Regiments from Chester County fought bravely in all theaters of World War II, while locals at home took extraordinary measures to support the Allies. West Chester resident G. Raymond Rettew developed a process to mass produce vitally needed penicillin while a peaceful farm transformed into the bustling Valley Forge General Hospital in 1943. Women entered labor positions at companies, including Lukens Steel, to meet production demands. The Coatesville YMCA created and distributed a newsletter to soldiers so the boys on the front had the news from back home. Author Marion Piccolomini celebrates the resilience and perseverance of Chester County residents in the midst of total war.

Regiments from Chester County fought bravely in all theaters of World War II, while locals at home took extraordinary measures to support the Allies. West Chester resident G. Raymond Rettew developed a process to mass produce vitally needed penicillin while a peaceful farm transformed into the bustling Valley Forge General Hospital in 1943. Women entered labor positions at companies, including Lukens Steel, to meet production demands. The Coatesville YMCA created and distributed a newsletter to soldiers so the boys on the front had the news from back home. Author Marion Piccolomini celebrates the resilience and perseverance of Chester County residents in the midst of total war.

Regiments from Chester County fought bravely in all theaters of World War II, while locals at home took extraordinary measures to support the Allies. West Chester resident G. Raymond Rettew developed a process to mass produce vitally needed penicillin while a peaceful farm transformed into the bustling Valley Forge General Hospital in 1943. Women entered labor positions at companies, including Lukens Steel, to meet production demands. The Coatesville YMCA created and distributed a newsletter to soldiers so the boys on the front had the news from back home. Author Marion Piccolomini celebrates the resilience and perseverance of Chester County residents in the midst of total war.

The city of Chester, Pennsylvania, is pulsing with activity during World War Two, grinding out ships, planes, and helicopters at record rates to fuel the fight against Hitler and Hirohito. Its winding streets are a patchwork quilt of ethnic neighborhoods, and families are displaying stars in their windows to show that they have sons or fathers off serving their country. There are five stars in the window of the house young David lives in, representing four of his seven brothers and the husband of one of his two sisters. While he prays daily for their safe return, David peddles newspapers to the shift-workers at the war plants, dodges the local traffic cop who tries to interfere with his shoeshine business, hookies school to hear Louis Armstrong in Philadelphia, dazzles his classmates with his yo-yo prowess, downs the pierogi and halupki his Ukrainian-born mother dishes up by the dozens, and does his best to negotiate adolescence on the home front.