plain board : Here [ sic ] ruhen die gebeine von viel soldaten [ Here rest the remains of many soldiers ]. 10
After several images of the “ gentle rolling hills ” and prosperous farms of rural Pennsylvania , the film moves to showing “ real farmers , not actors .” First up is Pennsylvania Dutch farmer Harry Schaeffer from Manor Township , located southwest of Lancaster City along the Susquehanna River . The narrator introduces him with another reference to the long history of Germanic immigrants to North America : “ His ancestors were brought to America by the Dutch West India Trading Company in 1623 .” He works his farm alone . When news of Pearl Harbor came to the county seat , young men enlisted and “ farm labor seemed to melt away .” Schaeffer “ has no sons to help him ” at age 62 , and his two farm hands are now in the US Army , one in Australia and the other in Hawaii . As a result , he must work “ at least sixteen hours a day ” in order to “ keep every acre of our land in production .” A neighbor down the road has a daughter aged 12 who is shown driving a tractor , and the narrator notes that urban young men and women “ are being trained in our towns and cities ” to “ aid farmers .” 11 The main focus , however , is on “ another neighbor ,” Moses Zimmerman , a Lancaster Conference Mennonite farmer whose wife wears a traditional Mennonite head covering . The final seven minutes of the nine-minute film are devoted to Zimmerman ’ s farm and his family . 10
The inscription should read Hier ruhen die Gebeine von vielen Soldaten in High German . An image of the inscription may be found at http :// www . horseshoe . cc / pennadutch / places / pennsylvania / lancasterco / towns / ephrata / e phrata . htm , accessed 18 July 2014 . 11
For discussion of urban women and girls recruited as farm laborers , see Stephanie A . Carpenter , On the Farm Front : The Women ’ s Land Army in World War II ( DeKalb : Northern Illinois University Press , 2003 ).
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