Doing What It Takes: World War II on the Home Front. This item is unavailable.Doing What It Takes: World War II on the Home Front

During the war people worked unimaginably hard country wide. Women and children were picking fruits and vegetables, cleaning them and canning hundreds of jars each year. Clothing was sewn by women at home often out of feed sacks during that time. Many households didn’t have electricity and in order to hear the war news had to hook up to a car battery for the radio. A child of twelve could be riding a bike six miles to town for groceries and other business. Women went to work in munitions factories, built planes, ships, and other wartime necessities. Iron drives were held as well as drives for paper and aluminum. A woman with twelve children lined secondhand shoes of all sizes along the wall in the attic so as feet grew they could find a pair. No electricity, or refrigerators for many, ice boxes were most common. Robert Fielder in Van Alstyne wrote “Home Town Happenings,” a small newspaper covering local news and sent it to troops from Van Alstyne.