By Abigail Koontz, WCHS Curator & Programs Manager Originally appeared in The Herald-Mail, Sunday, April 12, 2026 By January 1945, the United States was deeply embroiled in World War II. Over six thousandsoldiers from Washington County served at home and abroad. Washington County families lostloved ones who were killed, taken prisoner, or assumed missing in Germany, France, Italy, andthe Pacific. In Hagerstown, Fairchild Aircraft adopted the “Hagerstown System,” subcontractingover twenty-five businesses to produce military aircraft for the war effort. This spirit of exuberant mobilization and the immeasurable loss of lives did not go unnoticed. OnDecember 19, 1944, the Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard in Baltimore laid a keel for a Victory shipnamed the S.S. (Steam Ship) Hagerstown Victory, in honor of Hagerstown’s contributions to thewar effort. Since 1939, the U.S. Maritime Commission, and later the War Shipping Administration, oversawa large-scale emergency shipbuilding program. Established in 1941, the Bethlehem-FairfieldShipyard was owned by Bethlehem Shipbuilding Company and Bethlehem Steel Corporation ofBethlehem, PA. By 1945, the shipyard employed over 27,000 employees who produced Libertyships, Victory ships, and Landing Ship Tanks (LSTs). Manufactured first, Liberty ships were mass-produced cargo vessels that traveled 11-12 knotsand carried 10,200 tons of cargo such as jeeps, tanks, and ammunition. Victory ships, […]