The Hoosier State in World War II

"Don't you know there's a war on?" was an oft-repeated phrase during World War II. The question was rhetorical. From 1941 to 1945 everyone knew. The war not only disrupted the lives of those who served in the military, but also changed the lifestyles of Hoosiers at home who now tended "Victory Gardens," rationed gas and food, produced war supplies and bought war bonds. The state also became a battleground over the issue of segregation in the armed forces during an incident at Freeman Field in Seymour and mourned the loss of the heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis as the war finally neared its end.

As WWII began, Indiana was home to only two major military facilities--Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indianapolis and the Jeffersonville Quartermaster Depot. The war soon changed that as land once used for raising crops was used for arming and training American soldiers. Indiana became home to a plethora of ordnance plants, training camps, air bases, storage depots and hospitals. The government bought huge tracts of land for these bases--40,000 acres in Bartholomew, Johnson and Brown counties for Camp Atterbury; 56,000 acres in Jefferson, Ripley and Jennings counties for the Jefferson Proving Grounds, the Army's largest; and 44,000 acres in Martin County for the Crane Naval Ammunitions Depot. Indiana had gone to war.

Indiana factories whose smokestacks were stilled by the Great Depression were jolted back to life as a result of the war. Workers, however, who used to make toys or automobiles now produced armor-piercing bullets and airplane wings. Of the 48 states, Indiana ranked eighth in war supply contracts, receiving $7,657,863,000 worth. War material poured out from every part of the state--General Motors' Allison Division in Indianapolis produced 71,000 airplane engines; Studebaker in South Bend at one time made 2,300 B-17 bomber engines a month; and Chrysler Corporation's Evansville plant manufactured three billion .45 caliber cartridges. The state's quality matched its quantity as Hoosier factories were honored with 174 of the coveted Army-Navy "E" awards for excellence.

Even before the attack on Pear Harbor the government encouraged Americans to donate scrap materials of all kinds for the war effort. Salvage drive organizers had two goals in mind: to build up the country's industrial resources and to boost morale by giving civilians the feeling that they were contributing to a speedy victory. Items collected to expand the nation's supply of vital raw materials included metal, rubber, grease, rags and paper. Americans eager to "do their bit," however, made some unfortunate decisions about what should be scrapped. Several Indiana counties resorted to donating their Civil War-era cannons. In addition, ornate antique fences, daguerreotypes and bronze sculptures were often scrapped for their metal.

Because the armed forces required such large amounts of commercially canned produce (by 1943 one fourth of the food produced in the country went to the military), the federal government announced a tremendously popular Victory Garden program to help ease home front shortages. At its height, there were nearly 20 million gardens tended by home gardeners, 4-H clubs, hospitals and schools.

As Hoosier soldiers fought the enemy on distant battlefields, the folks back home were doing their part financially to win the war. During the war years, nearly 80,000 volunteers under the direction of what became the Indiana War Finance Committee inspired their fellow citizens to buy $3,085,000,000 worth of bonds. Only once did the state fail to meet its sales quota as established by the federal government. From housewives to students, factory workers to executives, Hoosiers banded together in what has been called the greatest volunteer effort in Indiana history.

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