This is Bob Myers from the Historical Society of Michigan with a Michigan history moment. In 1918, Michigan peaches went to war. More precisely, peach pits served in World War I as an essential ingredient in gas masks. In 1915, the German army used chlorine gas on a large scale for the first time. France and England soon followed the German example. Chemical warfare became a standard element of the battlefield. Phosgene, usually mixed with chlorine, followed. Chlorine gas. Mustard gas that burned the skin, eyes and lungs, was introduced in 1917. Gas was tricky to use on the battlefield. A change in wind direction could blow it back on the attackers. Nevertheless, gas attacks terrified soldiers and with good reason. Poison gas killed thousands of men and incapacitated many more. By the time American doughboys arrived in France, mustard gas was the preferred chemical weapon. The US army issued gas masks to American soldiers. Gas masks used charcoal to filter the poison gas. The Army's Chemical Warfare Service found that fruit pits and nutshells and made the best carbon for the purpose. In August 1918, the federal government called on Americans to collect them for gas masks. It was a daunting challenge. It took 200 peach pits, or 7 pounds of nutshells to make enough activated carbon for a single mask. In all, the army would need a million pounds of raw material every day. All across America, people collected pits and shells. They gathered them from household kitchens, bakeries, restaurants, hotels, and railroad dining cars. Nearly every town set up barrels in stores, banks and street corners where people could deposit fruit pits. School children, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts went door to door to collect them. Their efforts succeeded. In October, schools in Goebbels sent in £600 of pits and shells, and Escanaba collected several hundred pounds of material. And the towns of Adrian and Hudson shipped more than half a ton. Days before the armistice, Saginaw boasted that it had collected five tons of pits and shells. Detroit sent in 40 tons, and Boy Scouts in Flint had gathered 3,811 pounds of material. Despite those efforts, the army still required more. To fill the need, the federal government bought coconut shells and brought in shiploads of the stuff. The armistice, signed on November 11, 1918, ended the fighting. A week later, on November 19, the government ended the pit and nutshell collection program. Michigan civilians were proud that they had done their bit to win the war. This Michigan history moment was brought to you by michiganhistorymagazine.org.