When the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service bombed Pearl Harbor, the United States naval base near Honolulu, Hawaii, on Dec. 7, 1941, President Franklin Roosevelt declared WWII on Japan.A few days later, Nazi Germany declared war on the United States, and America entered World War II against the Axis powers.
Soon after the beginning of the war, the United States government began encouraging citizens to invest in war bonds, a debt security issued by the U.S. Department of the Treasury used to finance military operations during World War II. This campaign led the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation Board of Directors to approve a plan to purchase three B-17 Flying Fortress Bombers for the United States Armed Forces. The plan was to sell $1 million in war bonds between Feb. 1 and April 30, 1943, to Farm Bureau members. As a reward, the county Farm Bureaus that sold the most war bonds in relation to their county membership quota would have the opportunity to name one of the bombers.
County Farm Bureaus eagerly began selling war bonds to their members. Their enthusiasm to support the war effort allowed them to raise $2.8 million, enabling MFBF to purchase nine bombers. The following names were selected for the bomber planes:
- Kemper Kounty Killer
- Franklin County, Mississippi
- Mississippi’s Tate County Liberator
- Lafayette County, Mississippi
- The Wayne Wings
- Meridian Mauler
- Hollandale Scottie
- Spirit of Coahoma County
- Pride of Jasper County
This effort was one of many that MFBF members participated in to support the war effort.
Source: Mississippi Department of Archives & History