As we did in our last post, we’re looking back to other times of crisis that span our company’s 86-year history and how we navigated them. Perhaps there are lessons to be learned from those crises for the Covid-19 situation. Today, we look back to our company’s support for the WWII effort.

After Pearl Harbor, our young company leveraged its skills and resources to quickly transition from an agricultural focus to full wartime production, at one point employing 250 people working around the clock. Production focused on truck and tracked vehicle shock absorbers for the Chrysler Corporation, International Harvester Company, and the Allis Chalmers Company as a subcontractor, and generally supplying both the Chicago Ordnance District, the Detroit Arsenal (tank supports and idlers), and the Tank Automotive Center, also in Detroit. The M-4, M-7, M-47, M-48 tanks, M-10 Gun Carriage, M-7 Prime Mover, the M-4 18-ton Medium Speed Prime Mover all used these products. The aircraft equivalent went to John Deere and Company for Grumman Hellcat aircraft landing gears. Postwar, our company played a key role in providing spring and shock mounts for the national missile defense system.

The best summation of our war work comes from an address made by Major Gordon C. Fowler, Chief of the Quad Cities Office, Chicago Ordnance District, Seventh Service Command, when he presented the Ordnance banner to our founder, I.J. Rocklin, on April 16, 1944. Major Fowler stated:

Ladies and gentlemen, you are being honored today for an outstanding contribution to the nation's war effort by the award of the Army Ordnance flag. You men and women of the Rocklin Manufacturing Co. have clearly demonstrated that you merit this production award, and it is a privilege for me to be here as a representative of the Chicago Post of the Army Ordnance Association to make this presentation.

Your company has been engaged in war work since 1941. During that year you stopped the production of your saws, pump jacks and other commercial products, and devoted the entire capacity of your plant to the manufacture of parts for the medium tank transmission being built by the Iowa Transmission Company.

We need only to remember that the Germans were driven out of Africa because we and our British Allies had an overwhelming number of those tanks. To realize the importance of the work which you have done since that time, you have accepted subcontracts for many other important Ordnance Items -- not the least of which the high speed tractor being built by Allis Chalmers. These tractors are used by the Field Artillery to tow heavy guns and place them in position for firing. These guns are assuming more and more importance as the war progresses and the demand for the tractors is very great.

All these tractors are being manufactured by only a very few companies, the parts on which you are working on are very essential. You are now tooling up for the production of axle parts for the huge 1944 Heavy Truck Program, and I have no doubt that your performance on this work will at least equal that on your previous contracts.

Practically all of the Ordnance work that you have done has been on critical items. This may be because your customers know that you will come through on the tough ones. Whatever the reason, it has meant long hours and hard work for all of you. You are a small company, your factory is not modern, your machine tools and equipment are very old, and you are in a city far removed from the sources of supply of perishable tools, repair parts and necessary supplies. Yet you are able to work to very close limits. You do this by maintaining your tools in good condition and by designing and building special fixtures for holding the work. You are using machine tools for purposes the machine builder never even thought of. The results that you obtain would not be possible were it not for the careful intelligent work of your machine tool operators and maintenance people.

You are unusually well known for a company of your size and you have established an enviable reputation in the Ordnance Department and among Ordnance contractors. You have already done a great deal to help win this war but must continue to do this job day after day if final victory is to be established.

Today I wish to express to you the heartfelt thanks of the Army for the job which you have already done. The flag which I will present to you is a symbol of that gratitude, and as it flies over your plant you may well be proud of the part that you are playing as a part of our great production army. Mr. Rocklin, in behalf of Brigadier General Thomas S. Hammond, Chief of Chicago Ordnance District, I now present to you, in the name of the Chicago Post of the Army Ordnance Association, the Ordnance banner.

The rare banner was awarded to just 13 of 2,200 applicants for the special Ordnance assignment. It now hangs proudly in our building lobby and serves as a daily reminder of the importance of hard work and supporting a cause greater than oneself, which has guided how we’ve done business for decades.

Tags: rocklin , history , covid-19 , wwii , pearl harbor , chrysler corporation , international harvester company , allis chalmers company , chicago ordnance district , detroit arsenal , tank automotive center , ordnance banner , chicago post of the army ordnance association

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