At the very end of the 1970 film Tora! Tora! Tora!—about the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor by Imperial Japan—Naval Marshal General Isoroku Yamamoto said,
I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve
America’s response to World War II was the most extraordinary mobilization in the history of the world.
Creating 17 million new civilian jobs, the war effort increased industrial productivity by 96 percent and doubled corporate after-tax profits.
The economic recovery that had eluded even the New Deal was finally underway.
Although the war consumed over a third of industrial output, and despite rationing, the increased productivity made consumer goods more widely available.
By 1944, workers enjoyed weekly wages 50% higher than in 1939.
The war brought full employment and a fairer distribution of income. Entirely new industries and technologies were created and new skills learned.
Returning veterans were revered, and rewarded with the GI Bill that laid the foundation for the remarkable economic expansion that we still benefit from today.
We owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the greatest generation.
M-3 tanks in action, Ft. Knox., Ky
A young soldier of the armored forces holds and sights his Garand rifle like an old timer, 1942
An M3 Stuart light tank going through water obstacle, Ft Knox, KY, 1942
Crewman of an M-3 tank, Ft. Knox, KY, 1942
Combustion Engineering Co., Chattanooga. Welder making boilers for a ship
Cleaning the air fillter of an army truck 1942
M3 Stuart light tanks at Fort Knox, Kentucky, 1942
M-3 and M4 tank company at bivouac, Ft. Knox, KY, 1942
Halftrack infantryman with Garand rifle, Ft. Knox, KY, 1942
A girl riveting machine operator at the Douglas Aircraft Company plant joins sections of wing ribs to reinforce the inner wing assemblies of B-17F heavy bombers, Long Beach, Calif. Better known as the Flying Fortress, the B-17F bomber is a later model of the B-17, which distinguished itself in action in the south Pacific, over Germany and elsewhere. It is a long range, high altitude, heavy bomber, with a crew of seven to nine men — and with armament sufficient to defend itself on daylight missions
M-3 tanks and crews, Ft. Knox, Ky
Hitler would like this man to go home and forget about the war. A good American non-com at the side machine gun of a huge YB-17 bomber is a man who knows his business and works hard at it.
B-25 bombers on the outdoor assembly line at the North American Aviation plant in Kansas City, Kansas. Almost ready for their first test flight.
Women workers install fixtures and assemblies to a tail fuselage section of a B-17 bomber at the Douglas Aircraft Company plant, Long Beach, Calif. Better known as the “Flying Fortress,” the B-17F is a later model of the B-17, which distinguished itself i
Mounting of a Wright R-2600 Cyclone engine on a North American B-25 Mitchell bomber, at North American Aviation, Inglewood, California (USA). The Wright R-2600 was the standard engine on the B-25.[1] Original description: “Mounting motor Fairfax B-25 bomber, at North American Aviation, Inc., plant in , Calif.”
An experimental scale model of the B-25 plane is prepared for wind tunnel tests in the plant of the North American Aviation, Inc, Inglewood, Calif, The model maker holds an exact miniature reproduction of the type of bomb the plane will carry.
A U.S. Navy aviation cadet in training on a Vought OS2U Kingfisher at the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas (USA)
A North American Mustang Mk. IA on a test flight from NAA’s Inglewood, California facility in October 1942. The painted-over serial number appears to be 41-37416. According to Warbird-Central.com it was damaged during shipment to Europe in late 1943.
American mothers and sisters, like these women at the Douglas Aircraft Company, give important help in producing dependable planes for their men at the front, Long Beach, Calif. Most important of the many types of aircraft made at this plant are the B-17F
A U.S. Navy Brewster SB2A-4 Buccaneer in flight near Vero Beach, Florida (USA), in 1942
Parade of M-4 (General Sherman) and M-3 (General Grant) tanks in training maneuvers, Ft. Knox, Ky,1942
Tank commander, Ft. Knox, Ky.
Tank crew standing in front of M4 Sherman tank; Fort Knox, Kentucky, 1942
Tank driver, Ft. Knox, Ky, 1942
Switch boxes on the firewalls of B-25 bombers are assembled by women workers at North American Aviation, Inc’s Inglewood, Calif, plant
Servicing an A-20 bomber, Langley Field, Va
Production of B-24 bombers and C-87 transports, Consolidated Aircraft Corp., Fort Worth, Texas. Cabbie Coleman, former housewife, works at western aircraft plant
Operating a hand drill at North American Aviation, Inc, a woman is working in the control surface department assembling a section of the leading edge for the horizontal stabilizer of a plane, Inglewood, Calif.
North American NA-91 Mustang fighters being serviced at North American Aviation at Inglewood, California (USA), in October 1942. After passing of the lend-lease act in March 1941, the USAAF ordered 150 NA-93 Mustang Mk IA fighters on 25 September 1941 for delivery to the United Kingdom. The RAF serial numbers assigned were FD418-FD567 (FD553 is visible on the left). For contractual purposes, these aircraft were assigned the U.S. designation of P-51 (USAAF serials 41-37320 to 41-37469). The Mustang IA differed from earlier versions in having the machine guns replaced by four 20 mm wing-mounted Hispano cannon. After December 1941 serials FD418-FD437, FD450-FD464, FD466-FD469, and FD510-FD527 were reposessed by the USAAF (and briefly named A-36A Apache). Original caption: “P-51 fighter planes being prepared for test flight at the field of the North American Aviation, Inc., plant in Inglewood, Calif.
M-4 tank, Ft. Knox, KY, 1942
M-4 tank crews of the United States, Ft. Knox, KY, 1942
Assembling the North American B-25 Mitchell at Kansas City, Kansas (USA).
North American B-25 bomber is prepared for painting on the outside assembly line, North American Aviation, Inc., Inglewood, Calif
Part of the cowling for one of the motors for a B-25 bomber is assembled in the engine department of North American Aviation’s Inglewood, Calif., plant
Bomb bay gasoline tanks for long flights of B-25 bombers await assembly in the plant of North American Aviation, Inc., Inglewood, Calif. This plant produces the battle-tested B-25 (“Billy Mitchell”) bomber used in General Doolittle’s raid on Tokyo, and the P-51 (“Mustang”) fighter plane which was first brought into prominence by the British raid on Dieppe.
A combat crew receives final instructions just before taking off in a YB-17 bomber from a bombardment squadron base at the field, Langley Field, Va.
Annette del Sur publicizing salvage campaign in yard of Douglas Aircraft Company, Long Beach, Calif.
Audrey Hepburn was elegance personified. Her wistful expressions, her svelte figure, her impish charm, captivated millions and made her one of the greatest movie actors and fashion icons of all-time.
Audrey is today’s wonder girl…This slim little person with the winged eyebrows and Nefertiti head and throat is the world’s darling.—Vogue magazine
Her on-screen biography reads like a fairytale, but her off-screen life was often quite the opposite.
Here are 10 surprising facts about style icon Audrey Hepburn.
1. Her mother was a Dutch Baroness who wanted to be an actress
Audrey’s mother, Baroness Ella van Heemstra (1900 – 1984) was from a long line of Dutch nobility dating back to the 12th century. Her grandfather, Baron Aernoud van Heemstra (1871 – 1957) was frequently at the court of Queen Wilhelmina. Portraits of Audrey’s ancestors hung in museums and country estates throughout Holland.
… in those times, a daughter of the nobility was forbidden to have a career. She was expected to marry well and have lots of children. —Alfred Heineken III.
Ella wanted to study for the opera, but the Baron forbade associating with actors, lest it would bring disgrace on the family. But Ella’s friend Alfred Heineken III, of the Dutch brewery family, thought she was a “born actress”.
I grew up wanting more than anything else to be English, slim, and an actress. —Baroness Ella van Heemstra.
Ella vowed that if she ever had a daughter, she would encourage her to be an actor.
And so it was. Audrey lived her mother’s dream and her noble background gave her the edge that movie directors were looking for in the glamorous fifties. Even Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother could see it, remarking to her daughter,
She is one of us.
2. Her father believed he was descended from Mary Queen of Scots’ third husband
Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
Audrey’s stage name ‘Hepburn’ was taken from her father’s name. He was born Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston (1889–1980), but later double-barrelled the surname to the more aristocratic-sounding Hepburn-Ruston.
His maternal grandmother’s maiden name was Kathleen Hepburn, and he believed himself descended from James Hepburn, third husband of Mary, Queen of Scots.
James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, c 1535 – 1578. Third husband of Mary Queen of Scots
The Anglo-Scottish Hepburn clan can be traced back several centuries, but the name has many variants, including Hebburne, Hyburn, and Hopbourn. The origin of the name is thought to be from the Anglo-Saxon words heah, meaning high and byrgen, meaning burial place.
Audrey’s father, Joseph, was tall, dark, and handsome, with a little mustache and a calm manner. At the time he met Audrey’s mother, he was living off his first wife’s inheritance and hadn’t held a job for more than a few months.
The fact that one of the greatest appeals for Joseph was Ella’s title and aristocratic lifestyle throws serious doubt on his claim of ancestral connection to Earl James Hepburn. And the complexity of multiple branches on the Hepburn family tree makes it difficult for historians to verify.
But Audrey loved her father to bits, and even though he left her when she was just six, she tracked him down in later life and supported him financially.
3. Her parents were Fascists—her father a true Nazi sympathizer
Audrey Hepburn & Harcourt Williams on the set of Roman Holiday (1953)
In the mid-1930s, fascism had gained a toehold in Britain through the British Union of Fascists (BUF), led by Sir Oswald Mosley.
Before the BUF became too radicalized, even the Daily Mail newspaper supported them, running the 1933 headline “Hurrah for the Blackshirts!” (a reference to their black uniform). At the time, the owner of the daily mail, Lord Rothermere was openly friendly with fascist leaders Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler, believing that the Nazi party would restore the monarchy to Germany.
Audrey’s parents were both members of the BUF, her mother Ella being friends with Mosley’s wife, Diana Mitford. They donated to the BUF and even accompanied Mosley on a tour of Nazi Germany where they met Hitler at his headquarters in Munich.
As the BUF radicalized and its violent anti-Semitic views came to the fore, Ella and the Daily Mail distanced themselves, but her father Joseph’s involvement deepened. He joined an even more extreme splinter group.
Joseph’s radicalism caught the attention of Dutch Queen Wilhelmina, who urged Ella’s father, Baron Aarnoud van Heemstra, to help get him out of the family.
Shortly after returning from the tour of Germany, Joseph walked out on his wife and the six-year-old Audrey.
It was the most traumatic event of my life … a tragedy from which I don’t think I’ve ever recovered. I worshipped him and missed him terribly from the day he disappeared. I always envied other people’s fathers, came home with tears, because they had a daddy. —Audrey Hepburn.
4. She witnessed wartime atrocities
In the German-occupied Netherlands, Audrey witnessed young men being pushed against a wall in the street and shot.
She saw trainloads of Jews being deported, their faces peering through the slit at the top of meat wagons. Families, babies, little children being herded like animals for slaughter.
I remember, very sharply, one little boy standing with his parents on the platform, very pale, very blond, wearing a coat that was much too big for him, and he stepped onto the train. I was a child observing a child.
Her half brothers had refused to join the Nazi youth camp, where Aryan boys underwent strenuous physical training before joining the Nazi movement. As punishment, the eldest, Alexander, was sent to a forced labor camp for the rest of the war.
For three years, Audrey and her family listened to Freedom Radio for news of any Allied successes in the war. But there were none—not until 1943.
I knew the cold clutch of human terror all through my early teens; I saw it, felt it, heard it—and it never goes away.
Audrey never attended acting school because she didn’t need to. All the acting lessons were during those years of horror when she pretended not to care simply to survive. But she was secretly passing messages to the Dutch resistance.
5. She suffered from malnutrition during World War 2
By 1943, the Germans had tightened the noose around the Netherlands as the threat of Allied invasion looked imminent. Food shortages had reached crisis levels.
Audrey’s half-brother Ian would hold his stomach and cry. But she found temporary distraction from hunger pangs by giving dancing lessons. When she did eat, it was lettuce, bread made with peas, and occasionally a potato. She survived the Dutch famine during the winter of 1944 by eating tulip bulbs.
A US B-17 drops a cargo of food for the starving Dutch population in operation Chow Hound, May 1945.
Even with her weight falling to just 90 lbs, she continued to give dance lessons to help her family and the Dutch resistance.
6. She trained to be a ballerina before becoming an actor
Audrey’s lithe figure and three years of ballet training with Sonia Gaskell—a leading ballet instructor in Amsterdam—prepared her for a ballet scholarship with Ballet Rambert in London.
But when she sought the professional opinion of the school founder, Dame Marie Rambert, she faced the fact that she probably wouldn’t reach her dream of becoming a Prima Ballerina. At 5′ 7″, she was too tall for the male dancers at the time, and her poor health during World War 2 had impaired some of her muscular development.
Audrey’s ballet teachers. Left: Sonia Gaskell. Right: Dame Marie Rambert.
During World War 2, Audrey secretly danced for groups of people to collect money for the Dutch resistance. She later remarked,
The best audience I ever had made not a single sound at the end of my performances.
Despite years of training, she would never perform a full ballet.
7. She spoke five languages
Audrey’s multinational background and frequent traveling because of her father’s work gave her the opportunity to learn five languages.
From her parents, she learned Dutch and English and later French, Spanish, and Italian.
A friend of Audrey’s mother, Mrs Pauline Everts, said,
Her father was British, so she spoke English fluently as well as French, from having been brought up in Brussels, and she also spoke Dutch very nicely … she had a very musical ear.
Audrey followed husband, actor Mel Ferrer, to Spain and Mexico for the filming of “The Sun Also Rises” (1957) which would have given her the opportunity to learn some Spanish—something that would prove useful for her later work with UNICEF in South America.
She lived for 20 years in Rome.
8. She was the first actress to win multiple awards for a single performance
Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday (1953)
Roman Holiday (1953) projected Audrey to stardom and the first actress to win an Academy Award, Golden Globe, and BAFTA Award for a single performance.
The producers wanted Elizabeth Taylor for the role, but Audrey gave such an impressive screen test that director William Wyler knew she was the one, saying:
She had everything I was looking for: charm, innocence, and talent. She also was very funny. She was absolutely enchanting and we said, ‘That’s the girl!’
Originally, only Gregory Peck’s name was planned to appear above the movie title, with “Introducing Audrey Hepburn” beneath in smaller font. However, Peck suggested to Wyler that Audrey get equal billing “because she’ll be a big star and I’ll look like a big jerk.“
9. Audrey Hepburn is not related to Katherine Hepburn
There are a surprising number of questions on the web asking whether Audrey and Katherine are related. It has been a persistent misconception since Audrey came to prominence in the 1950s.
Katharine was the daughter of two wealthy Connecticut Americans; Audrey the daughter of Dutch nobility. There is no meeting of family lines.
They do, however, have a lot in common: talent, beauty, the same star sign, multiple acting awards. Both are listed in the American Film Institute’s greatest screen legends: Katherine at #1 and Audrey #3.
There is a humorous story of a series of telegrams during Paramount Pictures’ selection of Audrey Hepburn for the role of Princess Ann in Roman Holiday:
Studio very interested Hepburn … Ask Hepburn if OK change her last name avoid conflict Katherine Hepburn.
At such an amazing opportunity to play the lead female role in a Hollywood movie as a relative unknown with no acting training, most would have acquiesced. But not Audrey, who boldly replied,
If you want me, you’ll have to take my name, too.
10. She quit acting at the height of her career to devote her life to charity
Audrey Hepburn in Charade (1963)
Grateful for the humanitarian aid that helped her survive the German occupation as a child, at the height of her acting career, she quit, dedicating the remainder of her life to helping poverty-stricken children in the poorest nations.
In this video from March 26, 1988, Global News reporter Elaine Loring sits down with Hollywood legend Audrey Hepburn to discuss her experiences with UNICEF in Ethiopia and living away from the ‘hustle and bustle’.
Sources: wikipedia.org Audrey Hepburn by Barry Paris Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn Audrey Hepburn: A Biography by Martin Gitlin Audrey Hepburn, An Elegant Spirit: A Son Remembers by Sean Hepburn Ferrer Vanity Fair: My Fair Mother
The war years made celebrating the tradition of Christmas very difficult. But people found ways to make the most of it. There was a spirit of camaraderie and a willingness to “mend and make do”.
Being apart from loved ones at Christmas was a strain on families. Husbands and fathers were away at war; wives and mothers were either serving in the military or working in munitions factories for the war effort; children were often evacuated to the countryside, far from home.
But people put their best foot forward. They kept calm and carried on.
Listen to “I’ll be Home for Christmas” as you read along. The song was originally written to honor soldiers overseas who longed to be home at Christmas time.
The National Savings Committee in wartime Britain issued posters to encourage saving, discourage frivolous spending and promote investment in the war effort.
World War 2 poster issued by the National Savings Committee, London.
Similar posters were issued in the United States.
World War II Posters, US Office of War Information
Fewer men at home meant fewer men available to dress up and play Santa Claus. Mothers dressed up as Santa for Christmas parties, and women served as substitute Santas at department stores.
Father Christmas presents Winston Churchill Jr., the Prime Minister’s grandson, with a gift at a Christmas party at Admiralty House in London, 17 December 1942
Father Christmas lifts a young girl up to look at a toy soldier on a highly-decorated Christmas tree at a home for evacuees in Henley-on-Thames. It is interesting to note that this Father Christmas is actually being played by a woman
Father Christmas hands out toys and games, including a set of building bricks, to children at a home for evacuees in Henley-on-Thames, 1941
Christmas trees were in short supply in Britain and America because the men who would normally cut them down were away at war. Rail and road transportation was largely used for the war effort, leaving little room for luxuries like Christmas trees.
Britain had a program through the YMCA called “Gifts to Home League” whereby those serving abroad could purchase gifts and have them delivered. The following three images show how the YMCA’s program brought Christmas cheer to the Devereaux family in Middlesex, England in 1944.
Outside the main entrance to Selfridge’s department store on Oxford Street, representatives of the YMCA load the Christmas tree they have just purchased into their van
Trooper Devereux, whose photograph can be seen on the Christmas tree, is serving in Italy and bought the tree as a present for 12 year old Jean under a YMCA scheme
Jean Devereux cuts the cake in her house in Pinner, Middlesex, on Christmas Day 1944
Children visiting Santa Claus, Eaton’s department store, St. Catherine Street, Montreal, Canada, 1941
Christmas Eve in Stockholm, Sweden, 1941
A Christmas party held at Admiralty House, London, 17 December 1942
Leading Aircraftman Fred Fazan dressed as Santa Claus hands out presents to Dutch children at No. 122 Wing’s airfield at Volkel, Holland, 13 December 1944
During respites from fighting, there were a few chances to sample the local beverage. Here, British troops celebrate Christmas cheer with the help of Italy’s fine wine offerings.
The British Army in Italy 1943. The Queen’s Regiment celebrate Christmas, 25 December 1943
Royal Artillery cooks preparing Christmas dinner near Geilenkirchen, Germany, 25 December 1944
Singing songs and carols were rituals of Christmas at war—a way to keep memories of Christmases at home alive.
The ground crew of No. 122 Wing singing Christmas carols by a Hawker Tempest in a dispersal at Volkel airfield (B80), Holland 1944
In the ward room that has been decorated with balloons and streamers, the First Lieutenant carves the joint during Christmas celebrations on board HMS WESTMINSTER at Rosyth
Christmas dinner in the wardroom of HMS MALAYA at Scapa Flow, 25 December 1942
A nurse feeds a patient with a spoonful of Christmas pudding at a naval hospital at Kingseat in Scotland, December 1941
A youngster, clutching his soldier father, gazes upward while the latter lifts his wife from the ground to wish her a Merry Christmas
Home-made presents were popular. Dads made ships and dolls’ houses, whilst moms made sweets (candies) and knitted with spare bits of wool. Children’s gifts were often donated from other countries and charities.
Petty Officer H Bell, of Shotts, Lanarkshire, a member of the Home Fleet, constructs model ships and aircraft to be given as presents for Christmas
On the foc’sle of a battleship, in the shadow of the guns, a Royal Marine, J Lynch of Newport, Monmouthshire is putting the finishing touches to a large dolls house, complete with furniture, 1943
Make-do Dolls For Christmas- Wartime Recycling, 1943 A portrait of a home-made stuffed cloth ‘Mrs Brer Rabbit’ and baby. According to the original caption, the apron of this children’s toy was made from part of an old net curtain
A group of young children at Junior School design and make their own Christmas decorations in Cambridgeshire, England, 1944
To help conserve paper, wrapping of Christmas presents was prohibited, making it difficult to keep Christmas presents a surprise. But whatever children received for Christmas during World War II, it was a treat and a sight for their sore little eyes.
Look what Santa brought you
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![Mounting of a Wright R-2600 Cyclone engine on a North American B-25 Mitchell bomber, at North American Aviation, Inglewood, California (USA). The Wright R-2600 was the standard engine on the B-25.[1] Original description: "Mounting motor [on a] Fairfax B-25 bomber, at North American Aviation, Inc., plant in [Inglewood], Calif."](https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5528/30890452405_802731caef_o.jpg)
