World War II and Upcountry South Carolina: We Just Did Everything We Could

By Courtney L. Tollison PhD and Walter Edgar PhD

World War II changed America, and the history of Upcountry South Carolina during this era testifies to the war s deep impact. On the homefront, Upcountry residents
grew victory gardens, supported recruits at local bases and soldiers abroad, and manufactured textile goods, including
uniforms and parachutes, crucial for the war effort. As thousands of young men and women came into the Upcountry to train at Spartanburg s Camp Croft and Greenville s Army Air Base, thousands more were sent to Europe, the Pacific, and beyond. More than 166,000 South
Carolinians fought for the United States, including 5 Congressional Medal of Honor winners. The resulting import and export of culture through the war and long after reflects the modernization and diversification that occurred across the South. Using words and images from the men and women who lived through it all, Furman University professor and Upcountry History Museum historian Courtney Tollison examine the ways that Upcountry South Carolina affected
World War II and how the war affected the region.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The History Press
• Release date: Nov 1, 2009
• ISBN: 9781625843418

Courtney L. Tollison PhD

Dr. Courtney L. Tollison is Museum Historian for the Upcountry History Museum and Assistant Professor of History at Furman University. In addition to numerous scholarly articles on the history of the South Carolina upcountry, she authored Furman University (SC) (College History Series) for Arcadia in 2004. She has connections with all local historical societies and smaller museums, as well as with the mayor of Greenville, local media representatives, and book store owners. In 2007, Dr. Tollison co-produced a 24-minute video documentary in 2007 about WWII and upcountry South Carolina that won a National Award of Merit from the American Association for State and Local History in 2008.

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INTRODUCTION

World War II left an indelible impact on the people, economy, and culture of Upcountry South Carolina. In many ways, towns and cities throughout the Upcountry experienced the war in ways similar to most towns and cities across America. World War II influenced nearly every aspect of life for those overseas, as well as those on the homefront. Tire rationing restricted local travel, and sugar rationing limited availability of favorite foods. Citizens attended church services to pray for loved ones and supported civilian defense efforts to maintain security at home. In the absence of television, newspapers, radios, and movie theater newsreels were invaluable sources of information for those who wished to remain abreast of news regarding the conflict overseas. Many said tearful goodbyes to loved ones—both male and female—who enlisted or were drafted to serve overseas. Those serving in the military and working on the homefront often found themselves in faraway, previously unheard-of places. The mobility inherent in wartime service and wartime economics spread families and whole communities across the globe for years at a time. To keep in touch and to hold on to something familiar, thousands of letters from loved ones to loved ones flew across continents and oceans.

What distinguishes Upcountry South Carolina from other regions across America is the immense contribution from area textile and apparel mills. With 467 mills within a one-hundred-mile radius of Greenville, the Upcountry proudly marketed itself as the Textile Capital of the World. This translated into 3,176,638 spindles, 163,618 looms, and 9,361 knitting machines producing the textile goods—from parachutes to uniforms—so vital for war.

Over 166,000 South Carolinians served in World War II, but the Upcountry again stands apart from the rest of the state because of the magnitude of its military contributions. Three Upcountry counties—Anderson, Greenville, and Spartanburg—made up only 18.5 percent of the state population yet ultimately contributed 24 percent of the state’s war dead. South Carolina produced five Congressional Medal of Honor winners during World War II, four of whom were Upcountry natives. The fifth recipient attended college and was trained in the Upcountry.

Life for Upcountry South Carolinians during World War II was characterized by unassuming heroism, quiet pride, aggressive yet humble enterprise, and fierce solidarity. Their contributions and experiences on the homefront and overseas affected the social, cultural, religious, and economic development of the Upcountry. Because World War II was such an intensely formative event, its history within the region provides a context for the significant changes experienced in the Upcountry and throughout the South in the mid- to late twentieth century.

THE TOTALITY OF WAR

Life on the Upcountry Homefront During World War II

Years before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, stirrings of war on the European continent had a powerful impact on Upcountry South Carolina as it began supporting the Allied effort. Germany’s September 1, 1939 blitzkrieg attack on Poland prompted declarations of war from France, Great Britain, and the Commonwealth nations. As the conflict grew, two distinct sides developed: the Allies, led by France, Great Britain, and the Commonwealth nations; and the Axis, led by Germany, Italy, and Japan. Although the nadir of the Great Depression had passed, the outbreak of war in Europe brought significant economic relief to Upcountry South Carolina. Beginning in the fall of 1939, cotton prices climbed alongside rising demand generated by U.S. government contracts with Upcountry textile and apparel mills. According to historian A.V. Huff:

The textile mills, many of which had been idle significantly during the Depression, began to get government orders for overseas and many of the mills were running around the clock. They were running twenty-four hours a day, which is something the people had not seen before. So in that sense the war in Europe really brought prosperity back to the Upcountry because the economy was so largely based on the mills…Everything was looking much better.

For two years, Upcountry mills created clothing and other materials for the Allies, and Upcountry residents supported the United States in additional ways. In May 1940, the Greenville Automobile Dealers Association sent a cable to President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) vowing to sell only used cars until the end of the war. With promises such as these, automobile manufacturers could then focus production solely on tanks, airplanes, and other motorized war vehicles. In September, the U.S. Congress passed the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, requiring men between the ages of twenty-one and thirty-five to register with local draft boards. Greenville County organized a school holiday on October 16 so that teachers could help register men for the war. The Greenville News reminded its readers in late October of the importance of dedicating themselves to the war effort, for manpower is not all a total defense needs and must have. Weeks later, train whistles and sirens inaugurated the Community Chest Drive, but the loud noises frightened Greenvillians, who believed that war had been declared. Callers swamped the switchboards of the Greenville News and radio station WFBC for verification until WFBC issued announcements clarifying the whistles and sirens’ true meaning.

But just thirteen months later, on December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked the U.S. Naval base and shipyard at Pearl Harbor; Ford Island; Hickam, Bellows, and Wheeler Army Air Bases; the U.S. Naval Air Station at Kaneohe; and the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station at Ewa, subsequently provoking the U.S. Declaration of War. Although many Upcountry residents, including Ben DeLuca of Spartanburg, did not know where the hell Pearl Harbor was or what it was…[W]e knew from the tension in the voice of the announcer the importance of the announcement [and] that it was bad news.

From that moment forward, thousands of Upcountry lives were risked and lost in service to their country. Pickens County’s first known casualty of war, Fire Controlman Second Class James Garland Nations, died when the USS Arizona sank, as did Spartanburg natives Combat Medic Wayne Alman Lewis and Seaman Vernon Russell White. Fire Controlman First Class Hubert Paul Clement, also from Spartanburg, died on the USS Oklahoma. At 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, December 16, Vardry Turk McBee, grandson of the Father of Greenville, received a telegram from Rear Admiral of the Navy Chester W. Nimitz. The dreaded telegram, among the first of many to be received by Upcountry residents through the coming war, informed McBee that his twenty-year-old son, Seaman First Class Luther Kirk McBee, had died during the attack on the USS West Virginia. McBee, who had attended Greenville High School, was the city’s first known casualty. The Greenville News reported that his memorial service, held on Friday, December 19, filled downtown Greenville’s Christ Church Episcopal. The death of this well-known young man immediately brought the realities and tragedies of war to Greenville.

To assuage their grief and support the war, Upcountry residents, like other Americans, planted victory gardens, bought war bonds, recycled, rationed, and wrote letters and V-mails to men and women overseas. Upcountry South Carolinians were acutely aware of the total war concept as voiced by one of their own, Director of War Mobilization James F. Byrnes. Our people must realize that total war means sacrifice at home as well as on the battle front.

The war had a significant impact on the trajectory of life for the nation and especially its youth. Many young couples were forced to alter their plans regarding marriage and family. Mary Simms Oliphant and Second Lieutenant Alester G. Furman III were married on Saturday evening, April 4, 1942, at Christ Church Episcopal in Greenville. Furman, who had recently completed Marine Corps Officer Candidate School, was expected to report back to Quantico on the Monday morning after their wedding. Soon thereafter, Second Lieutenant Furman served in the Pacific Theater.

Carolyn Henderson and Luther White also were married during the early stages of American involvement in the war. In September 1942, Luther left his job at Pacific Mills in Lyman, South Carolina, to join the Enlistment Reserve Corps (ERC), taking ERC classes at Greenville High School six nights per week from midnight to 8:00 a.m. in preparation for U.S. Army service. The couple decided to start a family because Carolyn wanted to have a baby in case something happened to Luther in the war. That way I would always have a part of him with me. Like many young couples during the war, their visits were restricted to furloughs—brief respites from training and service enjoyed by men and women in the U.S. Armed Forces. The Whites joked for a time about naming their first child, a son born while Luther was in the Pacific, Furlough in honor of those visits.

Meanwhile, the War Production Board worked with various industries across America to ensure maximum productivity for the U.S. war machine, and many millworkers politicized their work, viewing their labor as a substantial component of the homefront defense supporting the war overseas. In April 1942, the federal government ordered all cotton mills to convert at least 50 percent of their output to war materials.

However, the highly productive Upcountry mills had already received government contracts, setting their wartime goods at 60 percent of their total production. Throughout the Upcountry, looms were guns, as one advertisement from Greenwood’s Index-Journal publicized. In Slater, South Carolina, the Slater Mills manufactured U.S. Army and Navy twill, aerial delivery cloth, bomb parachute cloth for the Army Air Forces (AAF), nylon cloth for escape parachutes, nylon weaves for ski trooper tents, and mosquito netting for troops in Pacific locales. In Greenville, G.F. League Company, Inc. made mop handles for the U.S. Navy, while Convenience, Inc. created Carlisle Bandages for soldiers to carry. Stone Manufacturing of Greenville produced mattress covers for the U.S. Navy that could double as parachutes and flotation devices, and at least one-fourth of its total production was oriented toward the manufacturing of soldiers’ clothing.

Other area mills, including Victory Textiles and Union Bleachery in Greenville County, manufactured cloth for soldiers’ uniforms, parachute straps, canvas for tents, bandages, surgical masks, bedding, and additional items essential to the success of the war overseas. Beaumont Mills and Fairforest Finishing Company in Spartanburg County and Mills Mill in Woodruff dyed khaki material for military uniforms. The mills associated with Deering-Milliken and the Montgomery family in Spartanburg created synthetic fabrics for the military. In 1944, Deering-Milliken built the Excelsior Tire Cord Plant—the first windowless, air-conditioned mill with air-clearing systems in the country—to create nylon tire cord. In Newberry, Oakland Mill manufactured gauze for bandages and Newberry Mill created rope. Springs Industries of Fort Mill procured military contracts for raincoat fabric, summer wear, gas masks, operating gown fabrics, sheeting for gun covers for the U.S. Navy, and sheets and pillowcases for most branches of the military. The Matthews and Ninety-Six plants of Greenwood Cotton Mills produced over 100 million yards of fabric during the war. Greenwood Cotton Mills received four awards from the U.S. Army, not simply for their high-quality cloth but also allegedly because these mills produced more fabric than any others in the country during the war.

The Rock Hill Printing and Finishing plant, more commonly known as the Bleachery, bleached, dyed, printed, and finished cloth. The Bleachery earned two Army-Navy E Awards in 1943 and 1944 for the excellence of its wartime production and reportedly manufactured more U.S. flags during the war than any other textile plant.

The Upcountry’s pride in such work was reflected when over twenty thousand people attended the Textiles Go to War Celebration at Duncan Park in Spartanburg in May 1943. The day’s events featured a parade, a Textile Queen pageant, and entertainment from the Camp Croft band. South Carolina Governor Olin D. Johnston and Spartanburg’s James F. Byrnes (then serving as Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s war mobilization director) gave speeches thanking textile workers