One way or another, everyone helped on the home front in Wiscasset during World War II.

With most of Haggett Garage's mechanics away at war, family members kept the business going; more than 300 Wiscasset residents took jobs at Bath Iron Works, including many women commuting on a bus known as “The Bomber,” Peggy Konitzky of Historic New England said.

Konitzky, the organization's Wiscasset site manager, will talk about life in World War II Wiscasset on August 6. Her presentation is planned as part of “Wings Over Wiscasset” at the Wiscasset Municipal Airport.

During the war, Wiscasset residents started a local newsletter to send to soldiers. “It let them know what was going on in their hometown,” Konitzky said.

“What struck me the most was that everybody was really involved,” she said. “Whether they were overseas or at home, they were doing their bit. It really was everybody working together for a cause.”

Boys at Wiscasset Academy were anxious to graduate and be old enough to go off to the war, according to Konitzky's research. Local clubs raised money for the war effort.

Among the aspects of home front life Konitzky plans to discuss is the rationing that went on with ration books and stamps. A General Foods cookbook from the period, “Recipes for Today: Staunch Friends for Today's Kitchens,” recommends the company's products including Grape-Nuts and Sanka Coffee, as nourishing and time-saving.

It reads, in part: “Shortages are still with us. And we know that our meals cannot always follow their customary pattern, yet they must be nutritious and appealing.”

At least partly due to gas quotas, grocery and laundry deliveries stopped, Konitzky said. So did the annual open houses at Wiscasset's historical buildings on High Street.

The open houses raised money for local historic preservation efforts, but people probably didn't have the gas to spare to attend them, Konitzky said.

The newsletters were published from November 1942 into 1945, when they carried word on demobilizations involving Wiscasset soldiers.

Residents had served in several locations including North Africa and Italy. One Wiscasset woman was reportedly recovering from her time as a prisoner of war, taken by the Japanese while doing good works in the Philippines as the start of the war, Konitzky said.

“This little town really was all over,” Konitzky said about local residents during World War II.

Konitzky's presentation during “Wings Over Wiscasset” is scheduled for 3:45 p.m. in Hangar 9. Admission to “Wings” is free. Gates open at 9 a.m.

For more on “Wings Over Wiscasset,” visit www.wingsoverwiscasset.org.

Susan Johns can be reached at 207-844-4633 or susanjohns@wiscassetnewspaper.com.