carbon, and Nitrogen.

: Hydrogen cyanide binding to an Iron atom, as it does in Prussian Blue

: A scene from 1939 New Orleans--men about to fumigate a warehouse with Zyklon B.

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

all images from Wikimedia Commons

Posted : June 28th, 2016
Post Category :
- Education
- STEM

Match ‘Em Bond for Bomb

Novelty items lampooning our enemies were popular in wartime America. Banks, hardware stores and restaurants used this material to advertise their services. This matchbook features the menu for Mandell’s Restaurant on Baltimore Street at Calvert in Baltimore, Maryland. The back cover features cartoon of Hitler with striking pad on his trousers. The front cover bears inscription “Strike at the seat of trouble. Buy war bonds.” Mandell’s offered a “whole half of crispy crunchy fried chicken served unjointed without silverware, gobs of shoestring potatoes, hot buttered rolls.” Yum!

: Gift of Ellen Applewhite, 2001.309

: Gift of Ellen Applewhite, 2001.309

: Gift of Ellen Applewhite, 2001.309

Post by Curator Kimberly Guise.

Posted : June 28th, 2016
Post Category :
- Featured Artifacts

Home Front Friday: Man’s Best Friend

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!

Today is National Take Your Dog to Work Day, in honor of our favorite furry friends who have been by our sides for centuries!

World War II was no exception to our dogs’ special companionship. Many American animals were enlisted in the war effort alongside their humans. These service animals became known as the Loyal Forces, and were utilized by every branch of the U.S. military, with 20,000 dogs serving in the war.

The Loyal Forces provided a variety of services. War dogs were trained to sniff out bombs, carry messages, act as scouts, and boost morale for servicemen. Many of them were pets volunteered by their owners for services such as Dogs for Defense.

Snafu, a U.S. Navy Mascot

Mascot of the escort carrier USS Baltic Sea

Andy, a two year old Doberman Pinscher, sees action on Bougainville in the Solomon Islands, November 1943

Here are some stories about a few famous dogs of World War II:

Chips: This German Shepherd-Collie-Siberian Husky mix was the most decorated dog of World War II. Chips saw action in France, Italy, North Africa, and Germany, and even served as sentry for the Roosevelt-Churchill conference in 1943. He helped take 10 Italians prisoner after escaping from machine gunners during the invasion of Sicily. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, and Purple Heart; however, these awards were later revoked due to an Army policy preventing official commendation of animals. His unit later unofficially awarded him 8 battle stars for his campaigns. His story was later adapted into a TV movie by Disney.

Chips in Italy, 26 November 1943

Smoky: Smoky was a little Yorkshire terrier found by an American soldier in a foxhole in New Guinea. She was sold to Corporal William A. Wynne, who carried her in his backpack throughout the Pacific. Wynne credited Smoky with saving his life by warning him of incoming shells – she warned him to duck just as enemy fire took out eight men standing next to Wynne. Smoky was also used to run a telegraph wire through a narrow pipe, a feat which saved 250 ground crewmen and kept 40 planes flying. Smoky has been awarded numerous medals and has had many memorials dedicated to her throughout the United States.
Judy: Judy was a Pointer that served aboard the HMS Grasshopper and HMS Gnat, where she was able to provide advanced warnings for enemy fire. When the Grasshopper sank, Judy was able to find water for the surviving crewmen on a nearby deserted island. Judy and the survivors eventually became prisoners of war, where Judy was listed as an official POW – the only dog of World War II to be listed as such. While being held prisoner, Judy saved several passengers aboard transport ships from drowning.

Click here to learn more about animals during the war and read an excerpt from Lindsey F. Barnes and Toni M. Kiser’s Loyal Forces: The American Animals of World War II!

So what can you do to show your little buddy you care? Why not make some delicious homemade dog treats? Keep reading to find out how:

WHAT YOU NEED:

1 cup whole wheat flour
½ cup creamy peanut butter
¼ cup unsweetened apple sauce or mashed banana
¼ cup vegetable, chicken or beef stock
Cookie cutter

STEPS:

Preheat oven to 350°.
Combine flour, peanut butter and apple sauce in a large mixing bowl. Add stock and stir until well-combined. The dough will be thick. Once combined use your hands to press the dough into a ball.
Place dough ball on a flat service (with a sprinkle of flour if needed) and roll out evenly with a rolling pin. Dough should be about ¼ inch thick.
Use a cookie cutter to cut the dough into desired shape and place on an ungreased baking sheet.
Bake for 18 minutes or until golden brown. Store in an airtight container.
Give to your dog!

Thanks to Brittany Mullins at eatingbirdfood.com for the recipe!

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

Posted : June 24th, 2016
Post Category :
- Education
- Home Front Friday

Remembering Bert Stolier

Bet Stolier holding a photo of himself during his World War II service.

Bert Stolier holding a photo of himself during his WWII service.

The National WWII Museum offers a final salute to Bert Stolier, who died Monday, June 13, 2016. He was 97, and the longest-serving WWII-veteran volunteer at the Museum.

When The National D-Day Museum opened on June 6, 2000, Stolier joined a group of WWII veterans known as the “A-Team”—a band of seven WWII-veteran volunteers who enthusiastically helped staff our budding Speakers Bureau and volunteered daily at the Museum, sharing with visitors their firsthand experiences of World War II.

“Bert’s imprint on this museum will never be forgotten,” said Museum president and CEO Gordon H. “Nick” Mueller, PhD. “He displayed a great spirit and added meaning to the visits of our guests from around the world. He was a man with a big heart and great passion for our nation and this museum. We will all miss him terribly.”

A New Orleans native, Stolier enlisted in the US Marine Corps on February 7, 1940, reporting to boot camp in San Diego. During World War II, he served on the USS Northampton (CA-26) and survived its sinking off of Guadalcanal. He went on to serve aboard the USS Atlanta (CL-104), which was off of Honshu when Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945. Stolier returned to New Orleans after the war and worked as a clothing salesman, then as proprietor with his wife Marian of a string of Swensen’s ice-cream parlors.

In 2000, Stolier began his volunteer service at The National D-Day Museum, and for the last 16 years of his life served the institution that became known as The National WWII Museum. He was a recipient of the Museum’s Silver Service Medallion in 2015 in recognition of his patriotic service during the war years and in retirement. He has also been honored with a dedicated seat in the Solomon Victory Theater and a commemorative brick in the Campaigns of Courage pavilion. And of course, he lives on in the hearts and memories of the many staff members and visitors whose lives he touched.

Semper fidelis, Bert.

Visitation will be held at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, June 16, at Tharp-Sontheimer-Tharp Funeral Home, 1600 N. Causeway Boulevard in Metairie, Louisiana. A chapel service follows at 2:45 p.m., during which the Museum’s Victory Belles vocal trio will sing Stolier’s favorite song, “Smile.” A private 4:00 p.m. graveside service will follow at Gates of Prayer Cemetery, 1411 Joseph Street in New Orleans.

: Bet Stolier holding a photo of himself during his World War II service.

: Bert sitting with fellow WWII veteran volunteer Forrest Villarubbia in the Solomon Victory Theater. In the theater, they both had seats dedicated in their honor.

: Bert with fellow A-Team member Tom Blakey on Veterans Day in 2013. Bert was the last surviving member of the Museum's original WWII veteran volunteer group.

: Bert with the Museum's Victory Belles.

: Bert Stolier

: Bert standing with the Museum's flag.

Posted : June 15th, 2016
Post Category :
- Museum News

SciTech Tuesday: The Radiation Lab

Today we see wealthy entrepreneurs funding research to cure or eradicate diseases (e.g. Bill Gates with malaria and polio) or to explore space (Elon Musk and SpaceX). In the WWII-era, there was a wealthy entrepreneur and self-trained physicist who did the same, but he is pretty unknown today.

Alfred Lee Loomis was born to wealthy parents in Manhattan in 1887. His parents separated when he was young, and his father died while he was at Yale studying math and science. His cousin Henry Stimson, who served in presidential cabinets from Taft to Truman, was an older mentor to him. Loomis graduated from Harvard Law School in 1912 and joined a prominent corporate law firm. He did very well at the firm but was not overly excited by the work. When the US entered World War I, Loomis joined and was made captain–he was assigned to the Aberdeen proving ground. While there he devised a device to measure the velocity of ballistics leaving a muzzle. He worked alongside scientists who helped him develop his interest in experimenting in theoretical and practical physics.

After the war Loomis didn’t return to the law but began investment banking. With a partner he developed the concept of holding companies and consolidated electric utility companies, developing power infrastructure on the East Coast. Much of his practice would be deemed insider trading under today’s regulations. In 1928 Loomis believed that the stock market was very overvalued and removed his money and his firms’ capital from the market, converting it to cash. After the crash they reinvested in stocks while their price was very low–his wealth increased exponentially at a time when many people lost all theirs.

Loomis used his wealth to pursue his scientific interests, and to support other science research. In particular, as the 1930’s progressed, he began to support the development of technologies that might support a US war industry. He developed a large lab complex near his mansion in Tuxedo Park in New York. The work there focused on brain waves, and electromagnetic waves.

By 1940, Loomis was very focused on preparation for the coming war. In the absence of government funding of important research, he decided to step in. He opened a new lab on the campus of MIT. Hoping for some obfuscation, he named it The Radiation Lab, hoping to confuse it with the new Radiation Lab at UC Berkeley, run by Ernest Lawrence. Although funded by Loomis, the lab operated under first the National Defense Research Committee, and then later the Office of Scientific Research and Development, in both cases directed by Vannevar Bush.

The ‘Rad Lab’ as it was called, focused on parts of the electromagnetic spectrum that could be used to transmit and receive information. When the Tizard Mission sent British technology and research results to the US, they went to the Rad Lab. They used magnetrons to create high energy waves and developed new radar technology as a result. The 10 cm radar that resulted from this research was used in planes and ships and military bases throughout the war. Nine scientists from the Rad Lab went on to receive Nobel Awards.

After World War II the Rad Lab closed, and its operations, still funded by the government, became part of the Research Laboratory of Electronics at MIT. Loomis was always a very private man, and preferred to operate in the background. In 1945 he divorced his wife, who was suffering from dementia, and remarried. There was a huge society scandal as a result. Loomis sold his properties and led a quiet domestic life until he died in 1975. He refused to give interviews. Perhaps this is why his story, and the story of the Radiation Lab, is little-known.

: The original cavity magnetron that came from England to the US. From Wikimedia Commons.

: Loomis, at the far right, is in very good company-Ernest Lawrence, Arthur Compton, Vannevar Bush, James Conant, and Karl Compton. From Wikimedia Commons.

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

Posted : June 14th, 2016
Post Category :
- Education
- STEM

Home Front Friday: Disney Goes to War

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 Donald Duck Day, in honor of one of Walt Disney’s most beloved characters, and a very special character for the Museum as well!

Did you know that Donald Duck starred in some of his very own propaganda cartoons during World War II? It’s true! Between 1942 and 1945, Walt Disney was hard at work making propaganda cartoons for the U.S. government. In fact, Disney made cartoons for every branch of the military! The government looked to him more than any other studio head to help build public morale. Over 90% of Disney employees were devoted to the production of training and propaganda films for the government.

Propaganda cartoons served a variety of different purposes. They were often used to boost morale on the home front and to encourage the public to support the war effort. Many beloved characters, including Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny and Popeye set aside their entertainment shticks and instead urged audiences to band together and pool their resources to defeat the Axis. World War II really did call on every American to participate – even our cartoon characters!

Here are some of Donald Duck’s messages to the American public during the war:

The New Spirit (1942). This cartoon was made to encourage Americans to pay their taxes promptly and fully so as to support the war effort. Donald, at first hesitant to fork over his money, eventually comes around and realizes how important his funds are to keeping the military stocked with ammo and weapons.

The Spirit of ’43 (1943). This short is a sequel to 1942’s The New Spirit. After Donald receives his weekly salary, he is confronted by the classic Shoulder Angel and Shoulder Devil. The Good Duck urges him to save the money so he will be able to pay his taxes, while the Bad Duck tries to get him to blow it all immediately. It asks Americans, “Will you save for your taxes or spend for the Axis?”

Der Führer’s Face (1943). Donald has a terrible nightmare in which he wakes up in Nutzi Land, where he is forced to work himself to exhaustion for the Führer! This cartoon is named after a popular Spike Jones song of the era, which appears in the short, as sung by ridiculous caricatures of Goebbels, Göring, Himmler, Tōjō, and Mussolini.

Don’t forget to check out Disney’s other propaganda cartoons, as well as cartoons from other beloved studios such as Warner Brothers, MGM, and Paramount!

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