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EFFECTS OF THE WORLD WARS ON VERMONT

Vermonters have always put a premium on peace, but have been willing to pay the price to maintain it. In nearly every war in this nation's history, Vermont has paid a disproportionately high cost of the effort and sacrificed a disproportionate share of its soldiers. And so it was with the world wars.

In World War I, Vermont announced its support of the Allied cause before the nation officially joined the war. Again, in World War II, the Legislature in effect declared war on Germany a full three months before the country did.

More than 14,000 enlisted in World War I; 642 died. Nearly 50,000 men fought in World War II; 1,233 died. About 1,400 Vermont women served in the Second World war.

The war was felt at home as well. With so many men gone, women and children went to work on the farms and in industries. The Vermont machine tool industry played a huge part in supplying parts and equipment; during World War II, more than 13,000 people were employed in the Springfield area machine tool industries.

The wars also showed skeptical Vermonters that government, which began operating such things as day care, could be a positive force in their lives. But the wars also reminded Vermonters about the poverty of the state. More than half of the men who tried to enlist were rejected because they flunked their physicals, many because of malnutrition.

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