Sandust Soldiers

Having been born May 31, 1940, I grew up with war being a prominent part of my early life. During World War II, Time and Life magazines were full of battlefield scenes and stories. Fox Movietone News, shown as a “short” before every feature at the Lyric Theatre, also had military themes. Gasoline and food rationing were daily topics at our house.

Like many young boys I developed a healthy interest in military things and this included toy soldiers, tanks and airplanes. I noticed that some of the toy soldiers I bought at Hested’s store were different than some of the tine and lead soldiers I had. For a long time I couldn’t figure out why.\

Because so much metal was being used during World War II for war goods, it was decided to make the toy soldiers out of material that was not in short supply and this material was sawdust. The sawdust was compressed by molds and the soldiers were then painted just like the metal versions. One soldier set I had was a .30 caliber machine gun team. I noted over time that the barrel of the machine gun had split. Apparently the binder holding the sawdust together had failed. Otherwise, my sawdust soldiers soldiered much like their metal counterparts.

I still have the sawdust soldiers, or some of them. Today they are prized collectors items.

World War II was followed by the Korean War, but that was a “Limited War” and there were no shortages so toy soldiers during that era did not have to be made of sawdust.

Do any of my fellow old-timers remember the sawdust soldiers? They are an interesting part of Remembering Life in Superior.