(H)our History Lesson: Home Front Volunteerism and Contributions in Wichita, Kansas, World War II Heritage City

Photo 2. Women volunteer workers filling kit bags for servicemen at the Red Cross. The kits, or "ditty" bags, contain items like soap, playing cards, a package of envelopes and paper, shoelaces, match boxes, and a small pocket-sized book. The local chapter shipped nearly 500 kits in February 1943.

Credit: The Edward & Elizabeth Burns Historical Research Pavilion, Wichita Public Library. February 20, 1943.

About this Lesson

This lesson is part of a series teaching about the World War II home front, with Wichita, Kansas designated as an American World War II Heritage City. The lesson contains primary source readings and photographs to contribute to learners’ understandings of how civilians volunteered and contributed to home front war efforts. Efforts included volunteering service for service members, cadet enlistment programs, and war bond events and campaigns.

To see more lessons about World War II, visit Teaching with Historic Places.

Objectives:

1. Identify contributions and volunteer efforts made by civilians in Wichita
2. Explain how civilians supported the war efforts on the home front
3. Identify ways women contributed to volunteer efforts

Materials for Students:

1. Photos (can be displayed digitally)

2. Readings 1, 2, 3 (three primary)

3. Recommended: Map of Wichita, Kansas

Getting Started: Essential Question

How did the civilians of Wichita contribute and volunteer towards the war efforts on the home front?

Read to Connect

Teacher Tips:
1) Address the use of the term “Japs” in the text as a term that is racially insensitive and not used today. 
2) You may wish to talk about the connection to the post’s name of “Over There,” as both a reference to troops overseas, but also to the patriotic and popular song written in 1917 by George M. Cohan. 

Reading 1: Newspaper Article

VFW is Aiding in Drive for Cadets Help Army

Qualify Men of 18 to 44 for Service as Air Corps Privates 

The Wichita Eagle; December 2, 1942, p.14 

The army air force has opened 26 channels through which enlistees 18 to 44, inclusive, may become aviation cadets, privates in the air corps or ground technicians to keep American bomb and fighter planes in action against Hitler and the Japs. 

The Veterans of Foreign Wars are helping the army air corps qualify and enlist cadets and technicians. Upon request of Lieut. General Henry Arnold, chief of American air forces, the VFW sponsored a nation-wide program through which more than 5,700 aviation cadets and hundreds of technicians entered the army flying service within the past 60 days. 

The Over There Post No. 112, of Wichita, is participating in this campaign, according to Commander Roy E. Jinkins, and more than 300 cadet candidates already have enlisted from this community.  

Dr. Byron Babb, chairman of the aviation committee of the local VFW post, revealed last night that 600 Wichita youths, mostly in the 18 and 19-year-old bracket, already have been examined for the cadet program. 

Volunteer doctors, dentists, eye specialists and teachers are helping VFW give preliminary physical and mental tests so candidates can meet air corps entrance requirements.  

Commander Jinkins pointed out that young men 18 to 26 and those skilled in trades who are under 45 years of age may qualify for air force enlistment through the VFW. Classes in instruction for the cadets are held each Tuesday evening at 7:30 o’clock at the post headquarters, 1015 North Broadway. 

Persons engaged in defense work and find it impossible to attend the Tuesday evening classes may make arrangements to receive the instruction at some other time. They are requested to contact Dr. Babb for the necessary time.  

Reading 2: Newspaper Article

Thousands Enjoy Colorful Parade Saturday Evening 

Marks Official Opening of Victory Pledge Week; Taxi Dance at Forum; Many Floats in Line 

The Wichita Eagle, May 3, 1942, p. 2 

Thousands of persons lined the sidewalks, stood at windows and on motor car running boards in downtown Wichita early Saturday night to view the colorful mile-long parade officially opening the city’s observance of Victory Pledge week, an all-out campaign for defense bonds. 

Starting at 7 o’clock police halted all traffic on Douglas Avenue from Washington to Water and a few minutes later the big procession started marching westward from Rock Island. 

First came the American Legion color guard preceded by a police motorcycle escort. Then followed the elaborately decorated float of the victory queen carrying Mrs. Theresa Bachelder and her attendants. The float was followed by the official car in which rode Mayor O.F. Sullivan, Harry Keener, commander of Thomas Hopkins post of the American Legion; and Bert Hedges, chairman of the Sedgwick county war savings committee.  

View Defense Forces 

The red-uniformed North high school band drew applause from the spectators as it stepped along to a lively rendition of ‘From the Halls of Monteruma.’ The band was immediately in the rear of the snappily uniformed contingents of the Kansas State guard. Wichitans got a first-hand look at their own civilian defense forces in the appearance of a long line of several hundred members of the auxiliary police wearing their CD arm bands. Next came the East high school band with the players clad in blue.  

The remainder of the line was made up of cars, trucks and floats, all brightly decorated in patriotic colors and carrying banners urging investment in war savings bonds. Many of the vehicles bore pictures of General MacArthur and they were enthusiastically approved by the spectators. The Wichita Workshop for the Blind displayed a float which proved popular. It carried a large number of brooms made in the workshop and a sign, ‘Let’s Stop Their Dirty Work – Give ‘em a Good Cleaning with Bonds.’ Business firms, aircraft plants, the Red Cross, U.S. Mail trucks, Y.M.C.A., Y.W.C.A., Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, schools, parent-teacher associations, and many others had vehicles in the procession.  

The parade moved west on Douglas to Water and then south where it disbanded.  

It earlier had been reported that a large number of planes from the aircraft plants and also civilian ships would fly over downtown Wichita during the parade. However, that part of the program was called off out of respect to Lieut., Findley K. Steele, army flier who was killed in a crash here Saturday morning. Steele was to have participated in the flight over the city during the parade.  

Taxi Dance at Forum 

The parade was followed by a taxi dance at the Forum which was attended by a large crowd. Four orchestras donated their services and admission was free upon the purchase of a 25-cent war savings stamp. In the drive to obtain war bond pledges which will get underway with a rush Monday it is hoped that at least 45,000 Wichitans will promise part of their pay or will pledge to lay aside a certain amount weekly to go to the purchase of the bonds. 

Reading 3: Newspaper Article

Fine Bond Showing 

Wichita Evening Eagle, October 23, 1943, p. 4 

Final tally for Sedgwick count’s third war load drive shows almost every third person purchased a bond in the drive. That would be a bond and a fraction for every family. The Sedgwick county bond goal was $21,000,000. Residents subscribed $24,303,715.80. The assessor’s census this spring gave the county population as 218,619, and the bond purchasers listed amounted to 76,093. This would make the average bond purchase around $320. 

While the figures would indicate every family purchased a bond and the average purchase was better than $300, the figures do not tell an accurate story. Many purchasers bought large blocks of bonds and a few families none. 

It is evident, however, that the large majority of Wichita families did buy bonds which is a most healthy condition when one considers that every family in the city is vitally interested in ultimate victory. The war is not over. There will be other bond campaigns. Wichitans will be called on to buy more bonds, to sacrifice more and it is possible that when the final victory bond drive is over every family in the county will own government bonds. 

Photo 1: Photo: Canteen at Union Station, 1943. “This is a Canteen sponsored by the Soroptomist Club, located in the Union Station, 701 East Douglas. Servicemen were welcomed by the volunteers.”

Credit: The Edward & Elizabeth Burns Historical Research Pavilion, Wichita Public Library

By the numbers:

• Wichita’s Union Station and the bus depot had canteens supported by over 1500 volunteers from nearly forty different women’s clubs. These canteens served traveling servicemembers.

• In April 1947, the War Department reported Kansas had 137,000 men and 1,957 women who served in the U.S. Army during World War II. More than 215, 000 Kansas men and women served.

Quotation to consider:

“Wichita women, wives, mothers or sisters of men overseas, will handle next Thursday the canteen at Union Station the Soroptomist club started. It will be a great pleasure to them to feed soldier sons, husbands or brothers of others. There is a satisfaction about following the Golden Rule that is beyond phrases to express.”

• Wichita Evening Eagle, July 17, 1943, p.4

Photo 3: WWII Parade Float, 1941: “Parade float decorated with Chinese and American flags promotes the sale of war bonds. The Chinese men riding the float were employees at the Pan American Café (in Wichita) They supported the war effort and some of them enlisted in the U.S. Armed Services.

Courtesy of Wichita State University Libraries, Wichita-Sedgwick County Historical Museum; wschm_C3-10.1.1

Student Activities:

Questions Reading 1, Quotation, Numbers and Photos 1&2

1. Look at photos 1 & 2, the by the numbers, and the quotation to consider. What were some of the ways women were volunteering for servicemembers?

2. How many cadet candidates and youths from the Wichita community were enlisted or examined for the cadet program?

3. Who volunteered services to support giving tests for air corps entrance requirements?

Photo 4: Army Air Force Band at the Forum, 1944. “Army Air Force band performs at the Forum during World War II. Located at 231 South Water Street, the Forum served as Wichita's municipal auditorium from 1911 to 1965.”

Courtesy of Wichita State University Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives; wsu_ms2002-12.71.22.3

Questions for Reading 2, photos 3 & 4

1. Examine photos 3 & 4. Although they are not from the parade day described in reading 2, they are related: a float, and the Forum. What can you learn from these photos?

2. What was the purpose of the parade?

3. Identify participants and their involvement in the parade.

4. Why was the planned flyover of planes canceled? How do you think training accidents and tragedies like these impacted civilians on the home front?
5. How did the dance at the Forum contribute to the Victory Pledge week campaign?

Questions for Reading 3

1. What was the original bond goal set for Sedgwick county, and how much did residents actually subscribe?
2. Explain how the discrepancy between the average bond purchase and the actual distribution of bond purchases among families impacts the interpretation of the bond drive's success.
3. What future expectations does the author suggest regarding bond campaigns, and how does it reflect the ongoing commitment to supporting the war effort?

Bonus: According to the Inflation calculator by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, $100 in October 1943 had the buying power of approximately $1,760 today. This varies by day, but based on that ratio, about how much was the average bond purchase in the reading worth today?

Lesson Closing:

Revisit the essential question. How did the civilians of Wichita contribute and volunteer towards the war efforts on the home front?

And, what other ways do you think civilians may have been contributing that weren’t outlined in the readings?

Extension: Additional Reading

Another unique contribution of local civilians

Newspaper Article:

Teacher Tip: For more information about child-refugee policies, in the US and elsewhere, visit "The Immigration of Refugee Childre to the US," created by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 

Homes for 40 Kiddies: Wichitans Have Offered to Care for Man British Refugees 

The Wichita Eagle, Thursday, September 26, 1940, p.5 

Wichitans have offered homes to 40 British child refugees out of the 72 found in Kansas, Mrs. G. R. Myers, state publicity chairman of the American Association of University Women, Kansas branch, reported yesterday at Dodge City. Homes for the 71 children are in seven towns, others in the state being Manhattan 10, Parsons 6, Chanute, 6, Arkansas City 4, Winfield 4 and Holton 1, the Associated Press reported. 

 

Learn More!

To see more lessons about World War II, visit Teaching with Historic Places.

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This lesson was written by Sarah Nestor Lane, an educator and consultant with the Cultural Resources Office of Interpretation and Education, funded by the National Council on Public History's cooperative agreement with the National Park Service.