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World War II: When Tacony Spoke and the
World Listened
By Louis M. Iatarola
The sixtieth anniversary of the
end of World War II was marked with little fanfare the past
August. Few locals still recall the depth of Tacony's involvement
was Henry Disston & Sons, whose leadership in the community's
efforts turned out to be the "last hurrah" for the
family-owned company.
Although several notable Tacony industries
could not survive the Great Depression, such as Gillinder
Glass Works and Erben-Harden Woolen Mill, the mighty Henry
Disston & Sons prevailed despite a reduction in its workforce
from 2,500 tp 1,100. Sustained by a steel plant world-renowned
for the strongest plating, as well as persistent new product
development, the company was positioned well to benefit from
the economic recovery of the late 1930's as the country prepared
for its involvement in the war in Europe.
By 1939, conflict had broken out but
the full-scale war had not begun. Germany had overrun Poland
and Great Britain was trying nobly to hold back the German
military machine. Russia had signed a peace agreement with
Germany, which would be broken by Germany's invasion of 1941.
By the turn of the decade, the country
was at a crossroad. Men like Charles Lindbergh and Joseph
Kennedy were advocating support of Germany and the American
peace movement. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt stood
firmly behind Great Britain and advocated a military build-up
in the country. Given the growing unrest abroad, it was a
necessity that the United States government initiate military
preparations for war.
In 1940, the United States Department
of Defense looked to the Disston Saw Works to bolster its
war preparation efforts. The federal government financed the
construction of an armor plating plant on company-owned land
at Tacony. Disston spent $250,000 on a new power plant and
City Council allowed the government to strike Disston Street
from the city plan from Wissinoming Street to the Delaware
River for the construction of the plant.
The initial government order required
the employment of sixty (60) additional workers, and the opening
of the armor plating plant sparked resurgence in the local
economy. The plant tripled its capacity by operating twenty-four
hours a day with three shifts. Disston’s armor plate,
famous for its strength and durability, was used in a multitude
of applications including gun shields for artillery pieces,
light weight seats to protect pilots from rear air attacks,
armor for combat vehicles, tank, naval craft and planes, as
well as test plates for checking bullet quality. In addition,
between 1939 and 1945, Disston was the only American manufacturer
of the two-man portable chainsaw, resulting in exclusive contracts
proving crucial to the war effort due to the dense tropical
growth of the South Pacific.
Tacony was the ideal place for the government
to set up shop for reasons both strategic and symbolic. Tacony
had always been pro-Great Britain in its sentiments since
it was founded by Englishman Henry Disston in 1872. As early
as 1879, British values and culture had dominated life in
the community. In 1884, English culture became predominant
when two hundred steelworkers and their families were imported
from Sheffield, England to work at the Disston Saw Works.
Soon, just as they had in England, they established Tea Houses
in the community. During World War I, a full hospital first-aid
unit from Tacony served in France supporting British troops.
As late as 1940, about one thousand people gathered at Disston
Playground demanding that the United States support Great
Britain in the war against Germany.
In addition, Disston Saw Works had been
a leading manufacturer in the country’s war effort dating
back to the Civil War. In the period between 1861 and 1865,
the firm produced armor plate for the Union Navy to use on
the side of the wooden ships blockading the ports of the South.
Again in World War I, Disston produced armor plates for cannons
and ships. Clearly, the company and the community would be
prepared to serve as a national example in following President
Roosevelt’s request for the arming of America.
Given these circumstances, the government
approved the building of a new armor plate plant to provide
bulletproof steel for tanks, cannon, half tracts, and lightweight
seats. A rally was organized by the Disston administration
to lay the cornerstone for the power plant (dated 1940, it
contained selected artifacts from the company) and to open
the armor plate factory. The Mayor, high government officials,
union chiefs and Disston management headed the speakers rostrum.
Three thousand four hundred workers from the factory were
assembled by the company for the event. Reporters streamed
in from throughout the country to make it a national event.
The pictures and stories from that day would become a call
to the nation to prepare for war.
Published in Life Magazine’s July
7, 1941 special edition on The Arming of America, the nation
was exposed to the enthusiasm of Disston workers who supported
Roosevelt’s belief that war was coming and America needed
to be prepared. Patriotism and preparedness were the themes
in the article. A picture of Disston workers featured in the
Life Magazine article would appear in local newspapers from
Maine to California, in magazines, in movie theaters and eventually
would be used around the world to show America’s patriotism
and support of the war. Placed under a map outline of the
United States, the picture was used as evidence that the entire
country had the same fighting spirit. Also, the picture was
displayed in offices, public buildings, and at public events
throughout the country. A quote from the text beneath the
photograph and caption from the Disston plant read as follows:
- “…the county is awake, though
not aroused. And there are growing signs that America is willing
to show the grim purpose that Germany and Britain showed,
growing signs that the love for freedom on this Independence
Day is greater than the hope for comfort.”
The people of Tacony showed their support of Roosevelt’s
initiatives in various ways. Many men worked two shifts due
to labor shortages. Gasoline, butter and sugar were rationed,
and rubber tires were recycled. Scrap metal drives were sponsored
by the Disston Company and Hamilton Disston School. The elementary
school named for Henry Disston’s eldest son raised funds
to sponsor the “Disston School” bomber plane for
the war effort. Parades and victory gardens were commonplace,
and homes displaying the “servicemen star” in the
front window let the community know that the family had lost
a son in the war. Anti-aircraft gun positions were dug in Disston
Park south of Magee Avenue with a platoon of soldiers to protect
the Tacony - Palmyra Bridge.
Furthering Tacony’s place in World
War II history was the famous heroism of local boy Al Schmid,
who left his job at Dodge Steel to become a Marine. On August
21, 1942, during the battle of Tenaru on Guadalcanal in the
Solomon Islands, Schmid was blinded by a mortar shell while
holding off four hundred Japanese aggressors. All of his comrades
perished in the battle, and Schmid was awarded the Navy Cross
for heroism in his line of duty as a machine gunner. Gaining
immediate national attention, a movie starring John Garfield
as Schmid was made about his life titled “Pride of the
Marines.” Tacony residents were thrilled by the daily
spectacle of the movie’s filming in the vicinity of
Tulip and Hellerman Streets.
In the years following World War II,
patriotism continued to flourish in the community. A parade
was traditionally led by the William D. Oxley American Legion
Post, and continues to the day every Memorial Day. Disston
Playground was the scene for full days of youth activities
every 4th of July.
Today, Tacony History Day serves to continue
the community’s patriotic traditions by celebrating
our pride and rich history. All that remains of the Disston
factory, which meant so much to World War II, are the crumbling
buildings, empty lots or shells of the structures’ former
glorious selves. Disston Precision, Inc., the singular remnant
of a proud company, retains its specialized operation in an
original two-story Disston building along State Road. The
armor plating plant is now a building supplies warehouse and
the power plant, celebrated with national fanfare in 1941,
is a vacant shell exposed to the elements and overgrown with
weeds. The adjacent Army warehouse facility has been demolished
and will soon be improved with residential housing in the
form of townhomes and mid-rise condominiums.
It is expected that the renaissance
of new housing along Tacony’s Delaware riverfront will
continue south from the former Army warehouse site, signaling
the possible end to whatever physical reminders are left of
the Disston factory. While one can remove the bricks, concrete,
and steel which symbolize our rich industrial heritage, the
place of Tacony in the annals of World War II history is firmly
secure.
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