AMERICA AT WAR: USF During WWII
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| Excerpt from The Interlude December 12, 1941 |
Today marks the 75th anniversary of the attacks
on Pearl Harbor in 1941. This event propelled the United States’ military
involvement in WWII. Interested to see how the attack affected the population
at the College of St. Francis, I went through three of the archive’s
collections (the Interlude, Ephemera and Newspaper Clippings, and Sharing OurPast: A Visual History) to find out.
My first step was to check the student newspaper assuming there
must have been something written immediately after the attack. To my surprise,
I only found one small editorial written by student president, Emily Kernan. Speaking
of the sudden shock, she wrote: “The psychological reaction is only natural,
but we cannot rush out, grab a gun and start shooting; nor can we sit back and
let out minds dwell upon the condition that have so suddenly overthrown our
rather peaceful outlook upon life” (v. 14, no. 4, pg.1). Kernan stated CSF girls
should continue going to classes, writing papers, taking tests, and studying
because that was their responsibilities as students.
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| 1943 VBC poster. Image from University of Illinois. |
While the student newspaper did not have much to say on the beginning
of the war effort, local newspapers like the Joliet Herald provided interesting
insights. From the January 7, 1942 edition was an article titled: “Academy and
College Will Aid Defense.” Reverend Mother M. Thomasine, Superior General of
the Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate, offered all available resources to
the Joliet Civilian Defense Committee. This included facilities at the College,
St. Francis Academy, St. Francis Preparatory, and St. Clare dormitories. Additional
first aid classes were offered to students, faculty, and Sisters, and the
Sisters at the Motherhouse pledged sixteen hours of daily prayer as part of a “spiritual
crusade.”
CSF also participated in the nationwide Victory Book
Campaign. “Originally named the National Defense Book Campaign, [VBC] was
established in 1941 by the American Library Association, the American Red
Cross, and United Service Organizations (USO). The Campaign's purpose was to
collect and distribute books to members of the armed services” (Victory BookCampaign records, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York PublicLibrary).
Librarian at CSF, Sister M. Alvira, was named to the local VBC committee
by Joliet Mayor George T. Jones in April 1942. Mayor Jones said: “There are
many thousands of good books in the homes of this city that would be greatly
appreciated by the men in our armed forces….I hope there will be an immediate
response and that we will go over the top in Joliet” (Joliet Herald, April 14,
1942). The VBC only operated from 1941-1943, but in that time over ten million
books were sent to service men and women.
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| CSF students write letters - ca. 1945 |
A few other ways CSF students aided the war effort, include:
alumni sponsored dances and dinners for servicemen, volunteering with the Red
Cross and Civilian Defense Committee, and graduating and taking jobs as
chemists at the DuPont plant. Writing letters to soldiers was also a favored
activity among the girls, with the creation of a Writing Army in 1942.
On this 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, let us
remember the small but important steps the community of St. Francis took to aid
in the war effort.
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