Cincinnati Goes To War: As the war went on, officials in government and industry found that they needed more of some kinds of scrap and that other materials were not useful. Americans' eager support of salvage drives led to some unfortunate decisionsabout what should be scrapped. Souvenirs of earlier wars, historic steam fire engines and locomotives, antique pewter, and bronze sculptures were destroyed for the metal they contained.
You've had your ups and downs since the beginning of the War. At your 18th birthday party a few weeks ago, you eagerly anticipated arriving in your first new car. A new car is something that you have been waiting for for...well, 18 years.
However, to your utter disappointment, you couldn't buy one due to a very strict ration on metal and rubber. Most of the car factories are now making fighter planes and jeeps. President Roosevelt says the Armed Forces need the raw materials to make war vehicles and the like. In 1943 alone, he called for production of 125,000 planes, 75,000 tanks, and 35,000 anti-aircraft guns.
Yesterday, the Boy Scouts came to the door. They were going house to house to collect scrap metal and old tires for use in the war effort!
"We used to have these "Scrap Metal Drives". All the youths in those days would go around pickin' up all the old pots and pans, anything made of metal, and we would turn them into a depot to help the war effort. As a matter of fact, some of the local movie theaters, to encourage the young boys and girls to do the same thing would offer them free entry into the movies if they brought in scrap metal. And that's what we did." —John Mannoia
Cincinnati Goes To War: Scrap metal collected by Boy Scouts for the
war
effort made an impressive sight on Fountain Square
