Military Installations in Oregon:
Troop Training Facilities: Army Camp Adair - N of Corvallis; Army Camp Abbott - upper Deschutes River S of Bend; Umatilla Army Depot - near Hermiston, sprawling repository for munitions in hundreds of semi subterranean silos
Army - Constructed hangars and airfields at Portland, Astoria,
Newport, North Bend, Floras Lake
Navy - Built Tongue Point Naval Station, Astoria
Navy - Tillamook Naval Air Station - erected 2 of largest wood-frame building in the world. Blimps moved from these massive hangars & glided up/down the coast to patrol for enemy ships and submarines
Pendleton Air Field
Oregonians serving in WWII: 146,633
Women: 3,540
Killed in Action: 3,771
Wounded in action: 5,000+
41st Infantry Division: First National Guard Regiment to be mobilized; inducted into Federal Service. Became part of 41st Division, first Division to go overseas after war declaration. First to arrive in SW Pacific; served overseas longer than any other Division.
Homefront: Six shipyards in Portland area:
1. Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation (Kaiser Company) 3 sites: At its peak, Oregon Shipbuilding employed over 70,000 workers, 28,000 of whom were women. Women were laborers, helpers, welders/welder trainees, warehouse workers.
A. St. Johns: 330 Liberty Ships; 99 Victory cargo ships; 34 Combat Transport ships. The "Combat Transport" ships (VC2-S-AP5) were Haskell-class attack transports built for the US Navy during World War II, based on the Victory ship design type.
B. Swan Island: 147 Tankers
C. Vancouver, WA: 50 Escort carriers; 31 Combat Transport
The "Star of Oregon", the first Liberty ship built on the West Coast, was launched from the Oregon Shipbuilding Company in Portland,
from Way #7 on September 27, 1941, finished ship delivered December 31, 1941. (Note: The SS Patrick Henry was also launched September 27, 1941 at the Bethlehem-Fairfield shipyard near Baltimore. The Henry, though, was "completed" (delivered) one day earlier, December 30, 1941)
2. Willamette Iron and Steel: Built more than 70 small ships
3. Commercial Iron Works: Built close to 200 small warships (net layers, mine layers, submarine chasers, Landing Craft Infantry
(small), Landing Craft Support (Large); outfitted larger ships from other yards with armaments.
4. Albina Engine & Machine Works: For the US Navy - 45 sub chasers; 14 yard oilers; 9 gas tankers; 1 water tanker; 94 landing craft.
Victory Gardens: One major cause of food shortages was the forced interment of Japanese-Americans. According to the California Farm Bureau, Japanese farmers were responsible for 40% of the vegetables grown in California valued at over $40 million annually. Japanese farmers were forced to leave about 200,000 acres of farmland. The land was transferred to European immigrants or Americans from the Dust Bowl region. Being new to the California climate, they were unable to match the production of the experienced Japanese farmers. As a result of this food shortage, policies encouraging victory gardens were implemented.
The Child Service Centers were built at both the Oregon Ship and Swan Island facilities, opening November 1943. Peak enrollment reached 400 children of shipyard workers.