La Verne Bradley …110

Harvey Klemmer …124

House and Garden …137

For the United States, World War II (1939–45) officially began on December 8, 1941, and ended September 2, 1945. During this almost four-year period, every community in America changed in some way as it adjusted to wartime. Some communities, and the regions surrounding them, experienced drastic economic changes and population growth as they became war industry centers and staging areas for servicemen en route to overseas battle zones. Cities on the west coast and the east coast and in the upper Midwest-Great Lakes region underwent the greatest changes. Among the cities most affected by the war were San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco in California; the Seattle-Tacoma area in Washington State; Mobile, Alabama; Charleston, South Carolina; Norfolk, Virginia; Washington, D.C.; and Detroit, Michigan.

The first two excerpts in this chapter come from National Geographic Magazine, a popular monthly publication...