BOYERTOWN PA – “The Home Front 1940-1945: Boyertown Goes to War,” the latest exhibit in the General Carl Spaatz USAAF Museum at 10 General Spaatz Ave., demonstrates how local residents and the American people in general offered daily support for the nation’s involvement in World War II.
The exhibit opens Thursday (April 27, 2023), and continues through Memorial Day weekend (May 27-29). It tells the story of a typical kitchen in small-town America, and the challenges of war-time rationing. Victory Gardens, painted nylon hose, and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese were examples of how homemakers stretched every penny for the war effort.
Throughout the war years, the exhibit notes, the American economy supported the greatest wartime industrialization in the history of mankind, changing lives in every American home. Sacrifices, long waits, and rationing were the norm. In Boyertown alone, more than 500 homes had fathers, sons, and daughters at war, and most “on the home front” were employed in or contributed to the wartime effort.
Boyertown companies did their part, too. Several converted their output to produce military ambulances, special purpose vehicles, and even headlights for jeeps.
One feature of the exhibit is a colorful display wall of “Sweetheart Pillowcases” (at top), a favorite souvenir sent home by servicemen from bases around the world. Learn about boy and girl scouts who were recruited to conduct metal and scrap drives. Visit a home-front candy store display, and see how even the confection industry supported soldiers.
The museum is open Thursday through Sunday daily from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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Photo provided by the General Carl Spaatz USAAF Museum
