The majority of men from Henderson County between the ages of 18 to 45 were serving the military in some capacity during World War II.
At the beginning of the war the age of service was between 21 and 45. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, all men between the ages of 18 to 64 were required to register, and those aged 18 to 45 were immediately liable for induction.
It is estimated that more than 4,000 men from Henderson County served in the military during the war.
The number of wounded and prisoners of war who survived the war is not known.

Rationing
Residents at home experienced wage and price controls, along with rationing of gasoline, tires, food and clothing.
Tires were the first item to be rationed. The War Production Board ordered the temporary end of all civilian automobile sales Jan. 1, 1942. Only certain professionals, such as doctors and clergymen, could purchase new automobiles.
Automobile factories began producing tanks, aircraft, weapons and other military products.
Civilian manufacturing of typewriters, bicycles, radios, office furniture, phonographs, refrigerators, vacuum cleaners, washing machines and sewing machines also ended. These factories converted to war production.
A national speed limit of 35 miles per hour was imposed to save fuel and rubber.
Each person in a household received a ration book, even babies and small children. Babies and small children qualified for canned milk not available to the general population. To receive a gasoline ration card, a person had to certify a need for gasoline and ownership of no more than five tires. People received gasoline based on their occupation and need for gas. The highest priority, those who received unlimited gasoline, was members of the clergy, police, firemen and civil defense workers.
Dog food could not be sold in cans. Sugar was rationed. Each person could receive one-half pound per week. Bakeries, ice cream makers, and other commercial users received rations of about 70 percent of normal usage. Coffee was rationed to one pound every five weeks.
Ration coupons were also issued for typewriters, bicycles, footwear, silk, nylon, fuel oil, stoves, meat, lard, shortening, oils, cheese, butter, margarine, dried fruits, firewood, coal, jams, jellies, fruit butter, and canned, bottled and frozen foods.
Local ration boards issued the books and the workers were selected by local officials.
All forms of automobile racing were banned, along with “sightseeing” driving, because of gas rationing. Violators had to appear in court.
Rationing ended in 1946.

Mills convert to war production
The four textile mills in Henderson County converted to primarily war production during World War II.
Nylon replaced silk in tires, tents, ropes and other military supplies.
North Carolina provided more textile products to the military than any other states, producing blankets, sheets, clothing, tents, bandages and parachutes.
Shipyards expanded in Virginia. Family histories and census records report many people from the county temporarily moving to Virginia to work in the shipyards.
Just as the textile mills needed more workers, and many began increasing production to three shifts a day, the men were leaving for military service.
Women responded to the national call for help, the Rosie the Riveter campaign, in the industries and mills nationwide and in Henderson County.
As the war progressed, even women with young children began working, and day care centers were set up in several textile mills and other industries.
In 1943, Dave Kemp purchased a building in the Naples community for the Diamond Brand Canvas Co. The plant focused the sewing operation on supporting the war effort in World War II.
In 1942, Spinning Wheel Rugs owned by F.M. Michaelian opened a plant in Hendersonville on U.S. 25 North (Asheville Highway). This was a subsidiary of Michaelian & Kohlburg Inc. in New York. Later the plant opened at the corner of King and Main streets. Rugs made at the plant are in White House.

 Prisoner of War camps
Two German prisoner of war camps were located in Henderson County.
One camp was located in the Mills River, actually the Rugby community. Writer and editor J.T. Fain states that this POW camp was located at the Bowen Farm on N.C. 191.
The other POW camp was located at the WNC Fairgrounds, the site of today’s East Henderson High School.
German prisoners helped in harvesting of crops.
In the spring of 1944 the federal government created a nationwide POW program to assist the civilian war-related industries of farming, lumbering, and pulpwood cutting. North Carolina’s first German POW work contingents were mostly prisoners from Field Marshal Rommel’s Afrika Korps, captured in Tunisia in May 1943. They arrived in the spring of 1944. The POW program expanded after the Allied invasion of Normandy.
So many POWs were brought to the state that men were sent from larger military bases to smaller branch camps. These smaller camps housed up to 500 men each.
One of the POW camps in Henderson County was a branch camp of the Camp Forrest POW Camp in Forrest, Tenn.
The other POW camp was a branch camp of Camp Butner in North Carolina.
Farmers in Mills River and apple growers throughout the county used the prisoners to help harvest crops. With the majority of able-bodied men serving the in the military, there was a shortage of farm workers.
Many local residents related stories of picking up the prisoners at the camps and bringing them to the family farms to harvest vegetables. They ate lunch with the families, and in many instances became friends, continuing to write and visit long after the war had ended. The Creasman family in Dana, who picked up the prisoners at the site of today’s East Henderson High School, continued to correspond with a German pilot through the late 1990s. The families of B.H. Hill and Grady Hill in the East Flat Rock and Upward communities also relate memories of picking up the prisoners at the old fairgrounds and bringing them to the farm and apple orchards in the back of pick-up trucks.
From the Hendersonville Times-News: “John Hollamon, the county Farm Agent, announced in mid June that 250 German war prisoners were to be sent to the county and would be confined in a prison camp on Haywood Road. They were to be guarded by a contingent of American military police and would be available to work for local farmers in groups of 10 or more.”
The prisoners had arrived by July 13 and the Times-News stated that they already were at work in the bean fields and were taking good care of the bean vines. A Mills River bean grower was reported to have used some of the prisoners and to have been pleased with their work. Another Mills River farmer later recalled that he had transported a group of prisoners along with three guards to bean fields in North Mills River in an open-bed Dodge truck. In addition to bean picking, some prisoners were used to perform other farm chores such as clearing land, digging ditches, and harvesting corn and potatoes. They were paid up to $1.20 per day which they could use to purchase cigarettes, candy, and other items at the prison commissary.
“The prisoners had performed farm labor worth $94,238 which included $58,473 for bean-picking and the remainder for other farm work. They had harvested about 250 acres of potatoes and picked 30,000 bushels of apples.”
A Lutheran minister, the Rev.Christolph Hoffman, was a POW in Henderson County and was allowed to remain in the area after the war. He spent the remainder of his life as a Lutheran minister in Western North Carolina
“That’s when I decided to go to Hendersonville where I had worked as a POW,” Hoffman said. “The people there were very friendly and there was plenty of work in the fields. During this time I also attended a local Lutheran Church. The church gave me a job.”

Agriculture
The demands of war also stimulated the agricultural economy. There was an urgent need to increase agricultural production to supply the military and in the cities.
Many of the men were serving in the military by 1942 and labor was needed to help harvest the crops.
In the summer of 1942, the first migrant labor camp opened in Henderson County. This camp was located at the site of the WNC Fairgrounds, where East Henderson High School is located today. Later, as noted above, German POWs were located at this site.
The government particularly encouraged the planting of beans. Picking beans is extremely labor intensive and approximately 600 migrant workers were brought to the area to help. The bean crop at the end of the season in 1942 was estimated at one-half million dollars.
The acreage devoted to truck crops in Henderson County increased from about 3,500 acres in 1942 to 10,000 acres in 1943. Planting of what was predicted to be the first million dollar bean crop in county history began in May 1943. The same month, it was reported that the capacity of migrant labor camps was being increased to 1,800, including 1,200 at the WNC Fairgrounds and 600 at a camp in Mills River.
And, as noted above, German POWs were in the area by 1944 to help harvest the truck crops.
By 1944, crops were valued at $2 million in Henderson County.
At the war’s end, snap beans were the No. 1 crop in the county, followed by pole beans, lima beans, cabbage, sweet pepper and cucumbers.
Apples had yielded 800,000 bushels in 1945. The first apple packing houses in the county opened during the war.
Dairy farms continued a steady increase, especially in Mills River.
The 4-H clubs in the county began the “Feed A Fighter” program during the war and all families were encouraged to plant “Victory Gardens.” If families produced their own food through family gardens, then more agricultural production could be sent to the troops.

Other events
During the war, Henderson County’s Echo Mountain Cloggers served with the USO entertaining the troops, even performing for President Franklin Roosevelt.
In 1941, the same year as the nation entered the war, the Asheville-Hendersonville Airport opened in the Fletcher and Hooper’s Creek area.
With the strict rationing of gasoline and restrictions on traveling, tourism came to a halt during the war years.
But, street dances continued on Main Street throughout the war years with Jody Barber calling the square dances and folk dances. In 1942, Lennox Park was given to the town of Hendersonville. By that time the amusement rides were gone, disappearing during the Depression.
In 1942 Hendersonville began a bus system, and many men leaving to serve their country left via buses from Hendersonville. All bus lines nationwide made transporting troops and supplies their first priority.
On March 2, 1942, the heaviest snowfall on record was recorded, with 22 inches of snow recorded from morning to midnight.

Political Leaders
In the presidential elections, residents of Henderson County voted for Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman.
None of the U.S. senators or congressmen were from Henderson County.
Carroll Pickens Rogers (D) was elected as a state senator to the N.C. General Assembly, serving from 1945 to 1947. For more information on Rogers, visit http://hendersonheritage.com/political-events-and-leaders-1920-to-1930/
Throughout World War II, the county’s representative to the General Assembly was Lawrence Lee Burgin (D). Burgin served from 1937 to 1949. For more information on Burgin, visit http://hendersonheritage.com/political-events-and-leaders-1930s/
The mayor of Hendersonville was Albert Victor Edwards. See http://hendersonheritage.com/political-events-and-leaders-1930s/
Two sheriffs served during the war years.
William Edward Davis was the sheriff of Henderson County from 1936 to 1942. See http://hendersonheritage.com/law-enforcement-1930s/
Flave Douglas “Bill” Dalton was elected sheriff in 1942 and served through 1950. He was born in Horse Shoe, the son of James Benjamin Dalton and Dovie Estelle Anders. He was a forest warden and building contractor. He was the first sheriff to put deputies in uniforms, raising the money himself. He served as a Henderson County Commissioner for many years and was chairman of the board. He also served on the Henderson County School Board. His grave site is at Shaw’s Creek Baptist Church Cemetery.
During the war, Clarence Edney was the Hendersonville chief of police and also served as the fire chief. He was born in Henderson County, the son of Thomas A. Edney and Eliza Jane Deadman. He married Hester Nix. He died in 1945 of natural causes. His grave site is at Moore’s Grove United Methodist Church Cemetery.

Veterans of Foreign Wars
In 1946, the local chapter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post formed. Charter members were World War II veterans. The post was named the Hedrick-Rhodes Post for two men who died at Pearl Harbor: Paul Henry Hedrick and Mark Alexander Rhodes.
Hedrick never lived in Henderson County. He was born about 1914 in Catawba County, N.C. In 1920, he was living with his grandparents in Catawba County and in 1930 with his mother in Catawba County. He joined the Navy from Catawba County in the mid- to late 1930s. He was married with a small child and based at Long Beach, Calif., while serving as a petty officer in the Navy in 1940. His father was Coy Wright or Right Hedrick who lived in Catawba County through 1930. His father and stepmother moved to Henderson County after Paul Hedrick joined the Navy.
Mark Alexander Rhodes (1920-1941) was the son of Arthur Rhodes and Stella Lyda and grew up on Bearwallow Mountain. He was a seaman first class on the USS Arizona. Visit http://hendersonheritage.com/mark-alexander-rhodes/
But, there was another person who was born and raised in Henderson County and who died at Pearl Harbor on the USS Arizona.
Clarence James Hamilton (1921-1941) was a machinist’s mate, first class, on the USS Arizona. He was killed/missing in action Dec. 7, 1941, during the attack on Pearl Harbor. He is listed as buried at sea and memorialized at the Tablets of the Missing Honolulu Memorial in Hawaii and the USS Arizona Memorial in Honolulu.
Hamilton was born in Henderson County, the son of Charles Spurgeon Hamilton and Mona Lee Thomas. He is listed on all censuses in Henderson County until he joined the Navy in 1939. He was based in the state of Washington in 1940.