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

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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

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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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WOMEN AND THE WAR Kcontinuedj Red nail polish has disappeared for the duration. In its place has come a combination of axel grease, engine oil and metal filings, and the female sex at Duncan Field is very proud of this new style. The women at this huge ahrfwymt near-San Antonio, Texas have slipped quickly and intelligently into the places left vacant by the men who have gone overseas to meet our common enemy face to face. They ask no favors from the men working with them. If there is a heavy piece of equipment to pick up, they'll pick it up, if there is a tool to be gotten, they'll get it. There is courage' and self-sacrifice in the American women of this brutal twentieth century, just as there is courage and gallantry in the man of the family. Together, they cannot lose the struggle. Women are used for whatever work they can do. They are in all army camps in the navy and in the air forces. In the last J named service many of them have been killed in the bombing of airdromes, and they have met 'their deaths like soldiers. They do clerical work and code work, and are numerous in the intellw igent service. They can become officers of every rank up to the two or three highest. Girls have become WAACS, WAVES, SPARS, MARINES, and WAFS. They are training to become nurses. Older women as well as girls have volunteered for the innumerable branches of the American Red Cross, for the American Women's Voluntary Services, for the Office of Civilian Defense. They are serving as Airplane Spotters They are manning, Filter Centers, War Bond Booth, U S O Head- quarters. Wherever there is war work to be done, they are doing their part. They are doing'toq the far less glamorous but equally important work in the home and on the farm. Whether they be volunteers or paid workerg the women of this country are giving their bestz They are meeting this emergency with courage with imagination, with sacrificial zeal, that the world may once again be free. 4' Madeline Bucklin I V45 Success is spelled with four letters -- WORK. Failure is spelled with five letters -- SHIRK. - 6 -ss,