The American Automobile Industry in World War Two
An American Auto Industry Heritage Tribute by David D Jackson

Overview      Lansing Michigan in World War Two   The U.S. Auto Industry at the Normandy Invasion, June 6, 1944    The U.S. Auto Industry and the B-29 Bomber   U.S. Auto Industry Army-Navy "E" Award Winners   The Complete listing of All Army-Navy "E" Award Winners   Sherman Tanks of the American Auto Industry   Tank Destroyers of the American Auto Industry    M26 Pershing Tanks of the American Auto Industry   M36 Tank Destroyers of the American Auto Industry   Serial Numbers for WWII Tanks built by the American Auto Industry   Surviving LCVP Landing Craft    WWII Landing Craft Hull Numbers   Airborne Extra-Light Jeep Photos  The American Auto Industry vs. the German V-1 in WWII   American Auto Industry-Built Anti-Aircraft Guns in WWII   VT Proximity Manufacturers of WWII   World War One Era Motor Vehicles   National Museum of Military Vehicles  
Revisions   Links

 Automobile and Body Manufacturers:  American Bantam Car Company   Briggs Manufacturing Company   Checker Car Company   Chrysler Corporation   Crosley Corporation   Ford Motor Car Company   General Motors Corporation   Graham-Paige Motors Corporation   Hudson
Motor Car Company   Murray Corporation of America   Nash-Kelvinator   Packard Motor Car Company      Studebaker    Willys-Overland Motors

General Motors Divisions:  AC Spark Plug   Aeroproducts   Allison   Brown-Lipe-Chapin   Buick   Cadillac   Chevrolet   Cleveland Diesel   Delco Appliance   Delco Products   Delco Radio   Delco-Remy   Detroit Diesel   Detroit Transmission   Electro-Motive   Fisher Body   Frigidaire   GM Proving Grounds   GM of Canada   GMC   GMI   Guide Lamp   Harrison Radiator   Hyatt Bearings   Inland   Moraine Products   New Departure   Oldsmobile   Packard Electric   Pontiac   Saginaw Malleable Iron   Saginaw Steering Gear   Southern California Division   Rochester Products   Ternstedt Manufacturing Division   United Motors Service   Vauxhall Motors

 Indiana Companies:  Bailey Products Corporation   Chrysler Kokomo Plant   Continental Steel Corporation  Converto Manufacturing    Cummins Engine Company   Diamond Chain and Manufacturing Company   Delta Electric Company   Durham Manufacturing Company   Farnsworth Television and Radio Corporation   General Electric Kokomo Plant   Haynes Stellite Company   Hercules Body Company   Horton Manufacturing Company   Howe Fire Apparatus   International Machine Tool Company   J.D. Adams Company   Kokomo Spring Company   Magnavox  
Muncie Gear Works   Pierce Governor Company   Portland Forge and Foundry   Reliance Manufacturing Company-Kokomo Plant   Reliance Manufacturing Company-Washington Plant   Republic Aviation Corporation - Indiana Division   Ross Gear and Tool Company   S.F. Bowser & Co.   Sherrill Research Corporation   Sullivan Machinery Company   Tokheim Oil Tank and Pump Company   Warner Gear   Wayne Pump Company   Wayne Works

Commercial Truck and Fire Apparatus Manufacturers:  American LaFrance   Autocar  
Biederman Motors Corporation   Brockway Motor Company   Detroit General   Diamond T   Duplex Truck Company   Federal Motor Truck   Four Wheel Drive Auto Company(FWD)   International Harvester   John Bean   Mack Truck   Marmon-Herrington Company   Michigan Power Shovel Company   Oshkosh Motor Truck Corporation   Pacific Car and Foundry   "Quick-Way" Truck Shovel Company  Reo Motor Car Company  Seagrave Fire Apparatus   Sterling Motor Truck Company    Ward LaFrance Truck Corporation   White Motor Company

Aviation Companies:  Abrams Instrument Corporation    Frankfort Sailplane Company   Hughes Aircraft Company   Kellett Aviation Corporation   Laister-Kauffman Aircraft Corporation   Naval Aircraft Factory   P-V Engineering Forum, Inc.    Rudolf Wurlitzer Company-DeKalb Division  Schweizer Aircraft Corporation   Sikorsky Division of United Aircraft Corporation   St. Louis Aircraft Corporation   Timm Aircraft Corporation

Other World War Two Manufacturers: 
Air King Products   Allis-Chalmers   American Car and Foundry   American Locomotive   American Stove Company   Annapolis Yacht Yard  
Andover Motors Company   Badger Meter Manufacturing Company   B.F. Goodrich   Baker War Industries   Baldwin Locomotive Works   Blood Brothers Machine Company   Boyertown Auto Body Works   Briggs & Stratton   Burke Electric Company   Caterpillar   Cheney Bigelow Wire Works   Centrifugal Fusing   Chris-Craft   Clark Equipment Company   Cleaver-Brooks Company   Cleveland Tractor Company   Continental Motors   Cushman Motor Works   Crocker-Wheeler   Dail Steel Products   Detroit Wax Paper Company   Detrola   Engineering & Research Corporation   Farrand Optical Company   Federal Telephone and Radio Corp.   Firestone Tire and Rubber Company   Fruehauf Trailer Company   Fuller Manufacturing   Galvin Manufacturing   Gemmer Manufacturing Company   General Railway Signal Company   Gerstenslager Company   Gibson Guitar   Gibson Refrigerator Company   Goodyear   Hall-Scott   Hanson Clutch and Machinery Company   Harley-Davidson   Harris-Seybold-Potter   Herreshoff Manufacturing Company   Higgins Industries    Highway Trailer Corporation  Hill Diesel Company   Holland Hitch Company   Homelite Company   Horace E. Dodge Boat and Plane Corporation   Huffman Manufacturing   Indian Motorcycle   Ingersoll Steel and Disk   Iron Fireman Manufacturing Company   John Deere   Johnson Automatics Manufacturing Company   Kimberly-Clark   Kohler Company   Kold-Hold Company   Landers, Frary & Clark   Le Roi Company  Lima Locomotive Works   Lundberg Screw Products   MacKenzie Muffler Company   Massey-Harris   Matthews Company   McCord Radiator & Mfg. Company   Metal Mouldings Corporation   Miller Printing Machinery Company   Morse Instrument Company   Motor Products Corporation   Motor Wheel Corporation   National Cash Resgister Company   Novo Engine Company   O'Keefe & Merritt Company   Olofsson Tool and Die Company   Oneida Ltd   Otis Elevator   Owens Yacht   Pressed Steel Car Company   Pressed Steel Tank Company   Queen City Manufacturing Company   R.G. LeTourneau   Richardson Boat Company   R.L. Drake Company   St. Clair Rubber Company   Samson United Corporation   Shakespeare Company   Sight Feed Generator Company   Simplex Manufacturing Company   Steel Products Engineering Company   St. Louis Car Company   Twin Disc Company   Victor Adding Machine Company   Vilter Manufacturing Company   Wells-Gardner   W.L. Maxson Corporation   W.W. Boes Company   Westfield Manufacturing Company   York-Hoover Body Company   York-Shipley, Inc.   Youngstown Steel Door Company  
   

 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. 


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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