Department of Parks
“Homefront Heroes” Presented May 27 At John James Audubon State Park

HENDERSON, Ky. -- During World War II, the area around Henderson and Evansville, Ind., was the greatest producer per capita of war goods in the world.  The nearby Kentucky cities of Owensboro, Madisonville and Hopkinsville played a major role in meeting the needs of U.S. and Allied servicemen and women at home and abroad.

You can learn more about this time in American history at a free presentation at John James Audubon State Park in Henderson on Sunday, May 27, at 2 p.m. Author and military historian Harold Morgan will spotlight the impact that this region had on World War II and the impact the war had on this region’s citizens with his “Homefront Heroes” program.

“This region was greatly affected by the war,” Morgan said. During the 1940s, creature comforts disappeared from store shelves as raw materials went to build war goods.  Thousands of ordinary “homefront heroes” from Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois stepped in to manufacture over 300 different war products including: planes, ships, tanks, clothing and ammunition throughout the tri-state area.

Learn more about the Camp Audubon’s wartime role for the Navy and northwestern Kentucky’s Camp Breckinridge – training grounds for a quarter of a million Army infantry, demolition, and medical soldiers between 1942-1946.

Celebrate the true meaning of Memorial Day.  Discover the wartime importance of this region and the impact on its citizens with this unforgettable program at the park’s museum. “People will gain a greater appreciation of what everyday citizens went through to win World War II,” says Morgan. 

For more information on this program contact Julie McDonald at (270) 826-2247 or juliea.mcdonald@ky.gov.

The park is located on U.S. 41 in the northern outskirts of Henderson, half a mile south of the U.S. 41 bridge over the Ohio River.