We remember the soldiers, sailors and airmen of World War II, but tend to forget those who worked to make the U.S. the "great arsenal of democracy," such as the toolmakers, mechanical engineers and machine operators of Williams Oil-O-Matic Heating Corp. This Bloomington manufacturer, like thousands of "war plants" across the country, played no small role in the Allied victory.

Throughout the war, Oil-O-Matic fulfilled a variety of military contracts requiring precision machine work. The company manufactured hydraulic control devices (or what were called "oil gears") for aiming antiaircraft guns, as well as smoke screen generators for the U.S. Navy and parts for the Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber.

Although Oil-O-Matic was the largest war plant in the area, it was hardly the only one. For example, the Meadows washing machine company made parts for the Oerlikon 20 millimeter cannon, and candy maker Paul F. Beich devoted about 80 percent of its production to the war effort, such as providing packaged sweets for ration kits.

Williams Oil-O-Matic got its start during the coal shortage of the First World War. Walter W. Williams, son of picture postcard maker C.U. Williams, invented an ingeniously engineered oil-powered heater for home or office. They sold well, and soon the new company was building a handsome brick factory at Bell and Hannah streets on the city's south side. These oil burners also proved popular overseas, and were installed in high-profile places like the King David Hotel in Jerusalem and Westminster Abbey in London.

A year before Pearl Harbor, the Bloomington manufacturer, now headed by President William A. Matheson, inked its first war-related contract. With Nazi Germany marching across Europe and Japan sweeping across Asia, Oil-O-Matic was one of three companies charged with producing a hydraulically controlled automatic antiaircraft firing mechanism.

The British ship transporting the schematics of the mechanism was sunk en route to the U.S., so Oil-O-Matic had to fabricate a device from working models. With its close tolerances (in the range of one ten-thousandth of an inch), fabrication and production of the device demanded highly skilled machine work. Matheson and 300 of his "key men," including those from the pattern shop, tool design department, engineering staff and the research and development laboratory, completed the project on time, though to beat the deadline they slept on cots at the plant. "The only thing we are interested in here is something that is hard to do," Matheson said at the time.

Once the U.S. declared war on Japan and Germany, Oil-O-Matic shifted to 100 percent war production. By late May 1942, the plant began operating around the clock, seven days a week, with no holiday shutdowns. Those on the factory floor worked a standard 48-hour week, with time-and-a-half for more than 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week. The entire workforce, which eventually reached 2,800, also agreed to a 10 percent payroll deduction for the purchase of war bonds.

In the fall of 1942, Williams Oil-O-Matic received the first of its three Army-Navy Production "E" (for "Excellence") awards. On Sept. 8, the company halted work for the first time in months-though only for an hour-so workers could attend the award presentation at the Scottish Rite Temple. The award acknowledged the "mechanized" nature of modern warfare, and the fact that victory demanded a "synchronized union of men and machines," both on the front lines and home front.

By the spring of 1944, Oil-O-Matic began training women for machine work, and eventually some 300 or more "Rosie the Riveters" joined the plant's labor force. African-Americans also enjoyed newfound employment opportunities with the company.

There were periodic events designed to boost morale, including a November 1944 visit to the plant by Cesar Romero, Hollywood actor turned boatswain's mate second class in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve. The plant remained in operation for Thanksgiving that year, though the cafeteria served turkey dinners for all three shifts-3 a.m., noon and 7 p.m. The following day employees cheered the news that B-29s had bombed Tokyo, though Victory over Japan (V-J) Day would not come for more than nine months.

In June 1945 Williams Oil-O-Matic merged with vacuum maker Eureka. The company later shed the Williams part of its corporate name and today is known as Electrolux.