Happy D-Day

God Bless all those people who saved the world.

Not just the soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen but the Rosie-the-Riveters too. They accepted rationing of sugar, rubber and many of the other things that made life in the United States better than other places just so the troops could have more. They also accepted a tax increase to pay for the war that amounted to 5% of the GDP at the time. By paying for the war while there was a war, we were financially positioned to become the #1 economic superpower over the next 20 years due to our lower debt. Not only was there a draft, people who were not one-A still tried to enlist. Some of those who were rejected by the army doctors and were not allowed to serve, committed suicide because they were ashamed that they weren't considered good enough to fight, and perhaps die, for their country.

This, from Wikipedia:

The United States did not have food rationing in World War I. Through slogans such as "Food Will Win the War", "Meatless Mondays", and "Wheatless Wednesdays", the United States Food Administration under Herbert Hoover reduced national consumption by 15%. In summer 1941 the British appealed to Americans to conserve food to provide more to go to Britons fighting in World War II. The Office of Price Administration warned Americans of potential gasoline, steel, aluminum, and electricity shortages. It believed that with factories converting to military production and consuming many critical supplies, rationing would become necessary if the country entered the war. It established a rationing system after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Of concern for all parts of the country was a shortage of rubber for tires since the Japanese quickly conquered the rubber-producing regions of Southeast Asia. Although synthetic rubber had been invented in the years preceding the war, it had been unable to compete with natural rubber commercially, so the USA did not have enough manufacturing capacity at the start of the war to make synthetic rubber. Throughout the war, rationing of gasoline was motivated by a desire to conserve rubber as much as by a desire to conserve gasoline.
“ We discovered that the American people are basically honest and talk too much. ” —A ration board member

Tires were the first item to be rationed by the OPA, which ordered the temporary end of sales on 11 December 1941 while it created 7,500 unpaid, volunteer three-person tire ration boards around the country. By 5 January 1942 the boards were ready. Each received a monthly allotment of tires based on the number of local vehicle registrations, and allocated them to applicants based on OPA rules. The War Production Board (WPB) ordered the temporary end of all civilian automobile sales on 1 January 1942, leaving dealers with one half million unsold cars. Ration boards grew in size as they began evaluating automobile sales in February (only certain professions, such as doctors and clergymen, qualified to purchase the remaining inventory of new automobiles), typewriters in March, and bicycles in May. Automobile factories stopped manufacturing civilian models by early February 1942 and converted to producing tanks, aircraft, weapons, and other military products, with the United States government as the only customer. By June 1942 companies also stopped manufacturing for civilians metal office furniture, radios, phonographs, refrigerators, vacuum cleaners, washing machines, and sewing machines.

Civilians first received ration books—War Ration Book Number One, or the "Sugar Book"—on 4 May 1942, through more than 100,000 schoolteachers, PTA groups, and other volunteers. A national speed limit of 35 miles per hour was imposed to save fuel and rubber for tires. Later that month volunteers again helped distribute gasoline cards in 17 Atlantic and Pacific Northwest states. To get a classification and rationing stamps, one had to appear before a local War Price and Rationing Board which reported to the OPA (which was jokingly said to stand for "Only a Puny A-card"). Each person in a household received a ration book, including babies and small children who qualified for canned milk not available to others. To receive a gasoline ration card, a person had to certify a need for gasoline and ownership of no more than five tires. All tires in excess of five per driver were confiscated by the government, because of rubber shortages. An "A" sticker on a car was the lowest priority of gasoline rationing and entitled the car owner to 3 to 4 gallons of gasoline per week. B stickers were issued to workers in the military industry, entitling their holder up to 8 gallons of gasoline per week. C stickers were granted to persons deemed very essential to the war effort, such as doctors. T rations were made available for truckers. Lastly, X stickers on cars entitled the holder to unlimited supplies and were the highest priority in the system. Ministers of Religion, police, firemen, and civil defense workers were in this category. A scandal erupted when 200 Congressmen received these X stickers.

As of 1 March 1942, dog food could no longer be sold in tin cans, and manufacturers switched to dehydrated versions. As of 1 April 1942, anyone wishing to purchase a new toothpaste tube, then made from metal, had to turn in an empty one. Sugar was the first consumer commodity rationed, with all sales ended on 27 April 1942 and resumed on 5 May with a ration of one half pound per person per week, half of normal consumption. Bakeries, ice cream makers, and other commercial users received rations of about 70% of normal usage. Coffee was rationed nationally on 29 November 1942 to one pound every five weeks, about half of normal consumption, in part because of German U-boat attacks on shipping from Brazil. By the end of 1942, ration coupons were used for nine other items. Typewriters, gasoline, bicycles, footwear, Silk, Nylon, fuel oil, stoves, meat, lard, shortening and oils, cheese, butter, margarine, processed foods (canned, bottled, and frozen), dried fruits, canned milk, firewood and coal, jams, jellies, and fruit butter were rationed by November 1943. Many retailers welcomed rationing because they were already experiencing shortages of many items due to rumors and panics, such as flashlights and batteries after Pearl Harbor.

Medicines such as penicillin were rationed by a triage committee at each hospital.

Many levels of rationing went into effect. Some items, such as sugar, were distributed evenly based on the number of people in a household. Other items, like gasoline or fuel oil, were rationed only to those who could justify a need. Restaurant owners and other merchants were accorded more availability, but had to collect ration stamps to restock their supplies. In exchange for used ration stamps, ration boards delivered certificates to restaurants and merchants to authorize procurement of more products.
The work of issuing ration books and exchanging used stamps for certificates was handled by some 5,500 local ration boards of mostly volunteer workers selected by local officials.

Each ration stamp had a generic drawing of an airplane, gun, tank, aircraft carrier, ear of wheat, fruit, etc. and a serial number. Some stamps also had alphabetic lettering. The kind and amount of rationed commodities were not specified on most of the stamps and were not defined until later when local newspapers published, for example, that beginning on a specified date, one airplane stamp was required (in addition to cash) to buy one pair of shoes and one stamp number 30 from ration book four was required to buy five pounds of sugar. The commodity amounts changed from time to time depending on availability. Red stamps were used to ration meat and butter, and blue stamps were used to ration processed foods.

To enable making change for ration stamps, the government issued "red point" tokens to be given in change for red stamps, and "blue point" tokens in change for blue stamps. The red and blue tokens were about the size of dimes (16 mm) and were made of thin compressed wood fiber material, because metals were in short supply.

There was a black market in stamps. To prevent this, the OPA ordered vendors not to accept stamps that they themselves did not tear out of books. Buyers, however, circumvented this by saying (sometimes accurately. The books were not well-made), that the stamps had "fallen out." In actuality, they may have acquired stamps from other family members or friends, or the black market.

As a result of the rationing, all forms of Automobile racing, including the Indianapolis 500, were banned. Sightseeing driving was also banned. In some regions breaking the gas rationing was so prevalent that night courts were set up to supplement the number of violators caught, the first gasoline-ration night court was created at Pittsburgh's Fulton Building on May 26, 1943.

Rationing was ended in 1946.

How many of us would accept these "inconveniences" today? How many of us would be ok with 3-4 gallons of gas a week? How many of us would be ok with hospitals having limited antibiotics because most of it was being reserved for the troops? Imagine the howls if the Indy 500 was cancelled. Remember what a big deal it was when Jimmy Carter pulled us out of the 1980 Olympics because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan? We couldn't even handle that.

These were the days when Americans really were tough guys and gals and not just a bunch of 'tude.

Sorry for the rant. I get like this when I travel and see how good we've got it compared to everybody else and yet how whiny we get when we even so much as crack a nail. We've become the country of "The Princess and the Pea".

bob


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RosalieTCeltics wrote:And, on top of all that, it is my 43rd Anniversary. We met in l962, in junior high school, and have been together ever since. I seems like only yesterday! HaHa

Rosalie,

Happy anniversary! It's also my in-laws 69th anniversary. They were married on the actual D-Day, June 6, 1944.

That was the great generation.

Too bad Americans can agree to work on anything collectively anymore.

dboss

Seems like it was only yesterday that I was sitting with my Mom and dad during the early morning hours of June 6th 1944 listening to "Ike's" D-Day invasion speech. As a soon to be 10 year old when the war started on December 7th 1941 those war years will always be remembered by me as Americas finast hour. Thanks Bob H for the reminder of the Home front effort that supported our magnificent military.

Click on to "Ike's D-Day speech.
http://www.army.mil/d-day/message.html

Swish

Rosalie,

Yes, my in-laws are still alive. Both celebrate their 90th birthday this year. My parents and my in-laws have their health issues, but we are blessed to have both sets of parents still with us. They won't last forever, but we're enjoying them while we can.

My Dad was at DDay, escorting ammo for the invasion, tomorrow, the 7th, would have been his 94th, he passed the beginning of May after more than 72 yrs of marriage. At both honor ceremonies the point was made that his was the "greatest" generation, and with an honor gurard saying at his inurnment that not only the greatest generation but he was NAVY unlike my Army brother any myself. My Dad was one of the last Chief Quartermaster's, he and his generation saved the world, let's get it back in their memory!

I posted this on Memorial Day but would like to repeat it here. From June 6, 1944. My wife and I were about 30 yards away.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgDZdFQY3iM

If anyone wants to see Lisa Zanatta Henn, she's in this shorter video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgDZdFQY3iM

Sam






Sam