Humboldt During WWII
A floating dock, built by Chicago Bridge & Iron during World War II.
The Humboldt County Historical Society is a gold mine for anyone interested in or researching many aspects of history. Among the richest veins there deals with World War II and Humboldt’s part in it.
Files, books and boxes of information shed light on a time when all elements of the community pulled together for “the war effort”. There is material on military volunteers and draftees, as well as correspondence from the men and women in the armed services. But there is also much about the home front.
Groceries, gasoline and other things necessary to the effort were rationed, and Victory Gardens were planted so that food could be channeled to the military. Scrap metal and rubber were collected by school children and volunteers so these materials could be repurposed for the war. This didn’t just involve old cans and tires but also salvaged metal from the 1917 wreck of the Milwaukee and the steam engine pumper that brought water to Eureka when pipes broke in the 1906 earthquake.
Civilians served as neighborhood air raid wardens, air raid drills were run, public shelters designated, street lights were dimmed and home black-out rules enforced. Prostitution was outlawed to “protect the health and efficiency of armed forces and war industry workers.”
Fearing possible attack from the nation’s enemies, aircraft spotting stations were staffed by volunteers along our coast, and mounted civilians patrolled our beaches on the lookout for submarines or landing parties. Foreigners from enemy nations or citizens with ancestry from those places were watched, had weapons confiscated and were often forbidden entry into Humboldt.
New war production industries were established or old facilities converted. The Chicago Bridge and Iron Works built floating drydocks on our bay, army trucks were refitted in Bucksport and mills turned out redwood coffins for the war dead. School children and others learned Morse code, knitted socks and took up jobs fighting fires and clearing train tracks since so many men were away at war. In fact, the man shortage meant that women filled many jobs in the war industries, timber industries and others. For many women, this was a breakthrough that was never totally reversed.
Towards the end of the war, even our coastal fog joined the war effort. What is now our McKinleyville airport began as a Naval Air Station and then became the home of FIDO or Fog Intensive Dispersal Of, an experiment in methods of fog dispersal to enhance US war efforts in the air. We had the honor of being chosen for this because ours was designated one of the foggiest spots in the country.
It can be debated whether World War II was also Humboldt’s “finest hour”, but it certainly was a time when our community energetically focused on a single purpose. And now, over half a century later, a glimpse of that time can gained at the Humboldt County Historical Society.