magnifier
Image
magbottom
 
Civil Defense air raid wardens Mr. Woodward and Miss Miles atop Farmers and Mechanics Building at High and Market Street, West Chester, PA, circa 1943.
Close Window

Civil Defense Air Raid wardens, Mr. Woodward and Miss Miles atop Farmers and Mechanics Building at High and Market Street.

Credit: Courtesy of the Chester County Historical Society, West Chester, Pa.

During World War II more than 600,000 civilians worked for Pennsylvania's Citizens' Defense Corps as air raid wardens and associated personnel. Between December 8, 1941, and October 4, 1943, additional volunteer "watchers of the sky" plotted the course of every airplane that flew across Pennsylvania. They were among the 140,000 observers who provided round-the-clock coverage for the War Department's Aircraft Warning System at 1,100 observation posts from Highbridge, NJ, in the north to Fredericksburg, VA, in the south, and Altoona, PA, to the west.

Back to Top