Ken Burns The War

[scott#2]

Anyone watching this show? Quite a production and very impressive can we Americans be. Fact: Up until 1941 13 million cars were produced. From the start of the war, through the duration, only 13 automobiles were produced, everything went into the war effort. The footage and narration is absolutly incredible. During the duration, the U.S. was responsible for more than 1/2 the worlds production/manufacturing output! Mess with us will ya?

scott#2

 

[GeneMO]

It's on now.


Gene

 

[leon]

Been watching. Good lesson. While involved in a new engine program while working for Deere, a Deere VP who had been through the war was told how long it was going to take to get the proposed new engine into production. His response was: "Hell, we fought the entire second world war in less time than that."

I was always impressed by the fact that while looking around a massive WW II ammunition loading plant with some 400 buildings, the dates scratched into the concrete foundation of all buildings were within a year's time span!

 

[El Toro]

My mom and my wife's mom both worked during WW2 making 20mm ammo. Since just about everything was rationed they could get extra gas ration coupons for working in a defense plant and tires too. Hal
PS: My wife's parents bought a new 1941 Chevy
car and it was the last new car the dealer had.

 

[HENRY E NC]

I was a boy during WW II and the memories are etched in my mind. I lived on a farm near Akron Ohio. I worked everyday on the farm since I was 8 yrs old and when the war started most of the men and women got jobs in the rubber and steel industries in town. Most people worked two jobs or two shifts. Barns were converted to dormitories and many homes rented out their spare bedrooms to workers from West Virginia, Kentucky and the Carolinas. Goodyear Aircraft made Corsairs in the huge airship hanger and tested them daily over our farm. Everything was rationed and you needed stamps to buy gas and points to buy meat. If you were against the war you were a traitor and put in detention camps. My memories reflect the greatest nation on earth at that time and today I have trouble seeing how far we have come down as a nation. I could write a book about the things I have lived through .

 

[Allan in NE]

Amen to that Henry.

Last night I'm watchin' an ad on TV for "stool softener" medication and I wonder really how low this society can actually go.

Switch channels and see that sewage debacle that was going on at Columbia University yesterday.

Switch once more and once again witness Greta still attempting to learn how to speak.

Shut the darned thing off and immediately felt better. :>)

Allan

 

[Wardner]

Automobiles were produced during the war. They were painted olive drab and sold to the government. Tens of thousands of motorcycles were also built. There was a huge glut of MC parts after the war and they are still available as NOS.

 

[Bob Kerr]

Although I didn"t live through it, I did hear all the stories that family and friends told who did go through it. The sacrifices were huge! Most of the family was on farms so food wasn"t too much of an issue but certain things were hard or impossible to get. Grandma and Great Aunt sewed clothes and blankets for the poor Brits during the battle of Brittian. Those folks really had it rough but kept a stiff upper lip! My Great Uncle joined up Dec 8th 1941 as a SeeBee in the Pacific. He said when he got to Pearl Harbor after training, there were still fires burning from the attack. He wouldn"t talk about it much, but did say he lost quite a few friends from enemy fire as well as accidents from all the hurry up that was going on. He did say the Marines would take an island and then the SeeBees would land and start building air strips while the fighting was still going on. Also said the Navy would start unloading supplies including bombs for the base before the buildings were built to put them in. That caused some problems and cost the life of one of his friends when a pile of 500lbers blew up while sitting under tarps in the hot sun. That generation has my total respect and always has. I have always thought the depression toughened up everyone and that is why they were able to do what they did and without a lot of whining, and a lady on the show last night pretty much confirmed that. I wish my Great uncle was still with us, I would like to watch the show with him!

 

[Ron in Nebr]

You got to see Corsairs huh? Neat! Dad always talks about the P-38 lightnings that flew over our place during the war. Our ranch is just south of what was and still is a federally-owned wildlife refuge, and during the war they used it for a practice bombing range, so there were LOTS of planes flying around here back then. Guess they mainly dropped sacks of flour instead of bombs though. Grandad always told about a pilot who'd had to crash land up on the refuge. When he was rescued several days later the first thing he wanted was a drink of water. He was asked why he hadn't gotten a drink from one of the many windmills in the area....he said "Windmills??? I thought those were oil wells!"

 

[Brainerd Dave]

Doubt this Country is remotely capable of doing that now. This generation doesn't know what sacrifice is. During the present war, the price of gas hits $3.00 or the government reads a few emails and half the nation screams bloody murder and falls apart.

 

[Anonymous-0]

I saved a picture of new Farmall H's on a railcar out of "Vintage Photos" on this sight and showed it to an older friend who owns a 43 H. He said that picture mad him heartsick. I asked him why, and he said that "Those tractors were produced lock, stock, and barrel by us, without any help from China or any other country. We couldn't do it now..."

 

[Al L. in Wisc.]

OUCH! He sure made a sharp point. And another point, HENRY E NC, I think you should write a book. Far to many 'real life' facts and first hand accounts will be lost as generations pass. Like the Holocaust, some day folks may think your life experienced didn't happen.

 

[Eric SEI]

My dad's Uncle Tom was in the navy during WWII, and was on the west coast. He got homesick for western PA and "borrowed" a navy truck. He refueled at military bases along the way until they caught him in OH. They didn't court martial him for it, instead he was on the next ship for the pacific where he spent the war in the SeaBees.

Why throw him in the brig and have somebody guard him? Much easier to send him to the front.

Uncle Tom was a good guy, anyway.