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jaybannist(at)cs.com
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 Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2009 5:28 am Post subject: War time rationing, etc. |
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Gary,
During WWII, 4F was a classification of physical condition that meant that person was not physically qualified to serve in the armed forces. As an aside, in my home town, most of the 4F guys were older; and most of them spent a lot of time doing heavy duty odd jobs for ladies whose husbands were serving in the military.
During that war, there was rationing of a lot of things that were vital to the war effort, including a lot of food items (meat, sugar, butter, cheese), gasoline, tires, etc. Every car had a square sticker with a single letter, stuck on the windshield. As I recall, ours was a "C". The classification determined how much gasoline and other automotive related stuff one could purchase. In the cartoon, the "A" sticker was the lowest allotment, I think only about 4 gallons per week. There was also a 40 mph speed limit on all highways to save on gasoline and wear and tear on tires. We had a 1941 Chrysler that had to last until the war was over. I can remember a couple of times, Mother ran out of gas before we got home and we had to push it a couple of blocks to home. Because my father was serving in the Marine Corps, my mother could shop at the commissary at the local Army Air Corps air field. She still had to use her allotted food ration stamps to buy a lot of things. We younger boys REALLY suffered. We couldn't get bubble gum, nor caps for our cap guns !!.
One of my uncles was in charge of anythi
ng related to photography at the Pentagon. He sent us a 16mm projector and a lot of military training films for our entertainment. Many of those films were animated cartoons like the Bugs Bunny one. One of my favorites was about the elements of camoflage featuring an animated camelion. Another of my favorites was about loose lips (ie: "loose lips sink ships") and rumors. This one started out with someone talking about the "balmy weather" which eventually turned into a rumor about a bombing raid.
At my elementary school we had weekly air raid drills. We were not at all likely to be a bombing target, so I think it was mostly to stress the fact that we were at war. We saved and donated the "tin foil" from chewing gum wrappers (to be used as chat dropped from airplanes) and bought 10 cent war bond stamps. The stamps were pasted in a little book. When the book was full, we could trade it for a real war bond. We also had a "victory garden" in our back yard to save food for our troops.
We were at war and EVERYONE participated in one way or another.
Jay Bannister
Do not archive
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ggower_99(at)yahoo.com
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| Posted: Thu Apr 23, 2009 9:06 am Post subject: War time rationing, etc. |
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Thanks a lot Jay,
Great explanation, I appreciate it very much.
I knew all of that as part of reading, history books, from Mom and Dad, but without that specific things as 4F etc.
I also remember Mom told us about the tin foil, here also Mexicans sent the tinfoil of the cigarette packages and chewing gum to send it over, here was a very active campain to support of the Allieds (sp?).
In fact Dad served in WW2 as a Tail Machine Gunner.
He always told us and in parties (I loved all his histories, even in his last years when I was adult) that he was very sad... He trained a lot, right now I cant remember how many time (months or years?) , when they were ready and traveling in the train from the trainning camp to New York to go to Europe, the war ended!
He wanted so much to be there...
Thanks a lot once more.
Saludos
Gary Gower.
Do not archive.
--- On Thu, 4/23/09, jaybannist(at)cs.com <jaybannist(at)cs.com> wrote:
[quote]From: jaybannist(at)cs.com <jaybannist(at)cs.com>
Subject: Re: War time rationing, etc.
To: zenith-list(at)matronics.com
Date: Thursday, April 23, 2009, 9:26 AM
Gary,
During WWII, 4F was a classification of physical condition that meant that person was not physically qualified to serve in the armed forces. As an aside, in my home town, most of the 4F guys were older; and most of them spent a lot of time doing heavy duty odd jobs for ladies whose husbands were serving in the military.
During that war, there was rationing of a lot of things that were vital to the war effort, including a lot of food items (meat, sugar, butter, cheese), gasoline, tires, etc. Every car had a square sticker with a single letter, stuck on the windshield. As I recall, ours was a "C". The classification determined how much gasoline and other automotive related stuff one could purchase. In the cartoon, the "A" sticker was the lowest allotment, I think only about 4 gallons per week. There was also a 40 mph speed limit on all highways to save on gasoline and wear and tear on tires. We had a 1941 Chrysler that had to last until the war was over. I can remember a couple of times, Mother ran out of gas before we got home and we had to push it a couple of blocks to home. Because my father was serving in the Marine Corps, my mother could shop at the commissary at the local Army Air Corps air field. She still had to use her allotted food ration stamps to buy a lot of things. We younger boys REALLY suffered. We couldn't get bubble gum, nor caps for our cap guns !!.
One of my uncles was in charge of anything related to photography at the Pentagon. He sent us a 16mm projector and a lot of military training films for our entertainment. Many of those films were animated cartoons like the Bugs Bunny one. One of my favorites was about the elements of camoflage featuring an animated camelion. Another of my favorites was about loose lips (ie: "loose lips sink ships") and rumors. This one started out with someone talking about the "balmy weather" which eventually turned into a rumor about a bombing raid.
At my elementary school we had weekly air raid drills. We were not at all likely to be a bombing target, so I think it was mostly to stress the fact that we were at war. We saved and donated the "tin foil" from chewing gum wrappers (to be used as chat dropped from airplanes) and bought 10 cent war bond stamps. The stamps were pasted in a little book. When the book was full, we could trade it for a real war bond. We also had a "victory garden" in our back yard to save food for our troops.
We were at war and EVERYONE participated in one way or another.
Jay Bannister
Do not archive
--
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