On the Home Front

[kanowarrior]

GETTING IN THE SCRAP
By Morgan P. Yates
Published in Orange County Westways Magazine Jan/Feb 2011

Auto Club employees unload scrap tire casings at a Union Oil station collection depot on the corner of 11th and Hill streets in downtown L.A. in this June 1942 image. The load of nearly three tons of casings came from a Sunland citrus rancher who had acquired them to fuel his smudge pots in freezing weather. At the time, gas cost 19 cents a gallon, a bottle of Coke was a nickel, and scrap rubber went for a penny a pound.

The admonition “Don’t you know there’s a war going on?” emphasized the need for home front sacrifices – from scrap drives to rationing of food and consumer goods – during World War II. At the outset of the war, Japan invaded Southeast Asia, blocking America’s access to its primary source of natural rubber. In a radio appeal in June 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt called for a nationwide scrap drive to address the rubber shortage and to give Americans a sense that they could, and must, do their part to support military efforts overseas.

Civilians donated old tires, hot water bottles, shoes, and even girdles to be recycled and used to make military boots, vehicle tires, inflatable boats, insulated wire, and other products our troops needed. And before the war ended, everything from gasoline to typewriters to shoes to cooking fat was rationed, as consumer goods took a backseat to military production.

The close of the war brought an end to rationing and the collecting of salvaged materials. Ration books were ceremoniously burned, and Americans look forward to the next chapter of what would be a tumultuous century.

Attachments:

[kanowarrior]

Picture of junk cars left in fields around Diamond Head to thwart Japanese Invasion aircraft from landing.

Attachments:

[kanowarrior]

IN ENGLAND
Food rationing came into force in January 1940. Each person could have each week
· 8p worth of meat,
· 3 pints of milk,
· 8 ounces of sugar,
· 4 ounces of butter or fat,
· 4 ounces of bacon,
· 2 ounces of tea,
· 1 ounce of cheese
· 1 egg.
Foods such as rice, jam, biscuits, tinned food and dried fruit were rationed by points.

Each family had to register with a shop or store where the food would be bought and this was the only place where the family could shop. Each member of the family had his/her own ration book, adults had a buff coloured book, children over three had a blue book and babies had a green book.

It wasn't just food that was rationed. They even controlled the clothes we wore. Clothing the family was a real nightmare.

Attachments:

[kanowarrior]

Women getting their legs painted. Stockings were impossible to get so they painted their legs to look like they were wearing stockings. Silk was used for parachutes among other things.

Attachments:

[kanowarrior]

During World War II, 18 million women worked in the defense industry building armaments for the war effort. This historic picture shows a crew that labored at the Richmond Kaiser Shipyard in California. The area is preserved in the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park.

Attachments:

[kanowarrior]

During the war, food was rationed for four reasons: (1) There was a drop of 17 percent in the number of people working on farms because they were either fighting in the war or working in a war production plant; (2) Extra food was needed to feed the troops; (3) Countries that had provided certain foods like sugar were now occupied by the enemy; and (4) Most ships were used for the war effort and not to transport goods.

People received ration books, which had coupons for certain items like sugar, coffee, butter, meats, and canned goods. The coupons in the book allowed you to buy the item in the store. Even if you had the money, if you did not have a coupon, you could not buy that food.

Meat rationing started in March 1942. The American armed forces needed a lot of meat to feed their troops, leading to shortages of meat at home. For families who were used to eating meat at every meal, this was a dramatic change. Housewives were encouraged to make certain days "meatless." The shortage of meat was so bad that at one point butchers sold horsemeat to customers in St. Louis, Missouri!

Although bread wasn't rationed, there were changes in bread sales. In order to keep the price of bread down, the government announced a ban on sliced bread. Bakeries like this one in Texas could not use their bread-slicing machines. Housewives protested and then ran to the hardware store to buy bread knives. Soon a new saying was heard on the streets — "the greatest thing since sliced bread". The ban was eventually lifted when bakers noticed that bread sales had fallen.

New recipes came out of rationing. Housewives had to learn to cook differently, instead of using sugar to bake, they used substitutes like corn syrup and fruit juice. For example, this wartime Christmas cake recipe uses a little sugar but more corn syrup and fruit. Instead of using butter, the recipe calls for margarine.

Ingredients
3 ounces sugar
4 ounces margarine
1 level tablespoon golden syrup (corn syrup)
8 ounces plain flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch salt
1 level teaspoon mixed spice
1 level teaspoon ground cinnamon
2–4 reconstituted dried eggs
1 pound mixed dried fruit ½ teaspoon lemon essence
Milk to mix

Method
1. Cream the sugar and margarine.
2. Add the syrup.
3. Mix the flour, baking powder, salt and spices together.
4. Add alternately with the eggs to the creamed mixture and beat well.
5. Add the fruit, lemon essence and enough milk to make a fairly soft dough.
6. Line a 7-inch tin with greased paper, put in the mixture and bake in a very moderate oven for 2 hours.

Attachments:

[kanowarrior]

Fruits and vegetables are perishable (spoiled fast). The best way to make them last longer was to put them in a jar or can and seal it hermetically (completely seal).

Canned food was the easiest and most reliable way to get food for the troops, so the armed forces used up most of the supply of canned goods. People on the home front were encouraged to can their own food. Even though it is called canning, most people used glass jars to preserve their fruits and vegetables. By using glass instead of metal, they saved steel and tin, which were needed for the war effort.

Victory Gardens became so popular that women, who had never had a reason to can food before the war, started canning the produce of their own gardens. See the Victory Garden poster in the living room for more information.

Attachments:

[kanowarrior]

Radio was the main source of home entertainment during the war as well as government propaganda. Just as we watch our favorite TV shows at certain times, families gathered around the radio to listen to their favorite programs from soap operas, to music programs, to kids shows and variety shows.

Because so many homes had radios, the U.S. government used the opportunity to run commercials called Public Service Announcements (PSA) to urge Americans to do certain things like buy war bonds.

Attachments:

[kanowarrior]

The tradition of these flags started in World War I and continued through World War II. The "Sons in Service" flag, as they are called, was a way for families at home to proclaim their patriotism by stating all the family members they had in active military service boldly in the window.
The flag was white with a red border. For each family member in active service, the flag had one blue star in the middle. The more family members fighting, the more stars on the flag.
The star was replaced or covered with a gold star should that family member die in action.
Families would put their "Sons in Service" flags in the window as markers of pride and as a symbol of their contribution to the war effort.

Attachments:

[pyrofox79]

Jan 30, 2011 0:33:21 GMT -5 kanowarrior said:

The tradition of these flags started in World War I and continued through World War II. The "Sons in Service" flag, as they are called, was a way for families at home to proclaim their patriotism by stating all the family members they had in active military service boldly in the window.
The flag was white with a red border. For each family member in active service, the flag had one blue star in the middle. The more family members fighting, the more stars on the flag.
The star was replaced or covered with a gold star should that family member die in action.
Families would put their "Sons in Service" flags in the window as markers of pride and as a symbol of their contribution to the war effort.

One used to see these all the time on Camp Pendleton. But I believe that they have lost their meaning. I asked another Marine what they thought it meant and they told me it stood for how many deployments one has been on. Sad that the meaning of certain things has been lost.

[kanowarrior]

This was an ad from the Honolulu Star-Bulletin from Hawaii. Invasion hysteria was at an all time high as you can see. This ad was interpeted as being a message to the enemy.

Attachments:

[kanowarrior]

Not all invasion hysteria fears were groundless. This is a radio transmitter that was found in the hills in Hawaii.

Attachments:

[kanowarrior]

As with all disasters in American history, the desire to let your family know you were safe happened after the attack at Pearl Harbor just as it did after the Twin Towers were destroyed in New York on September 11th.

Then people called out on their cell phones. Back in 1941 not everyone in Hawaii had a telephone and cellphones were non-existent. The Telegraph was the method of choice.

Attachments:

[kanowarrior]

Recycling was born with the government’s encouragement. Saving aluminum cans meant more ammunition for the soldiers. Economizing initiatives seemed endless as Americans were urged to conserve and recycle metal, paper and rubber. War bonds and stamps were sold to provide war funds, and the American people also united through volunteerism. Communities joined together to hold scrap-iron drives, and schoolchildren pasted saving stamps into bond books.

Attachments:

[kanowarrior]

Then there were the food manufacturers who took advantage of the wartime shortages to flaunt their patriotism to their profit. The familiar blue box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese Dinner gained great popularity as a substitute for meat and dairy products. Two boxes required only one rationing coupon, which resulted in 80 million boxes sold in 1943. Food substitutions became evident with real butter being replaced with Oleo margarine. Cottage cheese took on a new significance as a substitute for meat, with sales exploding from 110 million pounds in 1930 to 500 million pounds in 1944.

After three years of rationing, World War II came to a welcome end. Rationing, however, did not end until 1946. Life resumed as normal and the consumption of meat, butter, and sugar inevitably rose. While Americans still live with some of the results of World War II, rationing has not returned.

Boxes of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese sold in 1937, its first year: 9 million. In 1937, a salesman for the Tenderoni Macaroni Co. in St. Lousi had an idea that he could sell more of product if he attached envelopes of grated American cheese to the packages. Kraft found out about the sales idea, hired the man, and appropriated macaroni and cheese as its own, selling nine million boxes at 19 cents a box in its first year.
Source: Hartford Courant, 4/26/1995

Attachments:

[kanowarrior]

Rationing resulted in one serious side effect: the black market, where people could buy rationed items on the sly, but at higher prices. The practice provoked mixed reactions from those who banded together to conserve as instructed, as opposed to those who fed the black market's subversion and profiteering. For the most part, black marketeers dealt in clothing and liquor in Britain, and meat, sugar and gasoline in the United States.

While life during the war meant daily sacrifice, few complained because they knew it was the men and women in uniform who were making the greater sacrifice. A poster released by the Office of War Information stated simply, “Do with less so they’ll have enough.” And yet another pleaded, “Be patriotic, sign your country’s pledge to save the food.” On the whole, the American people were united in their efforts.

Attachments:

[kanowarrior]

Walt Disney's studio also helped the war effort, as almost every cartoon produced by Disney in this period dealt with the war effort. Each Disney cartoon began with a headshot of Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, or Goofy, and during this time each wore an Army or Navy cap. Disney produced a B-Feature based on the book, Victory Through Air Power and several promotional and comical shorts on the importance of rationing, buying bonds and paying one's income tax ("Taxes Against the Axis"). Education for Death was a Disney short documentary based on the book of the same name, on the making of a Nazi; demonstrating the cruelty of Hitler's Reich against even its own citizens, weeding out the "weak or inferior" and breeding hatred and obedience in its people, devoid of compassion. Der Fuehrer's Face aka Donald Duck in Nutziland, starring Donald living a nightmare in German province and working in a munitions plant, was one of the most popular and famous cartoons of the period. The song from the cartoon - "Der Fuehrer's face" recorded by Spike Jones & the City Slickers - also became very popular for its contempt of Nazi leaders:

Ven der Fuehrer says, "Ve iss der master race,"
Ve HEIL! [honk!] HEIL! [honk!] Right in der Fuehrer's face!
Not to luff der Fuehrer iss a great disgrace,
So Ve HEIL! [honk!] HEIL! [honk!] Right in der Fuehrer's face!
Ven Herr Goebbels says, "Ve own der world und space,"
Ve HEIL! [honk!] HEIL! [honk!] Right in Herr Goebbels' face!
Ven Herr Goering says, "Dey'll never bomb dis place,"
Ve HEIL! [honk!] HEIL! [honk!] Right in Herr Goering's face!

Disney's famous Three Little Pigs song "Who's Afraid of the Big, Bad Wolf" became a rallying cry for civilians during the war. In a short during the war years, the familiar pigs and wolf were re-imagined with the "bricks" in the Practical Pig's house being actually made of war bonds, and the Big Bad Wolf is shown wearing a swastika, representing Nazi Germany.
Disney Cartoon Mascots during the War:

The American Volunteer Group's “Flying Tiger” insignia, shown on a Curtiss P-40 fighter of that unit, piloted by ace Robert "R.T." Smith, was created by the Walt Disney Company.Donald Duck-mascot of United States Coast Guard Auxiliary; 309th Fighter Squadron; 415th Fighter Squadron; 438th Fighter Squadron; 479th Bombardment Squadron; 531st Bombardment Squadron.
Goofy-mascot of 602nd Bomb Squadron; 756th Bomb Squadron.
Pete (Disney character)-mascot of United States Merchant Marine; 603rd Bomb Squadron
Figaro (Disney) mascot of RAF Ace Ian Gleed's Spitfire Mk. Vb Troop while he was in action over the Western Desert and the Mediterranean during the middle of the war.
The Disney company also created a number of military unit insignias for the United States forces during World War II, with one of the best known ones being that of the American Volunteer Group, the well-known "Flying Tigers" of the China-Burma-India Theater's early years in the war.

Attachments:

[kanowarrior]

For people living in rural and suburban areas, cars were the way they got around. But, because of gas and rubber shortages, cars had to be used sparingly.

The gas shortage was a combination of the sinking of oil tankers by the Germans and the war-production needs. Rubber was scarce because Japan had conquered the countries that produced 97 percent of the American rubber supply.

As a result of these two shortages, Americans were forced to do less driving. Depending on your job, you were given a certain amount of ration cards for gas and tires. If you were a doctor, and driving was considered essential, you got the highest allocation of gas and tires. However, if you were a housewife, driving was not considered essential. That meant that many homes had to be careful of how many times they went to the movies, went on picnics, or even to the store.

The government urged the public to change their driving habits, as this Public Service Announcement explains the need for complying with government rules.

Attachments:

[kanowarrior]

New Orleans, Louisiana, 1943. Line at Rationing Board during World War II.

Location is the 500 block of Gravier Street. Note part of the Hibernia Bank Building visible in distance at left.

Attachments: