Thanks to an LSTA Digital Grant award in the amount of $16,500, the Coal City Public Library District has been busy recording World War II experiences of local residents.  These oral histories along with related photos and memorabilia are being used to create an online digital collection, World War II: From Homefront to Warfront, that will soon become accessible from the library’s website.

Interviewees include military personnel as well as the private sector.  The military stories represent all branches of the armed forces, and all the major theatres of the war.  Both combat and non-combat roles are shared in the stories.  Participants include infantry, marines, pilots, engineers, office personnel, WAVES, relatives of soldiers killed in action, and prisoners of war.

The civilian interviews offer insight into the war as experienced by local factory and industrial personnel, housewives, and high school students.  Though quite different from the military accounts, the home front reminiscences illustrate the country’s total commitment to the cause.  All participants in the project have a close connection with the Coal City Public Library District.

Several participants have commented that this interview process has allowed them the opportunity to share memories that they have kept stored away for many years.  Without grant funding, many of these stories may have been lost for posterity.