Ordinance Plant Badge and Obituary

This ID badge was worn by Harry Jorgenson Sr. when he worked at an ordnance plant that made ammunition from 1942-1945. The badge identifies his place of work as the Sangamon Ordnance Plant specifically, as well as Jorgenson’s employee identification number #2656. The ID badge also includes Jorgenson’s photo with what appears to be his height measured behind him. Before WWII there were only six ordnance plants in the United States, but by the end of the war there were 216 ordnance plants established employing thousands.[1] After the war, many of these plants closed as the need for ammunition decreased. This ID badge is demonstrative of a remarkable shift in US labor and manufacturing during WWII. 

[1]Lewis, Robert. “World War II Manufacturing and the Postwar Southern Economy.” The Journal of Southern History 73, no. 4 (2007): 837-866. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27649570.