80 Year Old Film Shows Life in a Small Illinois Town During WW2

I have learned over the years that the old saying that those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. That's why it would be good for many to look back on what life was like in a small Illinois town near the end of World War II.

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According to Periscope Film which recently shared this vintage video on YouTube, this documentary was captured in Golconda, Illinois in 1944. The description says it includes footage of life inside the "post office, its coal mine, corn and dairy farm, a glove factory, and the local high school".

The video shows the train stopping in Golconda to deliver farm seeds and also mail from soldiers overseas.

A lot of people in Golconda, Illinois worked the coal mine back in that era which was a crucial resource for the Allied war effort.

One of the moments that struck me was an assembly in the high school where they were wishing 5 boys best wishes as they were about to leave to join the others fighting in the war. I have to wonder if all of them made it home safely after hostilities ended.

Golconda, Illinois also had a clothing factory where many of the clothes were headed to the US Navy sailors.

This is the kind of history that must be preserved. How a small Illinois town dealt with a global war is the kind of thing we cannot forget unless we are doomed to repeat it sometime in the future.