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Anne Arundel County History
Part six of a series (continued from part five)
By Diane Freda, Staff WriterWar & Remembrance
Few men can say they avoided the draft because of milk.
But Orlando "Bob" Bonar Jr. was 17 when World War II broke out in 1941, delivering milk for Annapolis Dairy Products on West Street. His boss told him he could not be spared from his rounds. The babies of Annapolis needed their milk.
The year was 1941, and although his age may have been a contributing factor, Mr. Bonar believes to this day that milk kept him from joining up.
He began delivering milk for the dairy in 1941, just before the war. He worked on the dock loading and unloading milk trucks. The pay was $17.50 for a week, six days a week, 12 hours a day. Shortly after, he was promoted to his own milk route, which paid $25 a week. When word came on Dec. 7, 1941, that the Japanese had bombed far-off Pearl Harbor, Mr. Bonar thought the authorities said that Herald Harbor had been bombed. He found it hard to believe.
"I was just over there," he had said to an acquaintance.
The truth turned out to be much worse than he could have imagined. The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor claimed the lives of more than 2,000 Americans, and kicked off U.S. involvement in the worldwide military conflict. Ultimately it led to the United States declaring war on Japan, which meant that Italy and Germany, the Axis powers, would also become involved. World War II was the beginning of a new era for Americans: the war years of the 1940s and the post-war boom of the 50s.
A time of uncommon unity
Local residents remember those years as ones of uncommon unity followed by unprecedented development.
"What's hard for us to grasp now is that everybody worked together," said Isabel Cunningham, a local historian and longtime county resident. "Some worked in the defense factories and many went to war - women as well as men.
Those who stayed home had to deal with rationing of everything from gasoline to sugar and shoes.
"I remember buying a beautiful purple dress for $15 during the war years that really stretched my budget. Nylons were impossible to get and, of course, rubber tires," Mrs. Cunningham said.
The war would not prove all bad for Maryland. It helped bring the nation out of the Great Depression by forcing a production economy. The population tripled in the 1940s; jobs were plentiful and old ways of life began to fade.
When World War II ended, the expanded economy would help sow the seeds of far-reaching social changes that can still be felt today.
Published 12/05/99, The Capital, Annapolis, Md.
Copyright 2000 The Capital, Annapolis, Md.
Anne Arundel County History: Roaring Changes, Law and Order, The Depression, The New Deal, An Education, War & Remembrance.
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