Where is everyone

"Juno" wrote

ITYM "Ration Stamps"? And yes, I remember (faintly I was 5 at the end of WWII) rationing. Mom made her first attempt at home canning peaches with her allotment of scarce sugar and was scalded when the hot bottles exploded after the oven door was opened. There was some new-fangled home canning method which by-passed the boiling-in-a-huge-pressure-cooker in favor of cooking at high temp in the oven. BAD!!!

Dad lost almost all of the chain of 37 gasoline stations he had worked so hard to put together when gas rationing cut his product and man power was depleted by the draft.

Beverly

Oh, yes, do I remember! We had no iceman because the ice-plant was just around the corner from our home. Everyday, my cousins &/or I would take a red wagon around & bring enough home. This was in the late 30s-early 40s. By that time, most farmers drove their pick-ups down the streets with produce; each one knew what DM & DGM wanted and would have it put to one side for them. An aunt & her DH had a farm, from which we got milk & meats, etc. Emily

Yes, Rationing Stamps! Dad was able to get more gas than many people because he was in essential industry and had to get back and forth. He worked in Ship Yards, building war ships. The town we lived in had 1 school bus for the entire town. That was because of the rationing of gas. So if you lived off the route you walked. We walked.We also had stamps for things like shoes. Just what every mom needs with 3 children growing out of everything faster than she could possibly replace them. Coffee was also at a premium and of course we all saved paper, tin cans and even the foil from cigarette packs for the war effort. When the war was winding down my parents bought their first home, the catch was we couldn't move in because the tenants had a son in the service and couldn't be asked to leave.We were finally able to move in in early 1945 because my middle brother was ill and needed medical care that he was unable to get without drives of 3 hours or more from the small country town we lived in. Juno

Oh, yes, ration stamp books! My dad got extra gas stamps because he was a doctor and in those days, most of his appointments were housecalls.

My mother canned in the oven, too, and one time she was canning meat (of all things!!!) and the door blew off the oven. Very dangerous in more ways than one.

My father was often paid in food by the farmers he looked after. We got bushels of fruit (apples, I remember) and vegetables, and the occasional chicken.

Cardboard in the bottoms of the shoes -- to cover the holes in the soles. Then one store got in some brown oxfords, just after the war ended, I guess. My father bought me the size that fit, then bought one of every larger size -- by the time I outgrew/wore out those shoes, I vowed never to wear brown oxfords again. Like GWTW, "As god is my witness, I will never wear brown oxfords again!!!"

ROFLOL!!! I love that! It never was, was it?

A very efficient system. The iceman could look at the sign and know how many pounds/how large a block to carry up the stairs.

I'm in the process of repotting 250+ heirloom tomato seedlings. No time for dabbling in sewing, I'm afraid.

Liz

Henry Kaiser built a shipyard in Portland, and it turned out "Liberty Ships".

Beverly

Oh, you lucky dog!!! I have a class picture of me in about second grade, wearing "clogs": wooden soles with white leather upper. I don't recall any of the other girls (besides my sister and me) having to wear them. I hated and despised those things. I think I might have preferred brown oxfords. ;-}

Beverly

I'm glad you remember that weird process too, sometimes I think it might have been a figment of an overactive three-year-old's imagination. I wonder whatever possessed anyone to invent that? Perhaps there was no metal to make a proper canning pressure cooker? My Mom never canned anything else in her entire life AFAICT.

I don't ever remember being hungry, but I know many food items were extremely scarce. Sugar was black-marketed. We knew a family in our little town who were exposed for hoarding sugar in the attic.

Beverly

I don't remember a lack of good food. Many people had gardens and grew lots of veggies. We got fruit from local orchards and because we lived on Eastern Long Island, NY, there was plenty of fish and shell fish to be had. My brothers and I used to go clamming frequently and fishing from a pier at the beach. We were only 1 block from the beach. Mom did a lot of baking so we had sweet yeast cakes, they used less sugar. There was always hoarding by some people but not very common if IRC. The thing is we we all in the same boat and people were very concerned because every family had someone fighting overseas. The other thing is we weren't bombarded with 24 hour news. The news we heard was more important I think because of it. Now we have so many news channels on TV that I think people tend to tune out what's important after awhile. It loses meaning to a lot of people. I must say though that people have a greater feeling of concern and support for the troops then they did during Viet Nam. Juno

My cousin has a son with not a whole lot of his hand left from an ied. I suppose he will remember. My son is in law enforcement in a border town. Every day I know he has stories to tell. His best hs friend just got back from Iraq. He has made some sacrifice. Not all young folks are clueless. I am not sure I can think of any sacrifices that adults are making for the war on terror these days except maybe shoes at the airport. At 50 I can't remember much in the way of shortages in my life but a gas crisis or two. I agree that a lot of kids these days are weenies but don't discount all of them. There still is some hope. Taria

BEI Design wrote:

Re-read my message, I said "civilian sacrifices". I thinks it's appalling that only the guys and gals on the front line are asked to make *any* sacrifice in this very important effort. Many of those safely at home just carry on like there was no armed conflict at all. The previous drift of this thread was remembrances, by those of us old enough to have a memory of it, of the sacrifices required/demanded of the CIVILIAN population at home during WWII. I never implied "kids these days are weenies". I just mused about what their memory of this time will be when they are old foggies like some of us. Sheesh. Brush up your reading comprehension skills.

Beverly

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I agree that the TV news trivializes important events. Just look at the coverage leading up to the U.S. election.

Yes, I think so too, and that's a very good thing. The way the returning troops were treated in the seventies was shameful.

Beverly

Lots of kids these days ARE weenies. Just not all. When I read the last msg. I was trying to figure out just what sacrifices should be made. Since those actually on the front line in this war are volunteer I guess you could say they make the biggest civilian sacrifice by becoming military.

I guess each generation has their own trials to deal with and remember. I hope my kids never have to go through what my parents did and don't have those memories. Taria

BEI Design wrote:

Ah yes, the ration stamp book, "Memories". My DGF was the pastor of a church so we often had chicken for dinner several times a week. Emily

It's also shameful the way our government is treating those returning from battle areas, sneaking the bodies in without allowing any publicity at all, cutting the injured off from ongoing medical care, taking money out of their pay if they were hospitalized. Those are the ones allowed to come home, there are others whose stay has been extended two and even three times.

And into the seventies where I lived as a child.

Milk and fresh orange juice are delivered to the doorstep by our milkman

- unfortunately as he delivers after I leave for work and our doorstep is straight onto the pavement (no front garden/yard) of a street I have ended up not using his services.

Lizzy