Hazel M. Hanes …236

Olive Nowak …244

Job opportunities in the war industry spurred approximately twenty million Americans—about 15 percent of the total population—to leave their homes and move to war industry centers, usually large urban areas, for work. Also moving about the country were some fifteen million men who had joined the armed services. Servicemen moved continuously around the nation to take on shifting assignments. In an attempt to stay close, the wives and children of servicemen often followed them to each base. Like war industry boomtowns, communities where military bases were located experienced serious overcrowding. Many local residents rented out space in their homes to the military families. If a soldier was sent overseas, his wife and children generally returned to their hometown, often moving in with other family members. If a serviceman shipped out while his wife was pregnant, he knew he...