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(H)our History Lesson: Dayton, OH: Comparing and Connecting WWII Home Fronts

About This Lesson

This lesson is part of a series teaching about the World War II home front, focused on Dayton, Ohio, and Montgomery County, as an American World War II Heritage City. The lesson contains photographs, reading, and a primary source, with an optional activity, to contribute to learners’ understandings of the area as a WWII Heritage City. It combines lesson themes from the three other lessons in the collection to summarize the city’s contributions and encourage connections to the overall US home front efforts.

Objectives:

In a culminating product:

  1. Identify important WWII location(s) in Dayton, Ohio, and describe their historical significance.
  2. Summarize the contributions of Dayton, Ohio service members and civilians to home front wartime efforts.
  3. Evaluate the struggles, and contributions, of Japanese Americans in the US, and those who resettled in Dayton and Montgomery County.
  4. Optional: Describe similarities and differences of Dayton, Ohio, and other WWII home front(s).

Materials for Students:

  1. Photos 1-3
  2. Readings 1 & 2
  3. Maps, project materials (as needed)
  4. Student graphic organizers (See Photos 4 and 5 at end of lesson, for reference)

Three senior-age women use sewing machines to work on white square pieces of cloth at sewing tables. The Red Cross logo is hanging on the wall behind them.
Photo 1: Dayton Area Chapter of the American Red Cross volunteered time, including by sewing items for soldiers and civilians.

Courtesy of Wright State University Archives

Getting Started: Essential Question

Why do you think Dayton and Montgomery County, Ohio chosen as a World War II Heritage City, and what are its similarities and differences to other home front cities?

Quotation to consider:

“The story of the conversion of American industry from peace time to war manufacture is one that is not destined to reach, in its entirety, the public until the post-war era when John and Jane Doe return ‘to normal.’ Nevertheless, the conversion was accomplished, and accomplished with such speed and vigor, despite some reports to the contrary, that the versatility of industry in ‘swinging over’ to war production will occupy a place on our public library shelves just as will the battlefield accounts of the second World War.” - from “Precision Products for War,” an article on Delco Products in Dayton (The Dayton Herald; Sun, Apr 18, 1943, p. 59)

Illustration of 3 factory workers (a gray-haired man, middle-aged man, and younger woman) posing on a rooftop below an Army/Navy E for excellence flag. "We'll keep it flying!" appears in yellow text above them.
Photo 2: "We'll Keep It Flying!" poster by the National Cash Register Company, Dayton, OH. Text at bottom right reads, “We proudly fly the Army Navy ‘E’ with Two Stars for ‘Unceasing Excellence’ in the production of precision instruments and other war material. The offices and employees of The National Cash Register Company.”

Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration

Read to Connect

Woman operates a piece of machinery at a worktable. A box of bullet casings is on the table next to her. The woman has curly hair and wears an apron.
Photo 3: Conversion. Cash registers to gun magazines. A boring operation on the Oerliken machine for 20mm anti-aircraft guns. Many regular employees were retained when a large cash register manufacturing plant changed over to war production. National Cash Register Company, Dayton, OH, February 1943.

Courtesy of the Library of Congress

Questions for Reading 1

  1. What was the purpose of the bill (H.R. 6118) according to the report?

  2. Why do you think Dayton and Montgomery Co., Ohio, were designated as a World War II Heritage City? Use details from the bill and from the lesson information.

  3. Are there other cities you think of when considering home front contributions during wartime? Which, and why?

Questions for Reading 2 and Photo 3

  1. Why would Dayton be considered a “hot target” to enemies? (Consider information also learned in the prior lessons on Navy WAVES, war production and aviation, and Japanese American resettlement.)

  2. What was the purpose of the skit, blackout and simulated bombing? (Opinion: Do you believe these types of productions were helpful at the time? Why, or why not?)

Culminating Activity/Mastery Product

To demonstrate student understanding, support students in creating a final product that meets the following objectives:

  1. Identify important WWII location(s) in Dayton, Ohio (and Montgomery Co.) and describe their historical significance.
  2. Summarize the contributions of Dayton, Ohio service members and civilians to home front wartime efforts.
  3. Evaluate the contributions of women in the services and civilian roles on the home front in Dayton.
  4. Optional: Describe similarities and differences of Dayton, OH and other WWII Heritage city(s) / home fronts.

Mastery products should be:

. . . student-led. Students work as individuals or in collaborative groups.

. . . student-directed. Students are offered a variety of choices for product type (report, slide presentation, artwork with written descriptions, video product, etc.).

. . . student-organized. Teacher facilitates by providing students with the comparison matrices and/or resource links from throughout the series of lessons.

. . . student-assessed. Teacher supports student self-assessment and reflection by providing students single-point rubrics to assess for meeting standards and/or lesson objectives.

Note: Depending on time and scope, the comparison of Dayton to another WWII Heritage city(s) within the mastery product (objectives) may be omitted. However, comparing cities is recommended, as it connects students to a deeper understanding of the WWII home front.

Please view this page about the American World War II Heritage City Program for information and resources on other cities.

Table with 3 columns and 6 rows. Top row includes headings: "Areas for Improvement," "Proficient (Meeting Standard)," "Areas of Exceeding Standard." Middle column includes space for education standards. Last row is for calculating points.
Photo 4: Single-Point Rubric (Standards; Blank) [Teacher selects priority standards for assessment.]

Courtesy of Sarah Lane.

Part of a series of articles titled Dayton and Montgomery County, OH, WWII Heritage City.

Last updated: August 28, 2023