Salvage for Victory

Less than thirty days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the War Production Board initiated “Salvage for Victory,” a campaign that asked Americans to collect, save, conserve, and recycle everything from fat and rubber to paper and various metals, all of which would be used to support the war effort. As with most of the programs implemented during World War II, several agencies were involved such as the Office of Production Mangement that sent pledge cards to retailers, and the Bureau of Industrial Conservation of the War Production Board (there’s a mouthful!) asking city mayors to save materials from dumps and incinerators.

Like today, celebrity endorsements were used to gain popular support. Actress Rita Hayworth donated her car’s bumpers and encouraged the public to do the same. James Cagney appeared in “shorts,” films that were shown prior to the main feature in movie theaters, reminding Americans of their duties to the war effort including rationing and scrap collection. Bing Crosby got into the swing of things by singing “Junk Ain’t Junk No More, a catchy tune with lyrics that explained the importance of scrap collection and what the items would be used for. 

Much is made about the collection of metals, but one of the most important and

voluminous collections was that of paper. As one source put it, “In this pre-digital age, information was stored on paper. Records were kept in manila folders. Salaries were paid by check. Appointments were scribbled in notebooks. Corporate communications circulated by typewritten memo. And food and supplies were packed in paper containers.” Added to that is the large number of lumberjacks who were drafted which translated into fewer trees cut down and produced into paper.

Enter the “Papertroopers,” school groups and boy scouts and girl scouts who went door to door collecting wastepaper, books, magazines, and newspapers. Paper which then became food containers, ammunition boxes, maps, bomb carriers, and more. Reportedly millions of pounds of paper were collected.

Prior to the use of vinyl, record albums were made of shellac, a natural resin secreted by a tiny insect called the lac bug. With a philosophy that entertainment didn’t have historic value and therefore not need to be preserved, Records for our Fighting Men was formed to collect records that would be recycled to make new records, and the money raised would be used to buy new records for the troops. Recording masters were made of aluminum and copper, two metals crucial to the war effort, so studios donated vaults full of old masters and stampers to the scrap drives, unfortunately resulting in the loss of the early works of many of the eras most famous singers.

Other items collected during drives included rags, rubber, and rope. Grease was typically taken to the neighborhood butcher who then turned the waste fat into authorities for production into ammunition and explosives.

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Linda Shenton Matchett writes happily-ever-after historical Christian fiction about second chances and

women who overcome life’s challenges to be better versions of themselves. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, she was born a stone’s throw from Fort McHenry (of Star-Spangled Banner fame) and has lived in historical places all her life. She is a volunteer docent and archivist at the Wright Museum of WWII and a former trustee for her local public library. She now lives in central New Hampshire where she explores the history of this great state and immerses herself in the imaginary worlds created by other authors.

A Lesson in Love

He thinks he’s too old. She thinks she’s too young. Can these teachers learn that love defies all boundaries?

Born and raised in London, Isobel Turvine knows nothing about farming, but after the students in her school evacuate during Operation Pied Piper, she’s left with little to do. Her friend talks her into joining the Women’s Land Army, and she finds herself working the land at a manor home in Yorkshire that’s been converted to a boys’ school. A teacher at heart, she is drawn to the lads, but the handsome yet stiff-necked headmaster wants her to stick to farming.

Left with an arm that barely works from the last “war to end all wars,” Gavin Emerson agrees to take on the job of headmaster when his school moves from London to Yorkshire, but he’s saddled with the quirky manor owner, bickering among his teachers, and a gaggle of Land Army girls who have turned the grounds into a farm. When the group’s blue-eyed, blonde leader nearly runs him down in a car, he admonishes her to stay in the fields, but they are thrown together at every turn. Can he trust her not to break his heart?

Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3YHgUb0

 
Photo Credits: 

Scrap Poster: Library of Congress (http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3f05676)

Wagon with Scrap paper and boys: West Virginia University 

Records: Pixabay/Tiber Janosi Mozes

Sources: https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/salvage-for-victory-world-war-ii https://blogs.loc.gov/now-see-hear/2015/01/scrap-for-victory https://www.pacificwarmuseum.org/about/news/rationing-on-the-homefront https://wartimewisdom.com/blog/recycling