"Anthracite rallies" encouraged miners to produce more coal to help the American war effort in 1942.
War Department film shows Coal Region in 1942
“Wiconisco Marine killed on Saipan” – July 7, 1944
Corporal Raymond Holwig died during the fight for the strategically important Pacific Island in July 1944.
Williamstown sailor recounts surviving a German U-boat attack, two weeks in a lifeboat in 1943
Jim Shurskis told the dramatic story of surviving his ship's sinking to students from Williamstown High School.
Williamstown High School football star killed in the Battle of the Bulge in 1945
Private Joe Cooper died in combat on January 4, 1945 near the village of Flamierge, Belgium.
“Look at that smoke coming up” – Williamstown airman killed in plane crash during Second World War
The deaths of a bomber crew near an English airbase in September 1944 demonstrated the danger in flying the B-26 bomber.
“What to do in air raids?” – Harrisburg’s early civil defense preparations in 1942
What do you do when the lights go out, the sirens come on, and the bombs begin to fall?
“The stark truth” – A Pennsylvania soldier witnesses the collapse of Nazi Germany in 1945
Private Jim Shurskis detailed the destruction of Nazi Germany and the refugees returning to their homes in an April 1945 letter.
Blackout drills – Central Pennsylvania prepared itself for enemy air raids in 1942
In May 1942, vast swaths of Central Pennsylvania went dark. Local air raid wardens planned blackout drills to prepare for enemy bombers.
A Williamstown coal miner demands steel from abandoned mines be recycled for Second World War
A miner from Williamstown, Pennsylvania recommends using scrap steel from the closed mines for the newly opened war effort.
