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It’s needless to say that the military was instrumental during the 1940s, but not only because of its obvious wartime successes. During the Emergency Farm Labor Service’s existence, the men of the Uniformed Services also managed to help keep Americans around the world fed. Through three basic routes, men from the Army, Navy, and Marines did as much, or more, than their civilian counterparts in the farming industry.
Injured men would frequently worked in the farming industry during their rehabilitation, especially those that were being rehabilitated at the Camp Adair Naval Hospital. Other servicemen stationed at Camp Adair and throughout the state could volunteer to work on farms after their duty shifts or during their leave periods for additional wages. In rare cases, smaller units of servicemen that were assigned to the farms, such as those at the Klamath Marine Farm Project.
Despite their training requirements and wartime duties, the men of the Armed Forces came through for Oregon agriculture countless times. Nearly every time it seemed that there was a crisis about to erupt, these servicemen would lend a helping hand and salvage the situation. Had it not been for the military personnel in the farming industry, America would have surly lost the war to hunger.
