These photos were taken in Florida during WWII for the United States Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information (FSA-OWI). They show how the lives of ordinary people of all ages were dramatically changed, as they did whatever they could to help on the home front while their loved ones fought abroad. The original captions have been provided below the photographs.

De Land pool. Skilled craftsmen. Before the war, Florida was regarded as a tourist playground without machines or men capable of war production. Since Pearl Harbor, along the highways and byways of the state, precision machinery is daily being discovered in small shops like this, which are producing close-tolerance work for the De Land pool

De Land pool. Babcock airplane plant. The last operation in the De Land, Florida industrial pool is buttoning up the huge motor repair racks in their packing crates, sealing them against everything from sand to seawater. Left is Mary Babcock, daughter of plant owner, who never dreamed she would be painting destination letters on a war crate when she was studying art six months ago. In the foreground is John Kicklighton, who was an insurance salesman before going to work on the production front

De Land pool. La Roe shop. Mrs. Earl La Roe of Eustis, Florida, a grandmother with two sons in the army, doing her daily shift in the family's garage workshop. She is cutting worm gears needed for the army aircraft equipment made by the De Land, Florida industrial pool

De Land pool. Aircraft construction class. Clyde Williams, instructor in the Volusia County, Florida Vocational School, believes women make just as good welders as men. He is shown here with a new class starting in aircraft welding, part of the training program of the De Land pool to provide workers for war production. Left to right are Jane Parker, whose husband already is a war welder and plans to volunteer for the Navy when she can take his place; Kathleen Nowlin, stenographer, an English girl who is a naturalized American citizen; and Sybil Meyers, a housewife

DeLand pool. Bits and parts. Casey's machine shop, down by the railroad tracks in De Land, Florida, is one of the strongest members of the Volusia County pool, now starting on its third million-dollars worth of war production without a single rejection. F.W. Casey, owner of the shop, looks over some of the miscellaneous items in his yard from which he makes many of the machines he uses. He's inspecting a woodworking machine with an eye to the pool's next contract. An old dough mixer at the right of the window will supply some parts for the next job

De Land pool. Bits and parts. The members of the De Land, Florida pool solved their welding problem on their first war contract with typical American ingenuity. F.W. Casey had to have a welding generator and couldn't buy one. So he took an old Overland chassis, mounted a Dodge motor on it, attached a Studebaker radiator, and connected a second-hand generator to the engine. The outfit performs with the same efficiency as a five hundred dollar factory job

Escambia Farms, Florida. Elena, Kitty, John and George McLelland look over their Victory garden on a Sunday

De Land pool. Aircraft construction class. These carefree high school students are learning the serious business of war production in a Daytona Beach, Florida vocational school located in a revamped nightclub. Instructor Gil Angell (with piston in his hand) is showing the group how to assemble an airplane engine. Left to right are Wilson, Flippo, Angell, Dewey Stewart, nineteen; Ken Kirkpatrick, eighteen; Bill Jackson and Ned Brown, eighteen. Jobs already are waiting for most of them when they finish their courses

DeLand pool. Improvised foundry, Daytona Beach. Charging the aluminum furnace in the improvised foundry built at Daytona Beach, Florida, by city fireman J.L. Clayton. Old auto crankcases, pots, pans--any solid form of aluminum--is dropped into the homemade crucible for remelting and casting into experimental parts for bombers, air raid sirens, and many vital parts for the DeLand industrial pool

Women's Army Auxiliary Corps. WAACs at Daytona Beach, Florida, learn how to rescue floats. The float is made of wooden platform supported by inflated barracks tied beneath the platform. Careful swimming enables the rescuers to tow the victim to safety

De Land pool. Skilled craftsmen. Sixty-year-old George Lane, former house painter, is a valuable worker in the De Land, Florida pool. He served in the last war with the British Army from Vimy Ridge to the Occupation. Two of his sons are in the American Army, one with the Air Corps in Australia. His daughter volunteered for the Women's Army Auxiliary Corp. Seven of his nephews are in the British Army. Using his old skill with the brush, he is now painting De Land pool products

Production. Minesweepers. He's still being strong at seventy-two. George Cardy gave up what he considered a soft job, watchman on a yacht, to take up his old work of servicing marine engines in an Eastern shipyard now turning out minesweepers. "One is as young as he feels," says Mr. Cardy, who is a grandfather and has a son in the Marines. Gibbs Cass Company

Daytona Beach, Florida. Bethune-Cookman College. Home economic students learning how to make good bread

De Land pool. Sewing plane wing fabric. The ladies sewing circle has a grim meaning in De Land, Florida these days. Here's one of its daily sessions, sewing fabric on airplane wings they hope will be flying over Germany some day soon. Nearest the camera is Joyce Newsom, instructor in De Land's vocational school, giving lessons in the new art of sewing to two grandmothers. Left is Mrs. Gussie Ryals, who has an invalid husband and five grandchildren. Right is Mrs. Ruth Klug, whose husband fought through the first World War, who has two grandchildren, and a boy in a bombing squadron in Australia. Both grandmothers soon will take their places on the assembly line of an aircraft factory

De Land pool. Sewing plane wing fabric. Mrs. Eleanor Lane was a widow supporting her two children as an interior decorator. When her hometown of De Land, Florida pooled its manpower and machines to go into war work, she gave up her business and went along. She is shown learning aircraft fabric work in the vocational school set up to train workers for the war plant

Daytona Beach, Florida. Bethune-Cookman College. NYA (National Youth Administration) girls' welding class

Jacksonville, Florida. Fighting French officers and enlisted man with an engine at the United States Naval air station

De Land pool. Aircraft construction class. Ken Kirkpatrick, eighteen, of Daytona, is typical of the hundreds of Volusia County youngsters who are preparing to take their places on Florida's production front. Enrolled in the Daytona Beach Vocational School, he's learning the watchmaker's precision necessary to keep army airplane engines ready for combat

De Land pool. Aircraft construction class. Instructor Gil Angell of the Daytona Beach, Florida Vocational School is explaining the intricate job of balancing an airplane propeller to Randolph Thompson and Wilson Flippo, Daytona Beach high school students who'll soon be doing this work on army aircraft

Daytona Beach, Florida. Bethune-Cookman College. NYA (National Youth Administration) metal class

De Land pool. Aircraft construction class. Women are being trained along with men in the Volusia County Florida Vocational School to take their places on the war production front. Susie Nelson, left, has a husband in Panama and a brother in the Navy. Pearl Kinchem, right, is a housewife with a brother in the army. Soon both of them will be welding aircraft in the De Land industrial pool

De Land pool. Skilled craftsmen. Forty-year-old John Oliver formerly operated a fishing camp on Florida's east coast. When the De Land pool formed, Oliver volunteered and turned out to be a first class machinist who had learned his trade in Oklahoma. Now he is assembly machinist in the plant, able to handle any job that comes along. He is typical of the retired skilled machinists being discovered daily in the state by pool operators

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