Creative Relief Efforts in World War II

 “Bundles for Britain” and the clever and organized World War II fundraising effort by music students at Benton High School, who ran a Christmas carol singalong with a bundle of warm clothing for Brits during Christmas 1941 as the price of admission, was featured in a recent column. Creativity was the name of the game in many wartime fundraising and relief efforts, and there’s more to highlight. Musicians played their part. So did pet lovers, or even the military, using exhibitions of Wartime “trophy” exhibits.

“Barkers for Britain” used the popularity of Falla, President Roosevelt’s Scottish terrier, to raise money for the Bundles for Britain program to help the Brits make it through an exceptionally cold and under-supplied winter. Dog owners sent in 50 cents and got a Fala-approved tag for their dog’s collar. Not to be outdone by the dogs, my personal favorite, “Kittens for Britain” with spokes cat General Gray, pet of the Director of the United States Office of War Information, Elmer Davis, inspired the same effort. Cat owners could send in their 50 cents and get a bell tag for their pets’ collars.

A yellow Persian cat, Bouncey, from Cheneyville, La. was appointed an honorary recruiter in Central Louisiana for the Kittens for Britain club after “writing” a letter that appeared in The Bunkie Record on December 12, 1941, saying that she was tired of just being beautiful and wanted a purpose in life. The “Secretary” of Kittens for Britain, Scoopy, responded in the paper with both congratulations and admonishment: “I am so glad that you have decided not to be just a beautiful, bored darling any longer but instead to join our organization and purr with a purpose. I have always heard that blondes are go-getters, so get busy right now and round up some more members.”

Also, to raise awareness of and money for Bundles for Britian, a captured Nazi Messerschmitt 109 fighter plane traveled by truck and trailers to be on display at the Louisiana State Fairgrounds. Upon arrival, seven Noncommissioned technical staff officers from Barksdale Airfield assembled it under the supervision of an engineer lieutenant. It had a prominent spot in a tent on the main street of the fair, diagonally opposite from the grandstand. As announced in the Shreveport Journal that day, already by noon of its arrival on Monday, October 20, 1941, an estimated 850 children had paid to go through the tent to see the plane.

In 1943, when the US itself was at war, Bundles for Britain spun off Bundles for Blue Jackets to aid sailors on both American and British war ships. The U.S. also had its own fundraising with war bond sales. Like the Nazi fighter plane, a captured “war trophy” was used to lure visitors and donors. The March 1st 1943, Shreveport Journal wrote that war bond sales were promoted with a display of a captured Japanese submarine at downtown Shreveport’s courthouse.

Visitors in long queues waited on both sides of Texas Street to view the submarine if they bought one dollar worth of stamps. They could look through portholes “cut by the Navy and covered with plexiglass,” and see, “A Japanese officer in full regalia set at his post in control of two torpedoes.” The exhibit scared children and adults alike, since the wax figures looked so lifelike. Fear is clearly intended; the models had features as stereotyped as war propaganda posters, which distorted and dehumanized the enemy. One of the wax figures was a “crew man with buck teeth and sinister smirk (who) sat aft where the demolition charge was stored.” Adding to the stimulating atmosphere, over a loudspeaker the suicide mission of the sub and its officers was explained to visitors. This particular sub was grounded, sighted by the coastal patrol and brought ashore by the US Navy with assistance of the Army , and the officer was later captured on Oahu Island. Local high school bands also played all day during the exhibition, and the Barksdale band was scheduled to play in the evening.

If you like learning about World War II, don’t forget to attend World War Tuesdays on the second Tuesday of the month from 10:30 – noon at the History Center. Next month’s meeting is on January 9th. The History Center is located at 2206 Beckett St, Bossier City, LA. We are open M-Th 9-8, Fri 9-6, and Sat 9-5. Our phone number is (318) 746-7717 and our email is history-center@bossierlibrary.org

For other fun facts, photos, and videos, be sure to follow us @BPLHistoryCenter on FB, @bplhistorycenter on TikTok, and check out our blog http://bpl-hc.blogspot.com/.

Images: 

• Fala (FDR’s popular Scottish terrier) Photographing the Photographers at the White House, Washington, DC, April 7, 1942.  Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Photographs, , U.S. National Archives
• Fala’s Barkers for Britain tag, U.S. National Archives
• State Fair advertisement in The Crowley Post-Signal, Crowley, Louisiana · Wednesday, October 22, 1941

Article by: Pam Carlisle