Wartime Ramona
By Darrell Beck

"Our Boys" monument, dedicated by Ramona Rotary in 1944, was located on the vacant lot at 7th and Main Street. photo by Lennie Baker

Immediately following the attack at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, the threat of another attack on the mainland was on everyone's mind and because of that, all kinds of actions were being taken in the name

of civil defense including air raid and evacuation plans, Red Cross activities, militias, mounted rangers and guards at dams, water and electrical facilities.

By February 1942, a "Draft" was established to call up all able bodied men from ages 18 to 44 years. War bond drives, scrap drives and rationing of "essential" goods became part of daily life as a means to help win victory. Daylight Savings Time or "War Time" was initiated, ration boards were authorized and all kinds of government programs were put in place to get the people involved in a combined effort to help win the war.

The Women's Ambulance and Transport Corp. was formed. Air raid drills were held including instructions to deal with a poison gas attack, phosphorous or incendiary bombs and to be aware of phosphorous leaflets dropped at random by Japanese balloons.

A Woman's Land Army was planned to provide a means to harvest crops in a "Food for Victory" campaign. Individuals were urged to grow Victory Gardens at home. Dogs for Defense were organized urging citizens to offer their dogs to the Army for service in the war. A quota of 25,000 dogs from California was established, calling for dogs from 1-5 years of age and being 18 inches at the shoulder. Women or men beyond the draft age were urged to supply relief to the volunteers manning the observation posts.

The War Productions Board was placing a "freeze" on steel production of tin cans, cast iron skillets, griddles, kettles, farm machinery and all other "non-essential" products. There were shortages of practically everything, especially canned goods.

Ration boards, operated by local citizens, were in charge of issuing ration books for many items, primarily sugar, rubber and gasoline.

In order to buy gasoline, tires or spare parts, certificates of war necessity were required for all commercial vehicles, farm trucks, truck tractors and semi-trailers. A $5 motor vehicle use tax stamp was required for all vehicles. Anyone owning more than five tires for each vehicle had to turn over the extra tires to the government before they could buy gasoline. They were urged to keep the best five tires and take the extras to the local freight company to be shipped to factories where they could be used in the war effort.

An "A" gasoline ration card allowed pleasure vehicles 240 miles per ration period; a "B" card allowed 550 miles for business and "C" cards allowed unlimited miles for essential occupations such as doctors and nurses. "T" cards were for trucks.

Large advertisements appeared often in the newspapers calling for scrap. "Your government wants metal; junk-iron, cast-iron, steel, brass, aluminum, zinc and rubber." "One old disc will help make 210 semi-automatic carbines; one old shovel will make 4 hand grenades and one tire will supply the rubber to make 12 gas masks."

People in Ramona and the backcountry responded by hauling their scrap to a huge pile located on the then vacant lot where the Ramona Theater now stands. From there the scrap was hauled to the steel mills in Los Angeles.

Silk and nylon were turned over to manufacture powder bags. People were asked to save cooking grease in a "Fat Drive" to be used to make glycerin to make bombs. They saved newspaper in a "Paper Drive" and were asked to re-use their coffee grounds by drying them and adding some new coffee.

By the first of May 1942, all aliens, Japanese, German and Italian were urged to check with the U.S. Employment Office at Oceanside to get proper instructions and information concerning the dates of their evacuations.

Shortly the Japanese farm workers were removed to secluded camps, Chris Marcus advertised that strawberry pickers were needed to save the crops at San Pasqual. 38-40 cents per crate; self serve, 5 cents a box; rooms available for 12 women and camping room for trailers.

The government was urging citizens to use V-Mail in order to save cargo space for overseas mail. V-Mail forms were available and should be used for all mail reducing the load by 25-1. The cards were photographed on micro-film and subject to review and censorship by the authorities.

Because the war was placing a heavy load on long distance telephone lines - and copper was an essential war material - no new lines or switchboards could be built, therefore people were asked to only make essential calls; "be brief, plan what you want to say. All war calls have priority and must go through."

On Memorial Day 1944 the Ramona Rotary Club dedicated a large honor roll sign located on the vacant lot at the corner of 7th and Main streets that contained the names of about 275 men and women from Ramona including the backcountry then serving in the various branches of the military. Those serving in the military at that time probably amounted to about 20 percent of the entire population of Ramona.

During the war years between Dec. 7 1941 and V-J Day in 1945, there were dark days, many Gold Star families and other personal sacrifices, including plenty of reasons to grumble and despair, but it was a time unique to American history when the true American spirit rose to the occasion and those who were there to participate became known as the "Greatest Generation."

Darrell Beck is the author of "On Memory's Back Trail: A Story History of Ramona and the Backcountry of San Diego

County." For information about the book, contact the author at 760-789-2534.