1. WW2 Impact on SC
8.6-5—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.
2. 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
3. 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
5. 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
6. • 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
7. 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
8. 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
wartime
How to use your ration coupons (5:41)
