LOUISVILLE (WHAS11) – About 307,000 Kentuckians served in the military during World War II. An estimated 8,000 died in combat and 14,000 were wounded according to the Kentucky Historical Society.
During the most challenging time in our nation’s history, Kentucky stepped up at home to help the war effort. Many industries converted from consumer products to war goods.
Ford Motor Company’s Louisville plant stopped making cars and started making Jeeps for the military. It produced more than 100,000 before the war’s end.
Distillers including Franklin County’s Schenley Distillers Corp. switched from making bourbon to industrial alcohol.
Louisville Slugger was contracted by the Federal Government to produce gun stocks for the military and halted production in their golf department. They also supplied bats for soldiers to use for recreation at military installations around the world. Louisville Slugger was awarded the Army Navy “E” Award for their contributions during WWII – one of only 5% of businesses to receive the award at the time.
To commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day, the Louisville Slugger Museum offered free admission for WWII veterans and their families. Veterans received special tours and viewed the gun stocks made at the factory throughout the 1940s.
Charles Derriskson served in the Navy on the USS Nassau in the South Pacific in 1945. He toured the Louisville Slugger Museum with his family Wednesday.
“I was young. 18 when I went in. A little concerned about things but I grew up and I think the Navy helped me grow up and understand what life is all about,” said Derriskson.
During the 1940s the military presence increased in Kentucky. Training facilities and bases opened in places where they previously did not exist.
The east side of Bowman Field airport was expanded in 1940 to become the Bowman Field Air Base. It was a training facility with 124 buildings used by the U.S. Army Air Force throughout World War II. Bowman Field was first used to train bomber crews and later was assigned to the first troop carrier command. Combat glider pilots also trained at Bowman Field along with the Air Force Air Evacuation School. That is where surgeons, flight nurses and medical technicians learned how to care for patients in the air, was at Bowman Field from 1942-1944.
The Naval Ordnance Plant was commissioned on October 1, 1941. Westinghouse Electric operated it to manufacture gun mounts and ordnance for the Navy. The 135-acre inland site afforded protection from enemy air attacks reaching a peak employment of 4,200 people.
Contact reporter Lisa Hutson at lhutson@whas11.com. Follow her on Twitter (@WHAS11Lisa) and Facebook.