News from the battlefront, new sacrifices, war taxes and an opportunity for women were all newsmakers during opening days of the year around Cooperstown in 1943.
News travelled a lot slower than today, or so it appeared in the month of January, as the Otsego Farmer of Jan. 1 reported about a local man’s service overseas.
“The promotion of Ralph H. Osterhoudt to grade of staff sergeant was announced by the Seventh Air Force headquarters in the territory of Hawaii.
“S/Sgt. Osterhoudt is one of those unsung heroes of December Seventh, 1941. Standing guard near the hangar line of a Seventh Air Force field on that morning, he saw the first … bomb fall, hitting one of the large hangars. A few seconds later a soldier was seriously wounded nearby. After commandeering an unattended car, Sgt. Osterhoudt drove the wounded man to the station hospital for emergency treatment. After being relieved from guard, Osterhoudt assumed his regular duties as teletype operator.”
For motorists in Cooperstown, times were set to change for routine driving habits, as the Farmer of Jan. 8 reported, “OPA Wednesday banned pleasure driving in the East and slashed the amount of fuel oil that schools, stores, churches, theatres, and other non-essential establishments may consume in the seventeen-state area. In Cooperstown and Otsego the announcement was received in a patriotic manner and people were setting about their business of adjusting their affairs to the situation.
“Many such buildings face the possibility of curtailing their hours or days of operation under the order. OPA left it to the school boards, store operators, and others in charge of oil-consuming buildings to determine how they will meet the reduced fuel rations.
“With this order certain to cut down amusement centers’ patronage and the fuel oil order threatening to make theatres and night clubs cool beyond comfort, continued operation of some of the establishments seemed in doubt.”
Cooperstown Mayor Alton G. Dunn received a telegram from the regional office of the OPA. Part of it read, “You are requested to seek the aid of your police officials in banning pleasure driving and in reporting to this office the names of owners of cars employed in pleasure driving. For example: those found in moving picture parking lots, at skating rinks, in front of bowling alleys or other places of amusement.
“All driving is deemed to be banned except to work, church, hospital, doctors and other essential purposes.”
All those working for a living locally were about to see a little more taken out of their paychecks. As the Farmer told its readers on Jan. 15, a new “Victory Tax” in effect since December, took five percent on net income in excess of $624.
The tax was designed to pay for the war. It was actually called the Revenue Act of 1942 and boosted the number of Americans who would have to pay income taxes.
Interest in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, or WAAC, was growing in the area. The Farmer of Jan. 29 reported, “L.A. Thompson, president of the Cooperstown Chamber of Commerce, who opened the meeting Friday night at the American Legion rooms, which had been called for all local women interested in the program.” This meeting was to kick off a local campaign for recruitment.
“It is the Army’s belief,” Thompson said, “that a local woman working with a local committee can best present the cause. Shortages of manpower in the United States for the prosecution of war on both military and industrial fronts, prompted the formation of the WAAC. The eligible women of this community will answer this call if they realize the importance of this situation and the opportunity afforded them to aid in the prosecution of the war.”
Women could serve in a variety of jobs, following formal training, as medical care professionals, welfare workers, clerical workers, cooks, messengers, military postal employees, chauffeurs, and telephone and telegraph operators.
On Wednesday, the area saw some major retail shifts in 2003.
Oneonta City Historian Mark Simonson’s column appears twice weekly. On Saturdays, his column focuses on the area before 1950. His Wednesday columns address local history 1950 and later. If you have feedback or ideas about the column, write to him at The Daily Star, or email him at simmark@stny.rr.com. His website is www.oneontahistorian.com. His columns can be found at www.thedailystar.com/opinion/columns/.