Historic Omaha

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Above: By February 1945, forty-four
percent of the workforce at the Martin-
Nebraska Bomber plant were women. When
the war ended many women stayed on in
the workplace, unlike their counterparts in
World War I, who were asked to give up
their jobs to returning men.
COURTESY OF THE DOUGLAS COUNTY HISTORICAL
SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.
Right: Nile Kinnick, from Benson High, won
the Heisman Trophy in 1939 while playing
for Iowa. That year, he was named male
athlete of the year over professional players
like Joe DiMaggio and Joe Louis. He was
killed in a Naval Air Corps Reserve training
accident in 1943.
COURTESY OF THE DOUGLAS COUNTY HISTORICAL
SOCIETY COLLECTIONS.
HISTORIC OMAHA
68
Douglas County citizens were also tested
by the imposition of rationing. Sugar was the
first to be rationed, then coffee, shoes, nylons,
and so on. Gasoline was probably the item
that directly affected the most people.
Ironically, gasoline was not in critically
short supply, but rubber was. The idea was
that if people did less driving, they’d save
more wear and tear on their tires. Ration
stamps were issued with three to five gallons
allowed per week for “low priority” drivers.
The speed limit was set at thirty-five miles per
hour. Windshield stickers asked, “Is this trip
really necessary?” People simply drove less,
walked more, took the streetcar, carpooled, or
did whatever needed to be done. Women,
deprived of nylons, painted their legs or wore
cotton hosiery.
Other than the newspaper headlines,
broadcasts and letters from the front, there
were few home-front reminders of the war in
Douglas County. One exception was a
Japanese balloon bomb, launched off the
coast of California, which drifted all the way
to the Dundee neighborhood. Fortunately, it
proved to be a dud. There were also practice
blackouts involving several Midwestern
states, including Nebraska.
These concerns and privations failed to
dampen spirits in Douglas County. Civilians
with a musical bent (and some who couldn’t
carry a tune) warbled Good Night Sweetheart,
I’ll Be Seeing You, Beer Barrel Polka, We’ll Meet
Again, and other songs. White Christmas was
popular, and Kate Smith’s God Bless America
opened or closed many events.
While there were USO canteens and
dances in Omaha, no place in the nation
matched the numbers posted by the canteen
at North Platte, where between 3,000 to
5,000 service personnel were hosted daily. By
war’s end, that one canteen had provided food
and drink, companionship, and help with
writing letters, to nearly eight million
members of the military whose train ride took
them to and through North Platte.
Sometimes the news was good; sometimes
it was bad. The list of the dead grew on
boards like that established in St. John’s
Church in Omaha. Locals began learning of
heroism, decorations, and tallies of the dead
and wounded.
At long last, on Wednesday, August 15,
1945, the banner, double-decker, headline in
the Omaha World-Herald read, “NATION
CELEBRATES THE END OF THE WAR:
TODAY, THURSDAY NAMED HOLIDAYS.”
There were parades and a flurry of initial
excitement, but Douglas County just seemed
to settle back into normality. Well, almost.
Women who had relished their roles in the
work force were reluctant to abandon that