278 – 1941

Mark Jarvis

1941 was a watershed year. The end of the Great Depression. The beginning of World War II. It had profound effects on our family.

The Federal budget increased by an astounding 50 percent between 1940 and 1941. Virtually all of the increase was for military spending.

In 1941 unemployment would drop below 10 percent for the first time since 1930.

Unemployment Rate 1938-1941 – Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library

In February 1941 fully one percent of the American labor force was at work building army training camps for 1.4 million new draftees. 

The End of the Great Depression – National Bureau of Economic Research

Camp Funston construction

The Morning Chronicle – January 17, 1941

Work continued at a hectic pace. Long-Manhattan-Watson’s huge contract building Camp Funston was to be completed by March.

In January, work was progressing on 520 buildings. That’s a big project.

Tom Gallagher and the Quartermaster’s office inspected and approved hundreds of shipments of supplies.

The Junction City Union – March 13, 1941

By March, the project was 75 percent complete. LMW Construction employed over 6,800 people on the project.

Tom Gallagher’s unit, the Construction Quartermaster, had a staff of 269 people working on the contract.

The Quartermaster Corps

The U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps mission is to support the development, production, acquisition, and sustainment of general supply, Mortuary Affairs, subsistence, petroleum and water, and material and distribution management during peace and war to provide combat power to the U.S. Army. 

United States Quartermaster Corps – Wikipedia

Former functions and missions of the Quartermaster Corps were:

  • military transportation (given to the Transportation Corps in 1942)
  • military construction (given to the Corps of Engineers in the early 1940s) 

Kathleen graduated high school

In May 1941, Kathleen Gallagher graduated from St. Xavier’s High School. She was age 17.

Kathleen Gallagher (left) and friends – 1941
The Sedalia Democrat – May 8, 1941

Kathleen was especially happy that her grandmother Josephine, “Mama Riley,” had come to Junction City for her graduation.

Kathleen to Marymount College

In the fall of 1941, Kathleen Gallagher enrolled in Marymount College in Salina, Kansas. Salina was 45 miles west of Junction City. Marymount was a Catholic all-girls liberal arts college.

Kathleen was enrolled in a practical curriculum: accounting, shorthand, typewriting, and dictaphone. She had a couple liberal arts courses: American government, rhetoric, and religion. All these classes would serve her well in the years to come.

Kathleen Gallagher’s enrollment card – Marymount College – September 1941

219 West First Street

When Tom and Mary Agnes Gallagher and their children moved to Junction City in 1938, they moved into Henry Gallagher’s house at 333 West Second Street. Henry lived there, as did his mother Ellen (Grandma Gallagher).

Now, three years later, in October 1941, Henry purchased a house at 219 West First Street for Tom and Mary Agnes. Henry had been the beneficiary of his parents’ farm in Lamar, and he had helped out his siblings over the years. Henry bought a farm near Junction City for sister Nell and her husband Lee Donahoe.

In October 1941, Tom and Mary Agnes and their children moved to 219 West First Street, a home they would live in for many years.

The Junction City Union – October 30, 1941

As she did many weekends, Kathleen came home for weekend visits from Marymount College.

Tom Gallagher and Kathleen Gallagher – 219 West First Street – c 1941

A dance party

On Saturday evening, November 29, 1941, Buddy Gallagher attended a dance party at Betty Ann Rolfs’ home. Dance parties were popular.

While they were dancing

While the dancers were swinging to Fats Waller and Benny Goodman, six Japanese aircraft carriers with 408 aircraft were steaming toward the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The events of the next week would change the world.

World War II

The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

On that same day, Japan also attacked Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand, as well as American bases in the Philippines and Guam. As a result, Japan was now at war with Great Britain and Canada. Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands also declared war on Japan, and the war spread rapidly across the East-Asia.

Japan bombs Pearl Harbor: Hitler declares war on the US – Anne Frank House

On December 8, the United States declared war on Japan. Hitler declared war on the U.S. on December 11, because Germany was an ally of Japan.

The Junction City Union – December 8, 1941

There was a huge surge in patriotism after Pearl Harbor. In the coming months millions of Americans entered the military service. Those at home went to work, and rationed goods for the benefit of the cause.

Our families and the war

We’ll end this series of stories about our Gallagher ancestors just as the world war begins.

The war will impact the Gallagher family. After the Pearl Harbor attack in December, Kathleen Gallagher didn’t return to Marymount for the spring semester. She got a job at Fort Riley, one of a series of jobs she held throughout the war.

Gallagher

Based on their performance at Camp Funston, LMW was awarded a $10M contract to build a bomber assembly plant at Tulsa, Oklahoma.

In fall of 1941, Tom Gallagher was assigned to the Tulsa project, either as a government construction quartermaster, or perhaps as an LMW employee.

Whatever his role, Tom and Mary Agnes moved to Oklahoma for the project. Jane moved to Oklahoma with her parents.

They rented their house at 219 West First Street in Junction City. Kathleen would continue to live at 219, along with the new tenants.

Teply

Don Teply

In December 1941, Don Teply, 20, was a student at Kansas State Agricultural College (KSAC, later Kansas State University) in Manhattan, Kansas. On November 6, 1942, he joined the U.S. Army.

Jarvis

Mel Jarvis

In December 1941, Mel Jarvis, 21, was also a student at KSAC. He joined the U.S. Marine Corps in June 1943.

Cheney

Ralph “Ned” Cheney

Ralph “Ned” Cheney had been in medical school ROTC during World War I. Now, 25 years later, in May 1942, at age 48, he re-entered the service as Major Cheney.

We’ll follow the stories of our families in World War II when our series continues.

Timeline

Sources

Leave a comment