The Maine Connection: WWII

The Maine Connection: WWII

Shipbuilding

• Bath Iron Works Reopened under new owners

• 1/4 of the destroyers used by the U.S. were built here

• Kittery Shipyard built submarines

• 70 submarines headed out from Kittery

Dow Airfield

• Bangor

• Last place American planes stopped before heading to Europe

Other...

• Textile mills worked around the clock to produce millions of uniforms

• Shoe factories made army boots

Women's Emergency Farm Service

• 80,000 Mainers entered armed forces (1,600 died)

• Women were needed in factories and farms

• This organization sent hundreds of women out to Maine's farms

Open Ended

Would you have let the German POWs onto your farm to help with the harvest? Why or why not?