10/1/2006:
The Fargo Forum reported an interesting war effort undertaken by local schoolchildren on this day in 1944. That’s right, North Dakota was in the midst of World War II, and even area children attempted to help out by collecting…milkweed. Yes, you heard right: milkweed. This otherwise useless plant was in great demand by the armed forces at this time as a substitute for kapok. Kapok, otherwise known as Java cotton, was the primary material used to fill lifejackets. Java was the principal supplier of the fiber, but the island’s recent occupation by the Japanese had cut the United State’s supply. It was found that the floss found within the pods of the milkweed plant was also highly waterproof and buoyant, and so the race began to gather the pods. Cass county school children were dispatched across the countryside with sacks for gathering the 2,000,000 pods requested by the military for the year.
Source:
Fargo Forum and Daily Tribune (Morning ed.). October 1, 1944: p. 1.