Gilman High School - Gilmanac Yearbook (Northeast Harbor, ME)

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LEND-LEASE A Pov,EarUL WEAPON cconzinueay ' No country no matter hom rich or strong can stand alone against a mass of powerful enemies. All countries are dep- endent. The real wealth of a country is not money but goods and services. May we be intelligent enough and broadminded enough to use the same good judgment at the peace table that we have used in this powerful weapon LEND-LEASE. y Verlie Walls '45 WOMEN AND THE WAR American women are no longer bystanders at war. They're in it up to their ears. Soon fresh troops will 'replace our weary boys on the icy plateaus and in stormy jungles reinforce- ment made possible by alert-eyed girls in olive drab and navy twill. For day by day these girls are replacing Army and Navy men at desks in recruiting and supply offices, has well as big behind -- the -- lines jobs, as engineers, cooks, chemists, and specialists of all kinds. And throughout the United States millions of other women are replacing men needed for battle. Not all are in uniform, but all are earning their stripes. It may be in unbrave sweaty ways like welding, driving milk wagons or taxis, riding cranes in a shipyard, or the less spectacular job of being both mother and father to tomorrow's children. ,All these things the American woman does gladly. For she knows to the aching depths of her heart what kind of war this is. It isn't for boundaries, for profit or loot. lt's her war. Her men are 'sacrificing their lives for everything she loves and believes in,for the way she wants life to be for her- self and her loved ones. For the American family is the whole kernel of democracyg the wholesome give and take, the security from fear, the free play of the individual, yet his compassion for and dependence upon the others. Tocreate such a nation we once fled from the Gld World. H We can no longer call this the American dream.For through- out the world these ideals of a more perfect society haveseeped into each secluded valley, across craggy mountaintcps, into the hearts and souls of distant suffering people. The whole world is our neighbors It is a dream we must share and help come trues But first we must win this war. And to that end the American woman is dedicated today, whether she is nurturing young spirits inthese ideals with spankings and lessons and birthday candles, helping produce grain and pigs as well as tanks and guns or cradling some wounded sailor's head in the pitching seas of the North Atlantic. Not to mention those who have enrolled in the several women's corps of the Army, Navy, Coast Guard, and Marines. - 4 -

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4-as-sslLMAN-seaasasislgae li!-SCHOOLMQS as il' '35 'X' '35 95 '26 ii- 4 r it it 65 it -32' it 991943-Be -LENDHLEASE A POWERFUL UEAPON fcontinuedl The Australians make ner hospitals for us, and they re- pair our equipment. In this manner Australia returns what she receives from us under Lend-Lease. The American forces in New Caledonia are getting aid from the Fighting French, South Africa supplies naval aidg India makes uniformsg Belgium aids us in the Congo. China ships us raw materials. Lend-Lease aidibrour forces in the British Isles starts before the troops leave our ports because they are carried by British ships and conveyed by the British Navy. The British government pays the transportation costs of moving American soldiers in the Hritish Isles. Our soldiers are supplied, without cost, with arms, several hundred Spitfire planes and many field guns. Britain has provided us with over a million square yards of portable airfield runways and are supplying several 'thousand more. We have received supplies such as 15,000 bombs 70,000 rounds of 6-in. shells over 200 thousand anti-tank mines, electric 9 batteries hand grenades, parachutes, and many new hospitals. Almost all the bread for our soldiers is made from British flour under Lend-Lease, and they have agreed to sup- ply us with potatoes, fruits, vegetables, jam, and salt. Soon after Pearl Harbor she sent barrage 'balloons to our Vest Coast for defense apainst Jap attacks. Great Brit- ain has furnished us with specifications for her system of aircraft detection developed during a long period of bitter air warfare. The object of Lend-Lease is the destruction of the ene- my. Last year ?ritain's Eighth Army was equipped with Brit- ish weapons Rxftheir drive across Libya, but the 1000 planes 500 tanks and anti-tank Suns that we sent to the British gave them air power, fire power and armor. The General Sherman tanks that were used so successfully were designed by British and American experts. In dollars spent Lend-Lease has cost the Uhited States from March 1941 to January 1945 more than eight and one quarter billion dollars. It is quite probable that we shall expend more dollars and deliver more goods to others than they will to us, since we have the world's largest and only bomb free industry among the United Nations, as well as a larve asriculture LJ na ' ..5..

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-ma-4:--:eaILMANez--zssaeealiIGHee-as--se-:sa-scHOOL-:sees-4+ ul943a a a a s s 4 a a t THE- GILMANAC 4 4 a 4 s s 4 4 wl945u WOMEN AND THE WAR Ccontinuedl Other emergencies have seen American men compulsory reg- istered, and drafted too. But never before has the hand of compulsory enrollment been laid on women. Women are taking the place of men on trolley cars and elevators, as waiters, stock clerks, and taxicab drivers. Right now at least 600,000 more women have jobs then had them last year. The War Manpower Commission estimates that six million women will be engaged in direct war work by the end of 1945. The American Women's Voluntary Services is a permanent national organization, created in anticipation, of the part, that American women can play in protecting their homes -and in serving their communities and country. A Remember the Somme, the Aisne, the Mouse-Argonne offensive? Casualties, mud war. War and the people of America, from every Valk of life, singing that they would Ukeep the home fires Burn? American armies advancing in North Africa, men from our coun- try in the Solomons, in China, India, Australia, and in every part of the globe, to avenge Lidice and Rotterdam and Pearl Harbor. This is 1945. ' But today, the women of this country are not alone singing keep thehome fires burning. In gallant service to their country they are doing just that. - ' ,Through the United' States Organization, pledged to give a Nhome away from homeu to all American men in uniform, more than 600,000 women today are giving their professional knowledge and their talents in home-making to fulfill that pledge. ' Not all women, however, are able to give as much time to this work as they might like. To the women having definite respons- ibilities which she must meet and which limit the time Gf her disposal, the American Red Cross is the ideal agency through which she may put her talents to work. One of the most pressing problems which has faced defense councils all over the country is that of carrying the war pro- grams into every home. There is an important new field here for women of initiative and leadership, the newly developed Block System. This system will organize the community for action in the field of civilian war services just as it is organized for action in an air raid. Each block or neighborhood chooses block leaders. They report to a sector block leader who in turn reports to a zone leader. These block leaders will, in almost every case be women, for their job is the daytime job of carrying the need for action, explaining the way the battle goes on Guadalcsmmal or in Tunisia or at Stalingrad. , 151