During World War II, nearly 1.25 million Pennsylvanians served in the Armed Forces and another 1.6 million in the state's volunteer army of civil-defense workers. Others, including African American and women war workers, contributed to a staggering industrial output that was vital to American victory. As the home of the historic peace churches, the Commonwealth also produced more conscientious objectors than any other state in the nation.
Continue the Story...
Bring this subject into focus through the following chapters. These stories take exploration of the main story further by providing more detail for you to learn and explore.
Take your students back in history with these discussions and activities for the classroom
1939 |
Germany invades Poland; England and France declare war on September 3, igniting World War II |
|
1940 |
Congress adopts national defense tax measures designed to raise almost one billion dollars a year |
|
1940 |
Vocational Education for National Defense Program begins in Pennsylvania |
|
1940 |
FDR asks Congress for enough money to build a two-ocean navy |
|
1940 |
Congress authorizes federal induction of National Guard units |
|
1940 |
National Selective Service Act becomes law; the first peacetime draft in American history, with all men ages 21-36 eligible |
|
1940 |
The American Bantam Car Company of Butler, Pennsylvania, delivers the first Jeep to the Army at Camp Holabird, Maryland |
|
1940 |
FDR imposes an embargo on scrap iron and steel sent abroad to all countries outside the western hemisphere except England, to take effect October |
|
1940 |
Fort Indiantown Gap is transferred to federal control |
|
1940 |
Actual draft starts with first number called on this day |
|
1940 |
Governor James establishes the Advisory Agricultural Defense Committee |
|
1940 |
In the presidential election, FDR wins a third term |
|
1940 |
A U. S. merchant ship is sunk in Bass Strait, the first sunk during the conflict
|
|
1941 |
The 28th Infantry Division is inducted into federal service |
|
1941 |
Lend-Lease bill becomes law |
|
1941 |
Governor James authorizes the State Council of Defense |
|
1941 |
First war bond drive begins |
|
1941 |
President Roosevelt proclaims an unlimited state of emergency in the United States and calls for rapid acceleration of industrial production |
|
1941 |
The federal government opens the Passyunk Homes to house workers at the Philadelphia Navy Yard and their families |
|
1941 |
Japanese planes bomb Pearl Harbor |
|
1941 |
Germany and Italy declare war on United States |
|
1941 |
Draft widened to include men ages 20-44, with all men 18-64 required to register |
|
1942 |
Tire rationing begins |
|
1942 |
Sun Ship in Chester launches the SS Gettysburg, the first of more than 220 vessels it would build during the war |
|
1942 |
President Roosevelt declared "war time" to be in effect, effectively canceling the difference between daylight savings time and standard time until it was lifted in October 1945 |
|
1942 |
The Pittsburgh Courier launches its Double V Campaign, urging African Americans to fight for "Victory at Home, Victory Abroad" |
|
1942 |
Surrender of Bataan in Philippines |
|
1942 |
Sugar rationing begins |
|
1942 |
Women's Auxiliary Army Corps authorized; on July 1, 1943, becomes the Women's Army Corps (WACs) |
|
1942 - 1942 |
Battle of Midway |
|
1942 - 1942 |
First statewide blackout practice |
|
1942 |
Farm scrap drive bets 10,000 tons of metal, 550 tons of rubber
Rubber drive nets 25,000 tons
|
|
1942 |
Gasoline rationing begins in Pennsylvania |
|
1942 |
WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Enlistment Service) authorized
|
|
1942 |
U. S. Marines land on Guadalcanal Island in the Solomons, beginning America's first military offensive in a campaign that lasts until February 1943 |
|
1942 |
The Dravo Corporation in Pittsburgh launches LST-1, its first Landing Ship Tank |
|
1942 - 1942 |
Scrap Harvest nets 780,000 tons of metal |
|
1942 |
Letterkenny Ordinance Depot begins operations |
|
1942 |
Federal authorization of the Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) and the Women's Flying Training Detachment (WFTD), which, in August 1943, are merged to become the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) |
|
1942 |
Operation Torch-Allied troops land in North Africa |
|
1942 |
Federal creation of the Women's Coast Guard, named SPARS, an acronym for the Coast Guard motto, "Semper Paratus-Always Ready" |
|
1942 |
War Labor Board orders defense industries to provide equal pay for men and women |
|
1942 |
Coffee rationing begins, lasted through July 1943 |
|
1942 |
Willow Grove Naval Air Station opens |
|
1942 |
Nationwide gasoline rationing begins |
|
1942 |
USS New Jersey launched at Philadelphia Navy Yard |
|
1943 |
Sunday driving banned, the start of the ban on pleasure driving, which lasted until September |
|
1943 |
Edward Martin assumes the office of governor |
|
1943 |
Shoe rationing begins |
|
1943 |
Federal authorization of the Women's Marine Corps (Lucille E. McClarren of Nemacolin, Pennsylvania, becomes the first recruit) |
|
1943 |
Valley Forge Army Hospital opens (still in business as VA center) |
|
1943 |
War Ration Book 2 registration begins |
|
1943 |
The Sun Shipyards in Chester, Pennsylvania, launches the SS Marine Eagle, the first ship in American history completely built by African-American laborers |
|
1943 |
Supreme Court decides that pledge to the flag is voluntary, striking down a West Virginia law |
|
1943 |
G. Raymond Rettew's Chester County Mushroom Laboratories is the nation's most consistent source of penicillin, more than 90 percent of which goes directly to the armed forces |
|
1943 |
Navy College Training Program (V-12) begins, accepting 70,000 men at 131 colleges |
|
1943 |
Mechanicsburg Naval Depot opens |
|
1943 |
Operation Husky-Allied troops land in Sicily |
|
1943 |
Big Inch oil pipeline completed, stretching from Texas to Eagle, Pennsylvania, 12 miles west of Phoenixville |
|
1943 |
Italy surrenders to Allies |
|
1943 |
Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board begins whiskey rationing, ending it in January 1947 |
|
1943 |
USS Wisconsin launched at Philadelphia Navy Yard |
|
1944 |
A court sentences pacifist Civil Rights activist Bayard Rustin to three years in federal prison for resisting the draft |
|
1944 |
State legislature approves bill allowing soldiers serving overseas to vote; Governor Martin signs it this same day |
|
1944 |
American, British, Canadian, and French forces land in Normandy on D-Day |
|
1944 |
More than 7,000 conscientious objectors perform alternative service in Civilian Public Service camps across the nation; some 800 are serving in Pennsylvania |
|
1944 |
The federal government takes over the Philadelphia trolleys when transit workers strike to protest the hiring of African Americans. |
|
1944 |
Operation Dragoon-Allied forces land in southern France |
|
1944 |
Red Ball express organized in France to speed supply to advancing American troops |
|
1944 |
Battle of Hurtgen Forest begins. The 28th Infantry Division suffers heavy losses during combat that lasts through December 28. |
|
1944 - 1944 |
Operation Market-Garden-Allied parachute landings in Holland
|
|
1944 |
American forces land in the Philippines |
|
1944 |
FDR elected to a fourth term |
|
1944 |
First B-29 raid on Japan |
|
1944 |
Battle of the Bulge opens, lasts until mid-January 1945 |
|
1945 |
Private Eddie Slovik of the 28th Division becomes the only U. S. soldier since the Civil War executed for desertion |
|
1945 |
U. S. Marines land on Iwo Jima; fighting does not end until March 24 |
|
1945 |
FDR dies and is succeeded as president by Harry S. Truman |
|
1945 |
Germany surrenders to Allies |
|
1945 |
V-E Day, the formal end of the war in Europe |
|
1945 |
Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima |
|
1945 |
Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki |
|
1945 |
Official Japanese surrender on board USS Missouri
|
|
1945 |
State Council of Defense dissolved |
|