Gilbert, Arizona

and sugar were rationed to American fami lies. Ration stamps for these products were distributed to those who needed them. We were also encouraged to grow vegetables in our own Victory Gardens. In March of 1941, the United States Congress passed the Lend-Lease Act to provide aid to our Allied Forces. A great shortage of meat existed in England, and the Hormel Company began shipping millions of tins of processed meat to them. It is said that Spam was not as good in 1941 as now, but those who had very little meat or none at all desired any form of beef or pork. After millions of people died during World War II, it finally came to an end. Germany surrendered on May 2, 1945, and Japan sur rendered on August 14, 1945. Gilbert and our farm area had many volunteers that went to war to stop the aggression of these two impe rialist nations. On the following pages are some pictures of those who served our country during World War II. We as a community salute them for their heroic service to keep America free. The people who served are honored in the Military Room of the Gilbert Historical Museum. There is a War Memorial Monument dedicated to those valiant people in front of the museum, too. This brief exposure helps us to remember how our citizens responded to the need of our nation.

Gilbert and America were still struggling through the Great Depression on September 1, 1939, when Germany invaded Poland as a prelude to World War II. In the early years it didn’t appear that the United States would be involved in another European war, but the war continued to expand. Eventually we came to the support of our allies by send ing them food and other supplies. As the German submarines began sinking our supply ships, we became more and more involved in the Great War. Japan also wanted to be a world colonial power, and as early as 1931 they attacked Manchuria and later China in 1937. We called Germany and Japan the Axis Powers after World War II broke out. On December 7, 1941, our military headquar ters in Hawaii was attacked by Japan, an ally of Germany. This led to America’s declara-tion of war against Japan on December 8, 1941. Germany declared war on America on December 11, and in return we declared war on Germany on the same day. Everything in Gilbert changed, and many of our local men and at least one woman joined the Army, Navy, and Marines. In 1941, we didn’t have a military department called the Air Force, but we had the Army Air Corp. The United States Air Force was not formally created until September 18, 1947. During World War II, the United States was forced to ration many products. Gas, rubber,

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