World War II, which lasted from 1939-1945, proved to be one of the most turbulent times of the 20th century. The war wasn’t just happening overseas; it was happening back home as well. In Colorado, both men and women were fighting, building, planning, and leading the way to victory, as shown by these 15 incredible photos taken in Denver during the early 1940s:
1. "'Captain' Mary Converse, instructing V-7 (candidates for United States Navy ensign commissions) students in use of sextant, compass and gyroscope and in navigation. Classes are held in dining room."
4. "'Captain" Mary Converse, instructing V-7 (candidates for United States Navy ensign commissions) students in use of sextant, compass and gyroscope and in navigation. Class member trying his hand at locating the garden by means of the sextant and stars."
5. "'Captain" Mary Converse, instructing V-7 (candidates for United States Navy ensign commissions) students in use of sextant, compass and gyroscope and in navigation."
6. "Women in defense. Women employees checking in for the second shift at the Schaeffer Tent and Awning Company, Denver, Colorado. These women are employed in the manufacture of eight-man pyramidal tents to house the expanding defense army in the field."
7. "Army tent manufacture. Schaeffer Tent and Awning Company, Denver, Colorado. 95 tents a day to house the expanding defense army. Rigging and inspecting of eight-man pyramidal tents which are being manufactured to rigid Army Quartermaster Corps specification."
8. "Tents for the expanding defense army in the field. Ninety-five pyramidal eight-man tents are turned out everyday in this small plant, under the rigid specifications laid down by the Army Quartermaster Corps. Joining seven widths of cloth to form one side of a tent on a double needle seaming machine."
9. "Trailers for defense transportation. Winter Weiss Company, Denver, Colorado. Manufacture of semi-trailers for general utility use in Army camps. The trailers are equipped with combination platform and stake bodies. Trailer frames are here being electrically welded on high tensile steel jigs."
10. "This workman has gone "all out" to speed up the Navy's unique shipbuilding program here in this mile-high city--the world's largest city not on a navigable waterway. Even though he has never seen an ocean or a ship larger than the pleasure launch on Denver's city park lake, the steel worker behind this acetylene torch is no less a shipbuilder! He is one of the workers in the eight Denver fabricating firms turning out hull parts in a 56 million dollar which means more escort vessels for Uncle Sam's Navy--vessels made in Denver and assembled at Mare Island Navy Yard 1,300 miles away."
11. "Trailers for defense transportation. Winter Weiss Company, Denver, Colorado. Tiers (7.00 x 20) to equip semi-trailers of the combination platform stake type. These trailers are used for general trucking around Army Camps and depots."
12. "Manufacture of semi-trailers for Defense transportation. These trailers are eqipped with a combination platform stake body and are intended for general use in Army camps and depots. They carry a payload of 7,000 pounds. This worker is attaching reflectors to the rear of the trailer frame."
13. "Twenty-four hours a day the sparks from acetylene torches of steel workers in eight Denver fabricating plants are flying thick and fast that the U.S. Navy may carry the battle to the enemy in all parts of the world. Here in secluded Denver, the world's largest city not on a navigable waterway, this war production worker, who has never seen a battleship or an ocean, fashions the steel hull parts which are being assembled at Mare Island Navy Yard--1,200 miles from where he and his fellow wokers are on the job to help "keep 'em sailling."
15. "Splicing eyes in guy line for eight-man pyramidal tents. This small plant produces ninety-five such tents a day to rigid Army Quartermaster Corps specifications."
