Scouting for scrap during the war

During World War II, scrap metal was a precious commodity. Patriotic Americans scoured attics and basements for scrap metal, rubber and paper. The collection of scrap metal and rubber received the highest priority. Scrap drives supplied many of the materials needed to win World War II.

Scrap metals were used with raw steel to make munitions, planes and military vehicles. "Salvage for Victory" campaigns were held throughout the nation, including Cape Girardeau County, which had a two-year (1942-1943) quota of 870 tons of scrap.

Last week's "Where is this?" photo featured one of those scrap campaigns. Boy Scouts held this drive at the corner of Broadway and Fountain, in the front yard of the old post office. The site is now home to the Federal Building.

"I remember helping out in some scrap metal drives," said Dorothy March. "Every school had drives, as did Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts."

Richard Esicar identified friends Bill Lewis and John Tighten in the photo. Jerry Hampton, a longtime collector of Boy Scouts of America memorabilia, also correctly identified the drive and its location. Tom Giles went a step further, noting that the photo was actually shot from the front steps of the old post office.

Among those correctly identifying the photo were: Harold Green, Bobbie Ulrich, Henry Phelps, Bob Jackson, William C. Stone, Harold Kuehle, Bob C. Lincoln, Sheila Caskey, Doug Shade and Thomas M. Meyer.

Early on in World War II, Cape Girardeau Boy Scouts collected enough aluminum to add three bombers to the Army Air Force. Ten thousand pounds of Cape Girardeau Scout aluminum were used in each bomber.

Throughout the war, Boy Scouts were instrumental in collecting items needed to aid the cause. Nationally, Boy Scouts collected everything from 100 train car loads of peach pits and nut hulls, used to make charcoal for gas mask filters, to 750 tons of milkweed floss, used in life jackets. Scouts also conducted a national census of black walnut trees, used in making gunstocks and airplane propellers, locating enough to fill 5,200 rail cars.

Scrap metal campaigns were not left only to Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. In 1942, abandoned streetcar tracks were removed from the streets of several Missouri communities, resulting in the collection of more than 187,000 tons of scrap metal. Four cannons from the Common Pleas Courthouse grounds at Cape Girardeau were donated to the government. A farmer from Bollinger County contributed an old 10,000-pound Case tractor.

By 1943, Cape Girardeau area residents had collected 450 tons of scrap metal.

Free dinner at last

When Don Newton ran across a 14-year-old gift certificate to Port Cape Girardeau, he looked for an expiration date. It didn't have one.

"The certificate had been in an old jewelry box," said Newton, who operates a warehousing firm and insurance company in Sikeston, Mo. The certificate, for $20, was a Christmas gift to Newton and his wife, Bonnie, from their niece.

"We've eaten at the Port several times over the past few years, but we never had the certificate with us," Newton said. "We didn't know if it would still be valid."

"We were proud to honor the certificate," said Port Cape Girardeau owner Dennis "Doc" Cain. A look through restaurant records revealed that the certificate was issued in 1988. The certificate didn't buy quite what it could have 14 years ago, but was a treat just the same, said Newton.

Coffee time

The last "Where is it?" photograph on Faces & Places was taken at Woolworth's lunch counter in downtown Cape Girardeau during the 1950-55 era. The photo by longtime Southeast Missourian photographer Garland D. Fronabarger captured merchants and civic leaders who gathered to drink coffee at counter.

About 95 percent of the more than 200 inquiries about the picture had the location right. Some thought it may have been taken at the Do Drop In Cafe, the Idanha Hotel or Newberry's Cafe.

We hope to have identification of the people in the picture during a later column.

B. Ray Owen is community news editor of the Southeast Missourian.