A brief Hstory of DeSoto County
Courtesy of the DeSoto County Geneological Society
World War II
The war raging in Europe and the aggression of Japan in China gave DeSoto County thinking citizens cause for concern. However, people reacted in stunned disbelief when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor at 6:30 a.m. on December 7, 1941. With much of the United States Naval power damaged or destroyed local citizens responded full force to the war effort.
The Selective Service Board registered and called young men to service. At home rationing boards regulated the purchase of everything from sugar and shoes to gasoline and automobile tires. Everyone participated in firearms registration, salvage drives, war bond rallies and victory gardens.
The scrap-iron drive claimed the 1902 iron picket fence around the courthouse, and a 35 mile an hour speed limit for all road was enforced to conserve gasoline. On the farm even dead animals were salvaged for the war effort. Their fat was made into explosives.
President Roosevelt made his weekly "Fireside Chats" to DeSoto County families gathered around their radios to hear his latest news about the war effort. The struggle was long and bitter with many DeSoto Countians being injured or killed in the process.
Governor Paul B. Johnson Sr. announced that at the fall school session, 1942-1943, state owned textbooks would be issued for every elementary or high school child in the state.
The determined effort of all the citizens brought victory in the European war on May 7, 1945, and in Japan on September 2, 1945. This ended the largest war the world had ever known in terms of worldwide casualties and money.
Gradually things returned to normal on the home front. Rationing ended a little by little. Returning service men and women had new ideas for county progress. They needed civilian jobs and homes for their families. Housing starts multiplied.
