Hello everyone, for today's WW2 effects, I'll be talking about the home of the Hawkeye's, Iowa. This is yet another state I know little about, and it doesn't help you basically never hear about the state either. Hope you enjoy and learn something new!! Iowa Pre-WW2 For most of the Midwestern states, the Great Depression temporarily slowed progress and growth, along with forcing many people to leave the once powerful and predominant Agricultural sector. Iowa was the poster child for these kind of unfortunate consequences suffered in the 30's and 40's. Iowa was one of the top producers in corn and soybeans during the Great Depression and WW2, while also having a strong livestock presence as well. In 1940, 58% of the 2.5 million inhabitants of the state worked in some capacity with the Agricultural sector. Iowa however in the early part of the 20th century began to slowly transition to a more industrially based state. The state's capitol Des Moines began this transition, with Cedar Rapids, Davenport and Sioux City following closely behind. Before the Arsenal of Democracy kicked off, Iowa's industrial sector mostly focused on home appliances and other commodities, mass producing them. While irrelevant at the time, almost half of Iowan's were of German descent, and about a third of those were either first or second generation Americans, new to the country and culture of the U.S. The only other state with more Germanic descent at the time, was Wisconsin. Iowa WW2 Once war finally did break out, the half of the German American Iowan's prepared to stand and fight against their blood brothers, for freedom, and liberty's sake. Iowa had relatively few Army Airfield installations built both before and during the war, with only 4, and Iowa despite it's size and acres of open land was mostly not used for military or government purposes. The state's agricultural and Industrial sectors immediately got to work feeding and arming the Allied troops across the globe. Iowa's factories produced a wide array of weaponry and supplies, mostly mass producing smaller and lighter goods such as ammunition, tires, engines, shoes, crates, and rifles. Besides producing massive amounts of wartime materials and supplies, Iowa also produced large amounts of Volunteers for the Military, 276,000 Iowans served in the military from 1941-1945. 4% of Iowan's were unemployed in 1945, as most were off fighting or working in the factories to support the war effort, this would be the lowest percentage in Iowa until 2002. Iowa Post WW2 5,633, that is how many Hawkeye men and boys gave up there lives in defense of their country. While the death toll was high, and the war years exhausting and turbulent, Iowa came away with a new found confidence and drive to be a better, more prosperous state than before. Iowa finally took the leap forward needed to establish a strong and stable industrial complex, while the Agricultural sector still provides cash flow and export value. Generally, Life in Iowa has been good since WW2, in the 80's however the Farm Crisis caused a Recession, creating unemployment and poverty not seen since the Great Depression, since then though Iowa has been in Good financial shape, and is among the top 10 in the U.S in unemployment rate at 3.6% Des Moines in 1941 Des Moines Today Cedar Rapids 1942 Cedar Rapids today Iowa is big into College Football, that's about it...........
One of the things I like about these posts is remembering all the scenes in movies where they ask the newbie where he is from..."Oh I'm from Iowa" and then the comments flow good and bad about the place they are from...this gives me an idea of what they are talking about...
That is something I haven't thought about actually. Of course those places have changed so much in 75 years that what one says about them in the 40's might not apply anymore, but that's usually not the case, especially with Iowa, not a whole lot has changed there culturally.
The setting in the death notification scene (the painful scene where Ryan's Mom was informed of the demise of her sons) in the movie Saving Private Ryan was filmed NOT in Iowa, but in Wiltshire, England! The farmhouse was built just for the movie, and was torn down after filming. I always thought that scene was shot in Iowa. I went searching for the actual site, and was going to post it here for all to see in the Iowa thread. Dang! Here's the clip from Youtube. Fast forward to the 2:53 mark to the so called "Iowa farmhouse scene". How I found it: Filming Locations for Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan (1998), in Ireland, the UK and France.
Basically yes, Iowa has the benefit of not really being politically divided, (The state is overwhelmingly conservative), has low crime, and is a top 15 state for business. It didn't used to be that way obviously, but Iowa is doing better than most right now.
Home Page - Los Angeles Museum | Battleship USS Iowa World War II - Los Angeles Museum | Battleship USS Iowa
