Bag of letters leads to online honor for WWII 'Land Girls'

The women of the Women's Land Army at Taylor Orchard in Clyde, Ohio, in 1944, wore work clothes and became sweaty and dirty during the hard labor on the land. Yet many reveled in the war effort. NOT BLADE PHOTO Enlarge

FREMONT -- To many women, the thought of their own mother ever being a young girl is almost unimaginable.

So when Patricia Wilkins uncovered old photographs of her mother in a short white skirt, standing beside other young women in an orchard, she was intrigued.

"I've had pictures of my mother in the orchards for many years, and I've been trying to figure out what that was about," she said. "My sister said she thought [our mom] was in a Women's Land Army."

Ms. Wilkins' mother, Elizabeth "Betty" Owens, who died in 2005, was part of the Women's Land Army of America and one of the original West Virginia Land Girls in the summer of 1944. With about 40 other young women, Betty arrived in the fields of Sandusky County 67 years ago to help provide food during World War II.

For the young women, many of whom were just out of high school and had never left home before, a trip to Ohio was both an adventure and an opportunity to contribute to the war effort. These women were nicknamed "Land Girls" or "Farmerettes."

Ms. Wilkins' look into her mother's past took a turn when she was contacted by Jo Ann Wolfe of Elgin, S.C. Ms. Wolfe had found a bag of old letters written by her sister Genevieve "Jean" Wolfe, who died in1992. She was also in the Land Army and was friends with Betty. They had corresponded after returning home.

Genevieve 'Jean' Wolfe paused for a photo along the shore of Lake Erie in 1944 during Land Camp. NOT BLADE PHOTO Enlarge

"My mother saved everything, and after she died I found she had … a garbage bag full of letters ... " Ms. Wolfe said. "I didn't know anything about these letters at the time.

Ms. Wolfe contacted Ms. Wilkins -- who lives in Sautee-Nacoochee, Ga. -- looking to return some negatives that Betty had requested from Jean in one of their letters years ago. After briefly entertaining the idea of writing a book together on the Land Girls, Ms. Wolfe and Ms. Wilkins instead decided to collaborate on a Web site called "Letters from Land Army Camp." The women did extensive research during the last year, locating old photographs and working closely with various Ohio libraries to pull together their site that explores life at the Fremont camp.

Ms. Wolfe's sister, Jean, wrote letters home about work and camp life just about every day she was there, from June 9 through Aug. 1, 1944.

Starting last week, Jean's letters will be published on the 67th anniversary of each one's writing at lettersfromlandarmycamp.org.

The Land Girls were not able to stand beside their brothers at war, but they could still join an "army" of their own by keeping the vital agricultural economy up and running.

With so many of the country's men away at war, farms with large crops struggled to maintain the labor necessary for harvest. Farms in northern Ohio were hit especially hard by the World War II labor shortage.

Throughout the spring of 1944, Ohio and West Virginia newspapers printed recruitment advertisements calling for young women to join the Women's Land Army.

They were offered food, lodging, pay, and free round-trip bus transportation if they stayed the entire summer.

Despite the dirt, sweat, and work clothes involved, there was still something glamorous and attractive about being a Land Girl, Ms. Wilkins said.

"They got to go on the Greyhound, and this was a way of supporting many of their brothers overseas," Ms. Wilkins said "It also probably alleviated a lot of stress in families' lives."

This giddy excitement is clear in Jean's June 11 letter, written to her mother on hotel stationery.

"I'm gettin' classy now," Jean writes, jokingly. "Staying in joints like these. … We got to the Southern Hotel in Columbus, Ohio, at 5:30. I am writing to you now in this here 'classy joint.' "

To the girls, working on the farm was almost like a summer-camp experience. They lived in a camp outside Fremont, where they ate, slept, and participated in recreational activities.

"Nice boys" even lived nearby, Jean writes in one of her letters. On weekends they traveled to local attractions like Cedar Point and Lake Erie.

The first group of West Virginia Land Girls helped to thin peaches and pick cherries in Clyde at the Taylor and Moore Orchards and the Silver Fleece Fruit Farm. They received food and lodging for $8 a week and were paid 40 to 50 cents an hour, depending on their ability.

Ms. Wilkins said the Women's Land Army movement isn't very well-known in the United States, but it did much to pave the way for working women today.

"Most people have never heard of the Women's Land Army before, and didn't realize that women in the 1940s went out and worked on a farm," Ms. Wilkins said. "I think it changed many of [the girls'] lives -- they never wanted to go back and be just a wife, they wanted to work."

Ms. Wilkins said most of those girls in Fremont became teachers. Some went on to be nurses, while others entered the agricultural field.

The Women's Land Army of America was formed during World War I to offer unskilled female labor at low costs, boosting the economy during the spring and summer months.

The idea of a Land Army was adopted from a similar, successful program in Great Britain instituted during World War I. During the second World War, the Women's Land Army of America was revived and expanded, as the agricultural sector was viewed as a crucial part of the war effort.

Ms. Wolfe was only a few years younger than her sister Jean, and remembers her sister going off to Ohio, but never thought much about it. Today, the Fremont camp has taken on a whole new meaning to her.

"I don't remember talking to her much about it. I was just interested in boys at [that age,] I guess," she said. "After I got older I realized how inquisitive [Jean] was about everything."

Contact Sara Felsenstein at: sfelsenstein@theblade.com or 419-724-6050.