WWII Efforts in Our Hometown: the All-Carlsbad War Council

“The stirring days of 1942-45. We were a busy people.”
—Bob Baird, former War Council chairman in a 1972 letter to Bess Trask, former War Council secretary.

“Financing America,” aka the war effort in 1942, began with Carlsbad residents and all Americans being encouraged to buy a war bond each month, as well as war stamps.

Carlsbad residents eager to do more on a local level formed the All-Carlsbad War Council. The council included members of civic, religious and social organizations. Their duties were to handle salvage work, rationing, raising funds for the war chest, working with the USO, combating possible inflation, raising morale, general welfare work, disbursing funds, maintaining local service records, and publicity of the above activities.

The San Diego County War Chest asked that the city of Carlsbad raise $1,600, plus an additional $300 for local programs. The money, according to a letter to the community, was to be donated to the “Russian, British, Greek, Polish, and Dutch War Relief; to the USO Navy Relief Society, War Prisones [sic] Aid, Community Chest, and Local Funds for our local program.” The War Council actually raised $407 more than the requested amount. The initial bid was instituted in late 1942. Donation letters were mailed out and door-to-door solicitations were made.

A second solicitation was made in late 1943 as part of the United War Fund campaign. “This is our opportunity to help our men in the services enjoy a few of the wholesome pleasures we hold so necessary to our way of life; to furnish services beyond the bare necessities; and to take part in those worthy causes of relief to save the lives and hopes of our Allies on the United Nations Front,” was the rally cry of the donation letter. Carlsbad had been asked to raise $2,600 with this second campaign, of which $400 would remain local.

As part of a national salvage collection movement, the War Council collected rubber, rags, burlap, and silk salvage, as well as scrap metal, fats, “rayon and nylon hose, yarn to be knit into afghans, woolen goods suitable for jeep-robes,—and other useful material be collected and utilized to the fullest,” noted a council special bulletin. There was also a state organization for collecting salvage and a Women’s Division for Salvage in Los Angeles. Local women met under the auspices of the Red Cross to knit afghans, etc.

And yes, discarded hosiery was valuable to the war effort! “The first shipment of the hosiery, which has been piling up in the window of the Home Builders Store, will be sent shortly. This salvage is used to make powder bags for the artillery and parachutes for the Air Corps,” according to a council special bulletin. In fact, a note indicates that at the national level, 90 tons had been collected and used to make 100,000 powder bags!

During the war, the council created an Honor Roll of service men and women and placed the list in the local post office window. A service flag was first flown at the post office on July 29, 1943, bearing the number 245 to represent the number of men from Carlsbad who were serving in the war at that time. There were two gold stars on the flag in honor of Lee Ruse who had been killed during the attack on Pearl Harbor and Maxton Brown who was killed earlier in the year in North Africa. Ruse was serving on the USS Oklahoma and Brown was a bombardier in the Army Air Corps at the time of their deaths.

Americans were required to ration certain items during the war, including gas, food and shoes. Residents were given ration books with small tickets to use for these essential items. A Carlsbad Journal article admonished residents: “Only essential miles can be allowed. Keep in mind that our country is at WAR and that this is your opportunity to help by cutting out every automobile trip not essential.” Manuel Castorena, who would later serve as our mayor, assisted Spanish-speaking residents with the application process for their books when they were available for distribution. Victory gardens, as they were called, and school gardens were encouraged. 4-H clubs were formed locally to teach the children how to care for farm animals and vegetables. These gardens were to lessen the demand from commercial growers.

Citizens from various organizations and clubs were encouraged to speak on war issues, including patriotism in an educational, inspirational or historical manner so that all residents could recognize, as a War Council document noted, “his obligations to his country, find his place in the total effort.” The Toastmaster Club was ready to assist speakers in their endeavors and the library had clippings, magazine articles, and books on war and peace problems for reference. Younger residents, for their part, were not only encouraged to buy war stamps, but the local Boy Scouts were even briefed for their positions as messengers in the event of an emergency.

The Carlsbad War Council protested additional liquor licenses being issued in Carlsbad during the war. Section 3, Part D of the War Council “Present and Future Tasks” document stated: “Watch for liquor abuses and vice conditions in Carlsbad.” The council went so far as to pass a motion to retain a lawyer to act as an intermediary with the Board of Equalization. The attorney appears to have actually been retained specifically to prevent a Mrs. Garrigan from transferring a liquor license from Oceanside to Carlsbad for a nightclub. In the end, she gave up on the nightclub and opened a steakhouse.

To provide local news and diversion, the Carlsbad Journal was sent to our boys in service. By 1945, more than 200 issues were mailed weekly until April of 1945 when the U.S. Navy asked that the service be discontinued because of the burden of shipping them overseas. The War Council had paid for the many of the subscriptions.

To “combat inflation tendancies” [sic], the council encouraged the “steady purchase of war stamps by children” and the “steady purchase of bonds by adults with proper educational program.”

Although the War Council originally voted to erect a World War II memorial for veterans, they later decided that it would be a better use of funds to aid returning veterans in their return to civilian life.

After the war ended, the money left in the War Chest was turned over to a local civil defense organization and to the Boys Club. The final money was paid out and the account closed in 1954.

A selection of quotes from advertisements in the Carlsbad Journal during the war:

“Your government has requested that you and your family eat no more than 2.5lbs of meat per person weekly. Let’s all co-operate. Buy no more than your family’s share-for Victory.” (1942 Safeway ad)

“Ten per cent [sic] of your income in War Bonds will help to build the planes and tanks that will insure the defeat of Hitler and his Axis partners.”  (1942 Carlsbad Journal)

“The time has come when every American must realize that pleasure travel is a peacetime luxury.” (1942 Greyhound ad, which also discouraged weekend travel, except for servicemen and war workers)

“Steel is the only language those bandits in Tokyo and Berlin understand. Let’s give them plenty of talk … in their language.” (1942 Santa Fe Railway ad requesting scrap metal for salvage drives)

“In recent months, your co-operation in keeping Long Distance calls to the essential has helped to keep these lines clear for war calls.” (1942 Southern California Telephone Company ad)

“Your victory dish of the week—A quickie for defense. Creamed Frankfurters. U.S. needs us strong—eat nutritional food.” (1942 SDG&E ad and recipe)

“The war is a hard, down-to-reality war. And many of our boys are dying in it. So your government asks you … to get really tough with yourself. We’re asking you to give up the frills and ‘extras.’ We know how human it is not to make sacrifices until the crisis drives us to it. In England they felt the same way until the bombs started falling. Bombs are such persuasive things. But just as persuasive ought to be the spirit of our brothers, sons, husbands.” (1943 War Loan drive ad sponsored by the Carlsbad Journal)

Sources

Carlsbad Journal

War and War Council vertical file materials, Carlsbad History Room

Ralph Walton Box Collection, Carlsbad History Room