Nylon and Milkweed Pods
May 12, 2008 – 6:00 amToday’s post was inspired by remembrances of World War II written some years ago by Mary Jane Clemens concerning the borough of Chalfont in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.Much of what she wrote is familiar to many of us growing up during that time – victory gardens, collecting tin cans, squeezing margarine to turn it yellow, blackouts, rationing, etc.However she did enlarge upon the nylon stockings situation, reminding us that should you get a runner in a stocking, you didn’t throw it out. You attempted to find some skilled person willing to undertake the tedious chore of repairing it to make it look almost like new.
She goes on to say that nylon was used extensively in the war effort. A newspaper report in 1945 related how a crowd of 2,000 people watched a C-47 swoop to pick up a glider at the US Naval base at Willow Grove in Montgomery County. The 350-foot nylon rope attached to the glider contained enough nylon for 1600 pairs of nylon stockings.
And milkweed pods. Several people have told me they collected these pods. Children could be seen going along the highways and byways collecting bags of milkweed. It’s my understanding the milkweed was used for life preservers because the supply of kapok seeds from Indonesia had been cut off by the Japanese. Milkweed made a suitable substitute although a greater amount was necessary to make the life preservers. The children in the intermediate and upper grades at Chalfont School collected nine bags.
V-E Day was received in Chalfont in the following way as reported in a local service club newsletter. “There wasn’t a riotous celebration. Instead there was deep gratitude and thankfulness, mixed with the desire to rededicate all efforts towards eliminating Japan rapidly and thoroughly. Last night, the joint service in St. James Church found every seat occupied. To you, who have sweated it out more than we can even possibly imagine, we owe thanks. May we at home so conduct ourselves, and so devote ourselves to our own particular jobs, that we might reflect at least a part of the great credit which you have been to our country.”
For more on World War II, go to http://www.peggeorge.com/
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