We Did Our Duty: Serving Stateside

All members of Minnesota's Greatest Generation who served their country during World War II spent at least part of the war stateside. For most, this time was spent in the training required for their branch of service prior to transport overseas. Some continued on as instructors or in office positions at U.S. military bases, others were assigned as medical personnel to stateside hospitals.

While some women who joined the newly formed women's auxiliary corps in the Army, Navy or Coast Guard, or who became women Marines, were sent overseas, many were placed in stateside jobs that would free up men to fight. Some received officer training. Women Airforce Service Pilots ferried military planes from one base to another. Others handled a wide variety of office duties, trained to become radiomen at air bases, or were drivers in motor pools.

A special group of Japanese-American soldiers, many from Hawaii and the Pacific coast, would find themselves facing Minnesota winters as they trained for the role of interpreters and code breakers at the Military Intelligence Service Language School, located first at Camp Savage and, later, at Fort Snelling. These young men, the children of Japanese immigrants who were retained by the U.S. government in internment camps in the western U.S., proved their loyalty to their country in an important role in the Pacific Theater of Operations and in the post-war occupation of Japan.

Some 1,000 Minnesotans found themselves assigned to another type of service role: working on the top secret "Manhattan Project," carried out in laboratories around the country. It was only when the atomic bombs - the fruits of their labors - were dropped on Japan in August 1945 - that they would understand the tangible effect their work would have on ending the war.

Citations:

• Wilson, Captain Barbara A., USAF (Ret), Women in World War II. Captain Barbara A. Wilson, USAF (Ret), 1996-2007.
• Wilson, Captain Barbara A., USAF (Ret), Women in World War II - They Also Served. Captain Barbara A. Wilson, USAF (Ret), 1996-2007.
• Women & the U.S. Navy: World War II Era WAVES. Department of the Navy, Naval Historical Center, 2001-2005.
• Thomson, Robin J., USCG, SPARS: The Coast Guard & the Women's Reserve in World War II. The U.S. Coast Guard.
• Sturkey, Marion F., Women Marines. Reprinted from: Warrior Culture of the U.S. Marines, 2001.
• Parrish, Nancy, Editor, WASP [Women Airforce Service Pilots] - WWII. Wings Across America.
• Osman, Stephen E., Fort Snelling's Last War. Minnesota Historical Society: Minnesota's Greatest Generation, 2007.
• Military Intelligence Service Language School. Minnesota Historical Society: History Topics, 2007.
• The Manhattan Project: An Interactive History. US Department of Energy, Office of History and Heritage Resources, 2007.