Lou’s View – Jan. 21, 2015
The Colors of War
by Lou Bernard
It has been widely commented upon by most historians that World War II contained a distinct lack of phrases such as “Wow, look at the pretty colors.”
It’s just one of the things you don’t notice much in wartime, the creative use of colorful dyes. And yet, it has happened—Colored chemicals and dyes were used to help the troops. And Lock Haven, Pennsylvania was in the forefront of it.
I’m talking here about American Aniline.
American Aniline Products was a dye company located at the end of Mount Vernon Street, in the southern part of the city. The company had bought the factory and moved in around 1919, and had a track record of losing buildings to fires and explosions. Seriously. Every year or two, one of their buildings would either burn down or explode. It was like they were in the middle of World War II twenty years before the war even started.
But when the war rolled around, American Aniline was commissioned to provide the military with chemical dyes. These were added to the smoke grenades that the military would use for locating lost soldiers or marking artillery objectives. The grenades were light and stable, and when thrown, gave off a heavy burst of colored smoke that would be easily seen, marking a specific spot. American Aniline provided dyes in red, green, yellow, and purple.
The Record reported on this on April 19, 1945, in an article headlined,”Making Color For Army For Smoke Signals.” American Aniline was one of the big suppliers of the colored dye, and working on getting bigger. They’d received a letter of congratulations from the Chemical Warfare Services, which was apparently a thing back then.
Colonel S.E. Whitesides, the Junior Chemical Warfare Service Commander, sent a letter that said,”You have responded willingly and efficiently to all of our calls for production of green and red dyes which go into the smoke mixture for colored smoke grenades. You have consistently met our shipping dates and the dyes you have shipped to us have always satisfied our high and rigid specifications.”
Let’s all take a moment to chuckle at the guy in charge of colored dyes being named “Whitesides.” Okay. Now. American Aniline, the article stated, didn’t exactly come up with these products overnight. The grenades had to be small and easy to carry, but still give off a considerable amount of smoke. They had to burn quickly, but not hot enough to destroy the dye. The color had to be bright enough to not blend in with the scenery, and visible at over ten thousand feet. And it had to be something easily available, and stable enough to store for long periods of time.
You beginning to see the problem here?
Hundreds of dyes were tested before the company found some that would work for the purpose. They stuck to the ones with the highest availability, because it would be necessary to order enormous quantities of it for the many grenades needed. After all, these things were actually helping to save lives.
“Today American fighting forces are protected to a great degree by a development of the Chemical Warfare Service with the cooperation of this company’s great chemical industry. Colored smoke contained in two types of grenades is being used extensively by our fighting forces as signals between ground and air troops and in many other important missions,” said the Record.
Clinton County had a bigger role in World War II than most people think. Piper Aviation supplied planes, and several local people helped manufacture the atomic bombs. Pennwoven Wire supplied materials for the bombs. And now, we can add American Aniline to the list.
Every little bit counts. That’s right, Lock Haven helped America win the war. And no, I didn’t just write the whole column so I could use this line—But think of all the local guys on Mount Vernon Street who were willing to dye for their country.
