Historic Hood River
War Bond Rally
8-15-2012
Notes
War bond rallies brought out the entire community for a combination of entertainment and patriotic displays. The Butler Bank Building was serving as the Hood River County courthouse during this period. Politicians, Hollywood stars and starlets, and sports figures traveled around the country encouraging everyone to buy war bonds to help fund the war effort. A bond purchase got your name up on the placard.
Unfortunately I don’t know who the headliners were on this day in Hood River history, but if you want a closer view an enlargement of this image is on display inside this building at 301 Oak Street, which now serves as a gallery and wine bar. It’s up in the mezzanine with four other HHR photos you may recognize.
l.e.
Patriotism at its best.
Notice the people looking at the photographer?
They must have had a sixth sense that someone was behind them.
I see some military caps amongst the crowd.
So, where was the photo taken from?
Arlen Sheldrake
Neat simulated cash register on the right. Yes, multiple Navy uniforms. And of course, our "pump house" on the left. Everyone isquite dressed up, yes it would be interesting to know what drew so many folk.
Dan
What’s around the top of the Butler building? Are those names?
Arthur
Yes Dan, those are the names. The ladder in the entryway was used to climb up and add new panels.
charlott
Someone had to have been on the building catty corner of the Butler Building to get the picture.
Okay Arlen explain the pump house? I don’t recall it at all.
It no doubt was at one of these type rallies that I got my bond and shook hands with the prize fighter Jack Dempsey as apparently he was the featured notable at one rally. Would be interesting to know others of fame that were in our fair city for such events.
Arthur, what is the insignia above the names, might give a better idea of what the names were about. Looks like to me could be American Legion. Too many names for it to be those serving from Hood River County. Maybe those serving from the state of Oregon..
Arlen Sheldrake
The small rounded building to the left of the stage was used to sell bonds and now as well as when I was growing up on Belmont (1948-1960) the building resided on our property and served as the sprinkler system pump house. As of earlier this summer the pump house is still in place. The building must have been moved to the property soon after the end of the war by the previous property owner A.J.Crow (I think this is the name).
Barbara Parsons Bernstein
Oh heavens! Speaking of delicate and regrettable topics…wasn’t that the famous list of all Hood River people serving in the War, which was famously "edited" by some "patriots" to remove all the names of Japanese servicemen and women?
Arthur
Barbara– I think this list of the donors, not the servicemen and women. You are correct there was a national debate triggered when the American Legion in HR removed the names of servicemen and women of Japanese descent from the local honor role. They eventually reversed themselves, but Hood River had gotten a black eye. The Museum has letters from all over the country decrying this behavior.
John McLucas
My father was one of the Legionaires who removed those names. there are other storeies out there…At this time I was in the Navy on Guam. our radio unit
guarded the internationaldistress frequency. A friend of mine was on watch when he heard a distress call made by one of our hospital ships..She repeated the distress call and the japs jammd the frequency.
The names on the honor roll contained 3 McLucas’s….My two sisters joined
the WAVES after I volunteered .
(Remember USS Liberty)
Rodger Nichols
One of the stars that appeared in Hood River was Victor Mature. My mother, the late Kathleen (Elder) Nichols has an autographed glossy photo of him she got at one of those rallies. In the photo, he’s wearing what looks like a naval officer’s uniform.
The previous day the traveling group had been in Salem, and were heading for Bend after the event in Hood River.