Thu, May 14, 1942: patriotic pageant.

“The Augusta Commencement will be given Fri. eve May 22nd.  A patriotic pageant written by H. H. Robinson will be presented at that time.  However this next Sun. evening May 17th is Baccalaureate Sermon.  Suppose we will go as Barbara plays in the band.”

-- Letter from my grandmother, Bloomington, Kans., to my father, Southwestern College, Winfield, Kans., Thursday, May 14, 1942.  Robinson was the Augusta High School principal.  His patriotic pageant was just one example of the ways that schools promoted support for the war and contributed to war efforts.  Others were organizing bond drives, collecting scrap for recycling, and distributing ration books.  

           (In May 1942, my Dad was finishing up his freshman year at college.  He likely spent most of that summer on the farm with his parents; so there aren’t many letters to quote from until the fall when he returned to school).   

            (source: "Education," in William H. Young and Nancy K. Young, World War II and the Postwar Years in America: A Historical and Cultural Encyclopedia,  Vol. 1. [Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2010], 293-298)