WW2 Impact on SC8.6-5—Compare the ramifications of World War II on South

Carolina and the United States as a whole, including the training of the Doolittle Raiders and the Tuskegee Airmen, the building of additional military bases, the rationing and

bond drives, and the return of economic prosperity.

Building Up Our Forces• Even before Pearl Harbor, the US Draft was

enacted• WW1 military camps where reopened to train

draftees • The Charleston Navy yards increased

production of destroyers • Senator Byrnes helped to guide the Lend &

Lease plan through Congress that offered support to the allies

• War production helped the US climb out of the depression

Doolittle Raiders • Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor brought US out of isolationism & into the war in Europe & the Pacific

• US was anxious to retaliate against the Japanese

• Doolittle Raider’s attack on Tokyo helped to lift the morale of Americans

• **Walterboro Air Base Training facility

James Doolittle lead a group of bomber pilots to train for combat in Columbia

Tuskegee Airmen

Tuskegee Airmen

• African American pilots trained at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama

• Commanded by white officers • Supported the allied invasion of Italy• Assigned to escort heavy bombers on raids • Air campaign directed at weakening Germany

prior the D-Day invasion

• Several Tuskegee airmen earned the Distinguished Flying Cross

• Proved that black pilots could shoot down enemy aircraft as well if not better that white air crews

• Opened the doorway for other African Americans to serve in the military & for desegregation of the military in the postwar period

SC in WWII• Many joined the military• 1/3 of young white men & ½ of black

men were either illiterate or in such poor health that they could not join

• Indication of how poverty stricken SC was

• War mobilization meant more jobs at home

• Wartime population in SC cities grew impacting local business

• Farms were shorthanded causing women & children to work in the fields

SC in WWII• Collected scrap metal &

rubber for the war effort• Used ration books to get

their share of the short supply of food & fuel

• Bought war bonds to fund the war effort

• After the war, they had savings which they used for:– Automobile purchases– Goods not available during

wartimeHow to use your ration coupons (5:41)