The War Years

If any one state truly served as the "arsenal of freedom" during World War II it was Washington. Although its population numbered barely 1.7 million at the war's outset, Washington supplied crucial resources for the Allies' ultimate victory--millions of tons of food and raw materials, thousands of B-17 and B-29 bombers, hundreds of ships, and, finally, the few pounds of plutonium that ended the greatest war in history and ushered in the nuclear age.

Historian James Warren details Washington state's wartime contributions and sacrifices, including the lives of more than 6,000 of her sons and daughters. Relying on newspaper reports, military records, and other sources, Warren creates a vivid month-by-month diary of a state at war from the shock of Pearl Harbor to the jubilation of V-J Day.