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Sisters of the Soil: West Virginia Land Girls on the World War II Farm Front
When it was apparent farmers would need outside help in caring for and harvesting their crops, high school and college students and teachers from West Virginia were recruited the summers of 1943–45. The volunteers joined the “army that doesn’t wear uniforms and carries no weapons.”
When the school term was over, the Extension Service at West Virginia University called the “army” into active duty to save important war crops.
The “soldiers of the soil” came from Beckley, Charleston, Huntington, Grafton, Morgantown, and Parkersburg—from eighteen counties where mining, railroading, chemical, and steel industries were the principal occupations.
More than four hundred young women from West Virginia were placed on farms in the Lake Erie region of northern Ohio and the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland through the Extension Farm Labor Program. The farmers proclaimed the project successful and that the Land Girls had “made a definite contribution to food production during the war years.”
The young women returned home, finished their schooling, married, had children, and many entered the workforce. They tucked the photos and memories away in old trunks, as did their British, Canadian, and Australian sisters.
The Land Girls were not decorated with medals and were almost forgotten, but they once had been described as “a mighty force, marching across Ohio in the food production battle.”
This is a collection of short stories about the WLA movement and personal recollections of a handful of women—“sisters of the soil”—who sowed the seeds of victory during World War II.
Introduction : Sisters of the Soil
War Gardens : "Food will win the war"
Victory Gardens : "Backyard War"
Eleanor Roosevelt : "Woman Land Army"
"City-bred Farmerettes" join the Land Army
"Strictly city" pioneers harvest war crops
West Virginia girls "Pitch in and help"
Advance Guard : Cabell County coeds -
The camp cook and her land girls
Love, G.I. Jean : Letters from camp
Hazel Cole and the Grafton girls
Peach thinners and cherry pickers
100 acres of dill : Morgantown gang
Camp Elyria : End O'Way farm
Camp Markley : Victory farm volunteers
Camp Huron : Gillmore Manor
Gillmore Manor : Big sisters
Camp Mil-Bur : Bean brigade
Tobacco strippers and snap-bean pickers
Farmerettes flock home
In memory of Sisters
When the school term was over, the Extension Service at West Virginia University called the “army” into active duty to save important war crops.
The “soldiers of the soil” came from Beckley, Charleston, Huntington, Grafton, Morgantown, and Parkersburg—from eighteen counties where mining, railroading, chemical, and steel industries were the principal occupations.
More than four hundred young women from West Virginia were placed on farms in the Lake Erie region of northern Ohio and the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland through the Extension Farm Labor Program. The farmers proclaimed the project successful and that the Land Girls had “made a definite contribution to food production during the war years.”
The young women returned home, finished their schooling, married, had children, and many entered the workforce. They tucked the photos and memories away in old trunks, as did their British, Canadian, and Australian sisters.
The Land Girls were not decorated with medals and were almost forgotten, but they once had been described as “a mighty force, marching across Ohio in the food production battle.”
This is a collection of short stories about the WLA movement and personal recollections of a handful of women—“sisters of the soil”—who sowed the seeds of victory during World War II.
Introduction : Sisters of the Soil
War Gardens : "Food will win the war"
Victory Gardens : "Backyard War"
Eleanor Roosevelt : "Woman Land Army"
"City-bred Farmerettes" join the Land Army
"Strictly city" pioneers harvest war crops
West Virginia girls "Pitch in and help"
Advance Guard : Cabell County coeds -
The camp cook and her land girls
Love, G.I. Jean : Letters from camp
Hazel Cole and the Grafton girls
Peach thinners and cherry pickers
100 acres of dill : Morgantown gang
Camp Elyria : End O'Way farm
Camp Markley : Victory farm volunteers
Camp Huron : Gillmore Manor
Gillmore Manor : Big sisters
Camp Mil-Bur : Bean brigade
Tobacco strippers and snap-bean pickers
Farmerettes flock home
In memory of Sisters
188 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 3, 2026
I loved learning about this unique contribution young women from West Virginia gave on the home front in WWII. They were young, ambitious and challenging themselves with group living and working far from home. In the Ohio orchards, they found themselves working alongside Jamaican migrant workers and German POWs.
There were some great side references, also, to architectural treasures like the sadly lost Chancellor Hotel in Parkersburg, WV and the saved and refurbished Ohio Theater in Columbus, OH.
There were some great side references, also, to architectural treasures like the sadly lost Chancellor Hotel in Parkersburg, WV and the saved and refurbished Ohio Theater in Columbus, OH.
February 8, 2023
This book goes deep into a fascinating part of 20th century history. Very well researched. An illuminative read.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews