Army-Navy "E" Award Winners / Recipients in World War Two
The complete list!
This page updated 6-27-2020.
The thirteen pages below
contain the complete listing of all World War Two Army-Navy "E" Award
recipients, not
just those in the U.S. Auto Industry. Winners are listed
alphabetically by state. This is the only complete listing of all
Army-Navy "E" Award recipients published on the internet.
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Introduction, Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado
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Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida,
Georgia, Idaho, Illinois
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Illinois, Indiana
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Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland
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Maryland. Massachusetts
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Michigan, Minnesota
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Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New
Jersey
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New Jersey, New Mexico, New York
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New York, North Carolina
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Ohio
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Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania
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Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont,
Virginia, Washington
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West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Hawaii
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All Construction Company "E" Award Winners
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Army-Navy E Award Images
This is the Army-Navy "E" flag that a
company received when it won the award. It could then be flown on
the company flag pole. If the the company continued its
outstanding work on meeting and exceeding production schedules, a star
would be added to the flag about every six months. This was the
combined the separate awards and flags the Navy and Army had before
coming together on a unified award and flag.
Before July 1942, both the Navy and Army had
their own individual production awards. This is what the Navy "E"
flag looked like. This particular Navy "E" has an interesting
story. It was presented to the RCA plant in Bloomington, IN for
its excellent work on the top-secret VT proximity fuze during World War
Two. Because of the fuze's top-secret status, RCA Bloomington and
the other five locations that built the fuzes were ineligible to win an
award during the course of the war. Part of the award ceremony
when the "E" Award was presented would have revealed what the employees
at the VT plants were making. The project was so secret that the
employees making the fuzes were not told what the final products were,
nor what they
were used for. At RCA Bloomington, IN, the employees called the
project
"Madame X." The secrecy of the VT program was never compromised
during World War Two, unlike the Manhattan Project. The VT
program was the only top-secret program that maintained its secrecy for
the duration of the war.
The U.S. Navy presented this flag to the RCA
Bloomington, IN plant after the end of World War to honor the plant and
the workers for their important work on the VT program. The VT fuze became public knowledge in September 1945. This flag is now
in the possession of the Monroe County History Center in Bloomington,
IN. Photo courtesy of the Monroe County Historical Center added
6-27-2020.
The following documents shed light on how a
company won the Army-Navy "E" Award. Until I found these
documents, I had assumed that the military decided without input from
the companies. However, this is incorrect. The first two
1942
documents below show that an individual company needed to make
application for the award. Then it was up to several levels within
the military to decide who won the award. The third and fourth
documents, while still showing a company was responsible for initiating
an application for the award shows a shift in attitude of the Navy.
The Navy had decided there were too many awards being given out.
Therefore, the Navy started to assure that its procurement officers did a better job of
recommending only the best suppliers. It is unknown if the Army policy
also changed at this time.
How to Win the Army-Navy Production Award
("E" Award): The document below is a letter dated September 9,
1942, which was sent to both the Navy and Army suppliers, explaining
the general conditions needed to win the "E" Award. This gives a
background to the award and the different steps an application goes
through for a company to win an award. Note the language
indicating that the "Army and Navy are eager to recognize..."
Outline to be followed in preparing
Application for the Army-Navy
Production Award ("E" Award): The document below is a letter
dated September 9, 1942 which was sent to suppliers of both the Navy and
Army providing an outline to follow to apply for the "E" Award.
This outline provides the actual information required to win
the award.
Navy Board for Production Awards letter
dated January 12, 1943: This letter is the output from a
meeting indicating that it has been too easy to win the "E" Award.
It defines the requirements for recommending of a company for the award.
Navy Bureau of Ships letter on Production
Awards letter dated January 27, 1943: The procedure outlined
in the letter above rolls down to the Bureau of Ships.
Letter to Cummins Engine Company dated
July 17, 1945:
This letter answers a long standing question
I have had since the start of this website, which is whether the stars
were sent to the companies for them to add to the flag themselves, or
did they get a new flag. This letter shows they got a new flag
with each award. Also note that the date format has changed in the
letters to the current military dating format of "day: month: year."
This apparently changed during the war as the earlier letters were all
"month: day: year."
Photo courtesy of Cummins Inc. added 2-4-2020.
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