David_Weatherly's Blog

Museums are designed to preserve things for safe keeping. Whether art or artifacts, museums are usually places to give us access to the rare and unusual. Most of the time this would mean tangible items that can touched, or at least, seen. A little brick house in the Alamance County town of Haw River has such a collection, but it’s not the items you’ll find there that make it worth wile. The items are simply there as a reminder of the mindset that once existed. 

A visit to the Home Front Museum is like walking into a house sized time capsule from the 1940’s. There you’ll get more than a glimpse of everyday life during the tough times  when the world was at war. America sent most of its young men off to battle but everyone else didn’t just sit around waiting for victory.  Instead those left behind scrimped, scrounged and sacrificed. They pitched in to do whatever it took to insure the defeat of our enemies. It was not easy. The necessities of life were scarce, everything was rationed.  

Roy Ackland and I produced a story about this place. While there, I learned a lot about the

spirit of the people who really knew what it meant to support our troops. The toil and sweat back home went a long way to aid both directly and indirectly the war effort. There was a common mindset that defeat was not an option because defeat would mean an end to our way of life.

You can thank the propaganda of the day for keeping moral up here at home and abroad. The government and media outlets, newspapers, radio and movie newsreels worked together to prop up winning attitudes during those years. Was it fear or pride that kept everyone motivated? All this got me wondering if this could ever happen again.

Could America ever come together again as a nation to win a war; even if our lives depended on it? I would hope so but I doubt it. There was a small glimmer of this in the days just after 911, but since then we’ve lost sight of a common purpose. Instead, we divide up into sides and spew hate and vitriol toward anyone who disagrees. We argue about whether or not we should have gone to war in the first place. I’m still undecided about whether invading Iraq was the right thing to do, but what difference does that make now? We are there.  Now what? To be honest, I’m also not sure how I feel about our continued involvement. If there is a victory in this war what would it look like? Ready or not tough questions await us all. Anyway, the purpose of my writing is not to spur debate about the current situation. It’s more a chance to ponder a different time with a very different mindset.

The Home Front Museum caused me to wonder how different things might be going now

if the Iraq war had taken place during the 1940’s. Would we all be complaining about our country’s involvement and the price we were paying at home, or in the blind innocence of the day, would we be putting our noses to the grindstone, working toward a defeat of those who wish to take away all that we hold dear? 

You can visit the Home Front Museum for yourself. Call 336-684-1002 for a tour.