Pennsylvania: The war at home
During the war, Pennsylvania had over 1.25 million people serve, 22000 of them women. Unfortunately, 33,000 of those who served lost their lives, including Robert Noble. Because of all of those who went to fight or serve in other means, life was completely changed. Women had to go work in traditionally male-dominated fields, children had to work, and everyone had to make resources stretch farther than they had prior to the war.
The red county shown in the image is Cambria county, where the town of Cresson, where Robert Noble resided prior to the war. Cambria county had 5500 men go to serve our country, unfortunately losing 863 to the war. During the war, Cambria county opened steel plants which provided much needed metal to the war effort. Because of this contribution, a naval ship was commissioned bearing the name USS Cambria.
Pennsylvania took the helm when it came to steel production during the war. From the Industrial revolution, PA had always been a giant in steel production due to the vast amounts of iron and coal available. This is an image of one of many Pittsburgh steel mills.
During the war, Pennsylvania provided vast amounts of food, not just steel. Because of how fertile PA is, food production grew exponentially. Many people who had never done any agricultural work picked up a garden spade and planted their own "Victory Gardens", such as the one seen in the image.
During the war, the army war college, based in Carlisle produced many necessities, such as sealed bandage casings, many of which were carried by soldiers storming the beaches of Normandy and carried throughout the war.
