WWII, the homefront as I remember it

[solo1]

I was born and raised in Ft. Wayne.  When the War started  things changed. Rationing was immediate.

As i recall, sugar and gas were the tightest.  There were three gas rationing stamps.  The A stamp was good for 3 gallons a week, the B was good for 12, and the C was unlimited.  Peons got the A, defense workers got the B, and politicians got the C.

The speed limit was 35mph nationally.  Of course no interstate highways ,that would take place after the war when Eisenhower pushed them.  New tires could not be found.  The last production year  of cars was 1942. Not many were made and the very last came with WOODEN bumpers front and back.

War bonds drives were done regularly and the most popular bond was the $25.  Bought at $19. it was cashed much later for $25.  In 1945 I worked at the GE war plant during school. Special permission was granted for minors (me) and at 17 I worked from 4 to 8pm weekdays and eight hours on Saturday.  This was besides going to high school. My pay was .77 cents/hr.  I packed spare parts for Navy ships.

There were regular occurring metal scrap drives AND grease drives,  Bacon fat, cooking oil, etc were all accepted,  A motto on the radio which didn't last long was "Ladies, bring your fat cans down to the recycling center"   

Chocolate was almost impossible to get. Hershey bars were kept 'under the counter' for special customers.  Licorice chewy candys were available and were openly called a politically incorrect term.

Those were tough times with very little traveling because of the gasoline rationing.  However if we would've had the likes of the present DC politicians they would've been 'run out of town on a rail" or worse.

It was a time when America was completely united for one thing...........To Win!

[John Schmidt]

Wayne, I actually remember that "fat cans" motto. Dad always chuckled over it and mom appropriately fussed at him. I remember a lot of what went on in those hard times. We lived in a small town in SW Iowa where dad was school Superintendent. He tried to enlist but when they found out about his job he was turned down. You could tell it was a small town by the street map....a big X. My folks used to send me to the store that was about 100 yds. away, they felt I could get more for the ration stamp than they could. Guess it was because I was a little kid and mom said she could never refuse "those big brown eyes." I remember the school custodian driving his Lincoln Zephyr to work and seeing some rags flopping around the wheels as he drove by. He needed a couple inner tubes and couldn't get them so stuffed his two rear tires with rags. Always looked like his tires were half flat. Strangely enough, dad never had trouble getting new tires for the school buses. So to help out some of the local farmers, he would ask for a couple new tires a little ahead of time and then let various farmers have the still useable old ones for their machinery. I'm sure you remember the Victory gardens of that period, we had a huge one and shared a lot of what we grew with a couple of older folks in the district that couldn't maintain one of their own. Since we lived close to Omaha, there was a regular Blackout Practice. That used to scare me, I'd hear planes flying overhead and the siren would go off, moments later the entire town went black. Often my folks would sit in the "parlor" and listen to H.V. Kaltenborn give the war news, the lights would be out and it would be deathly quiet except for the radio and sometimes planes overhead. Those were the years that dad finished his Masters at the U of Colorado, Boulder and started on his Phd.  He told me some years later the reason we always took the train was due to the lack of gas and tires, otherwise he would have driven out. The summers in Boulder left me with many fond memories. The time in that small crossroads town in Iowa....not so much, but it hardened you somewhat to trials that were to come in later years. We had running water and a path, you run out to get it by the pail full and the path led to the half-moon palace. We had two light bulbs in the house and two lamps, both were gas operated. If you wanted light in the parlor, you waited until mom didn't need it in the bedroom then carried the lamp into the parlor. One bulb was in the kitchen, the other in the dining room. I thought I was special if dad let me use the little hand pump to pump up the fuel canister that made up the base of the lamps. When I got older, he showed me how to replace the mantel, I was really important then.    During those years was also the time I contracted all the usual childhood maladies; chicken pox, measles, etc.

My concern today: Would our country come together to win at any expense like it did in the early 40's. In our current society, it seems doubtful. I hope I'm wrong but to me it doesn't seem promising.

[old2soon]

Being born in 1945 I don't remember the rationing but Mom and Dad told me about it. Growing up I did a LOT of reading on WWII. Lotsa folks had no idea how dicey WWII was from the start. Not only were we able to help arm our allies we forged our own war machine in the process. Had it not been for the scrap drives the rationing the austerity measures at home we MIGHT not have beaten our enemies as soundly as we did. I won't say "won" because as we now know-NOBODY wins in a war. You have Victors and the Vanquished. So much of the politics we are dealing with today world wide were the direct result of WWII. How much would it help this country if every body paid In full plus interest their WWII war debt to us? Very thought provoking Wayne and John from two that were actually there!  RIDE SAFE

[solo1]

John, Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the blackouts.  That's when i would report for duty as a messenger.
It was awesome for a 17 year old to walk around in the dark 'on duty' with a feeling of importance.

Toward the end of the war. there were many gold stars in the windows of homes, representing those who were killed in the Service.   There were also many returning veterans, former students, who were welcomed to speak at the high schools that they had left or graduated from. 

Thank you John for sharing your experience during those united times.  I, like you, seriously doubt if that could happen in todays POTUS enhanced defilement of America.

[John Schmidt]

I forgot about the scrap metal drives. Out back of the house we had a well fed by a windmill. At one point, dad had the well drilled out farther down and we were able to use the hand pump instead of the creaky old windmill. Since the property wasn't owned by us, we weren't able to remove the windmill right away. Dad had some pull due to his position in the school system and the owner was "told" to remove the structure and donate the metal. It finally came down much to mom's relief since I would sneak out and climb to the top and play "lookout" for enemy planes, seems that's also where I broke my first ankle playing Superman. I had tied a big sheet or something around my neck and tried jumping off the ladder about 10' off the ground. Fortunately it was all grass in that area. We did finally get running water in the house and an inside commode was installed. The commode was impossible to get, as was the sink, so some scrounging took place. The big old iron kitchen stove remained, mom loved that thing. It was also the source of our hot water, taken from a large container on the right side that was an integral part of the stove. Wayne, do you remember the introduction of margarine that came in the plastic bag with the coloring bead inside? Dad called it phony butter, mom always let me break the bead and knead the white margarine enough so that it would at least look like butter. Even then, we could only get one every 2-3 weeks due to the small size of our family.

[solo1]

My gosh John, you are jogging my memory.  My mom also let me knead that orange pill into the margarine!  Another one.  Kraft's cheese product, the brick, back then, came in a little wood box.

Groceries were home delivered by bike or wagon. Milk was delivered in glass 'Uservo' bottles by a milkman with a horse and wagon. If you weren't home, the milkman would come in and put the milk in the refridge or the ice box. In Ft. Wayne, they still used horses for that until after the war.

The principal of the high school would read the 'news' about the 'boys who served' from my high school over the PA every morning and, of course the Pledge was said.

When I graduated from Central high School in 1946. our baccalaureate service was held across the street.  The full graduating class was there in St. Pauls Lutheran Church. So what? .......... Central was a PUBLIC high school .!!!!!   Imagine that today.

[John Schmidt]

Oh wow, those cheese boxes were great for making little cars'n trucks. I'd use some of the round doodads from my Tinker Toy sets for wheels and small twigs for axles. I'd use dad's drill to make a couple holes in the bottom on each end of the axle, then some thin wire threaded through and around the axle. Then twist it tight inside the box to hold the axle. I'll bet those would be worth a bunch today.  When dad was the Superintendent, the local church couldn't afford to keep the doors open so he let them hold services in one of the larger classrooms. I thought it was funny because even the local town drunk would attend.

The town was small, as stated....the street map was nothing more than an "X" with buildings on each corner. Not all were inside the city limits, some only partially. The local joke was re. the gas station on one corner also served as a pool hall, bar, & dance hall. It only had an outhouse and the joke was you could get drunk in town but if you had to relieve yourself you had to leave town to do it....the outhouse was about 50' outside the city limits. 

[solo1]

John, when I was growing up Ft. Wayne was aout 125.000 population so we had water and sewer.
The Mayor's name was Harry Baals ( yep, a lot of jokes there) and public transportation was great, what with street cars.  7 cents to ride all over town. $1.00 for a student pass. I used to ride the streetcar a lot just for the helluva it.

During the war, before I worked in a war plant, i had a paper route in the what was then known as 'the colored' section of town. There was a bar called 'The Chocolate Bar" Aptly named and PC because the owners were black. I never had any problem with blacks, I was treated ok.

One day, I was collecting for the paper and was invited into the house next door to the bar because it was cold. In my young age, I suspected but couldn't quite understand why there were black couples lounging around, the men in uniform and the gals  in kimonos.   In one corner of the front room was a big Wurlitzer juke box. playing loud 'scat' music. Duke of Ellington, i think.

[Jess Tolbirt]

i really enjoyed reading about you two talking old times,, thank you guys,,,

[Thunderbolt]

Thanks for the first hand experiences Wayne and John.  My birth year is 1947 so I am a war baby I suppose.  My Dad was a cook in the Army and among other places he mentioned was that he was on Leyte Island in the Phillipines.  I believe that he also said that they went to either Hiroshima or Nagasaki after THE bomb was dropped. 
It has been some time now and I don't remember if the gas rationing tokens were stamps or cardboard pieces but I bought some at a yard sale and have them somewhere stored away.  I want to think that they are Red or Green and stamped together or in a book of some sort.

[solo1]

I don't remember about the gas stamps but Dad had an A card with a big A displayed on the windshield.
He had finally gotten caught up with the Great Depression and bought a new 1941 Plymouth Special Deluxe in April of '41. for $865.00 including tax.  Unfortunately he became chronically sick in 1942 and couldn't work,  He was given a medical disability pension by the company after 38 years,  a princely sum of $60.00 /month and sold the car in 1942 for $2000.00 because it had low mileage AND had good tires. 

[Thunderbolt]

My Mother said that they were asked to save the tinfoil wrappers from gum.  I believe she said that they had a collection station at the drug store where they bought the gum and soda's.

[pais]

   I concur what Jess T said. Thanks for bringing this subject up. From the time I was a small child I have always enjoyed this subject. Probably because so many men on both sides of my family-Uncles and my Dad were in the war as well as grew up through it. There are none of the men or women left to tell stories. I love history. I loved those people more! For all that they went through. They always seemed so very happy. I suspect they were appreciative of what they had.
   John Schmidt, I agree with your statement. I don't believe this country can band together for a single purpose of any kind let alone one of such magnitude as was WWII.

[John Schmidt]

I recall a close cousin of mine was just old enough to join although when I think how much older he was than me, he had to have lied about his age. Many did, for sure. He came home on furlough once and told of unknowingly sitting on a chair that was booby trapped. It was rigged so that it was armed when he sat down and to shoot upward when he got up. Someone noticed it and told him to stay put, they scrounged up some sheet metal and somehow slipped it behind him. They then yanked him off the chair and hoped for the best. It worked because the device went straight up through the bottom. He told me if he had just raised himself off the chair in a normal manner, if it didn't kill him it would have at least cured his hemorrhoids. When my mother heard him talk that way she went into orbit. 

And of course, there's the old joke about the young private that was told to "blow the shitter." I'll let someone else expand on that. 

[Hoser]

I was born nine months to the day after my dad got back from four years in Alaska and Europe.  Imagine that. August 22, 1946.    Hoser   

[Jopson]

Repeating what others have said, it has been a joy reading through Wayne and Johns tales of old,
Like you gentlemen my grandfather was a young boy during WW2, and he used to tell me his tales of growing up in that time. Being from England a lot of his stories consisted of the air raids and all the children that were evacuated from the big cities into the countryside.
One of my fondest memories of him before he passed, was going hunting for crashed airplanes from the Battle of Britain.


Don't stop now guys, tell us more!!!

[The emperor has no clothes]

Repeating what others have said, it has been a joy reading through Wayne and Johns tales of old,
Like you gentlemen my grandfather was a young boy during WW2, and he used to tell me his tales of growing up in that time. Being from England a lot of his stories consisted of the air raids and all the children that were evacuated from the big cities into the countryside.
One of my fondest memories of him before he passed, was going hunting for crashed airplanes from the Battle of Britain.


Don't stop now guys, tell us more!!!

I can only imagine how harrowing those air raids must have been for the kids. Where would you guys hunt for planes ?

[solo1]

It was only three or four years ago that I had a British sidecar friend who lived in Roswell New Mexico. Although we had many email talks and a few on the landline, we never met.  He called himself the Alien from Roswell.  He was my age.

One of the things that he mentioned was being strafed, as a child, by German warplanes when he was in a field in England.  Another friend of mine, A Korean war veteran  and a native of Hawaii, watched the Japanese planes fly over the field that he was working in as a child,, on December 7th, 1941.  Unfortunately, both of these friends have passed.

There are thousands of untold stories like that that will forever disappear as the seniors pass.

BTW, the story about tinfoil saving is also true. Another little detail about WWII that I've forgotten.
Beeman gum, BlackJack gum, and a few others were included in the tinfoil saving.

[Romeo]

Thanks for the remembrances guys. I find it fascinating. I was born in 1953 so I didn't get to experience any of those times. I have always thought that one of our educational systems biggest failures is how little of that recent history has been passed along to the proceeding generations. I fear we are experiencing the fruits of that oversight today.

[John Schmidt]

I was hoping RJ would chime in, his age falls in between Wayne and me and I'm sure could relate some tales of those years. I know we have other members in this age bracket as well. I believe RJ's father was in the Pacific Theater during WWII. Nearly all of my family served in Europe. One wild card, a distant cousin of mine, talked about flying with Chuck Yeager a few times, said that man had eyesight of an eagle. Told of a couple times they were flying back to base and thought they saw some activity in this abandoned farm house. So they dived in and Chuck flew his P-51 so close to the roof it blew some of the tiles off as he passed over it. That apparently scared the Germans inside and they came running out, whereupon others in the flight hit them with cannon fire. True or not, I have no idea but to a young kid it was fascinating stuff, and I read many years later that was one of Yeager's favorite pastimes when he was stationed in Europe.

[solo1]

John, I read Chuck Yeager's book.  In fact he autographed it (my son got it for me) What you mentioned is in his book.  He could indeed see farther than any other pilot. He tells about flying low quite a bit.  He didn't like the Astronauts, said any one could sit in a capsule.  I believe that he's still living but his wife Glennis (Glamorous Glennis) has passed. Last I heard he was in a big legal fight with his kids, too bad.

Probably most of the WWII pilots have passed.

RJ lost his father, a Marine, at Iwo Jima. RJ enlisted as a Marine and was in the fighting in Korea, five Purple Hearts!  I was there too but didn't get shot at.

[Valkorado]

Thanks for (sharing) the memories, guys.  Very fun to read.

[bigguy]

Just want to add my appreciation for sharing the memories.

[John Schmidt]

Wayne, that's neat to have Yeager's signature. One of my daughters spent one her summer breaks from college with a friend in Texas, don't recall the location just now. Her friend where she was staying had a next door neighbor that was a P-38 pilot during the war. She picked up a book of WWII aircraft that had some story with them, he autographed a pic of a P-38 for her. Turned out it was the one he flew back then. Small world I guess.

Some may recall Joe Kittinger, the first guy to make a 100k ft. jump from a balloon. He attended the same church I used to attend a few years back here in the Orlando metro area. There's also a small park adjacent to our local general aircraft airport in Orlando that's named after him. He also had some stories to tell.

[solo1]

John, our chapter of the KWVA has a vet who saw combat in Korea.  He's a big guy and was an infantry sergeant.

He told a story about this snot nosed officer who wouldn't give his men mickey mouse boots ( darn good insulated boots).  He, Art, said that pointed his loaded M1 Garand at the LT's private parts and told him "You better or i'll blow your balls off." ................Unfortunately, Art wasn't too careful of what he said and that was more or less a direct quote when I heard him tell that to the 8th grade class at a KWVA Tell America. presentation at a junior high school.

Art is now in a nursing home with physical problems and dementia.  He sleeps most of the time.  He reminds me of MacArthur's famous quote,  "Old Soldiers never die, they just fade away"

Our chapter of the KWVA has lost three members and two member's wives in the last year.

[old2soon]

A newscaster-I fergit which one-summed it up rather neatly-Time he said is doing what the enemy could not. As a P G R member I go too a lot of funerals. Most WWII Vets are in their late 80s to their late 90s. Most Korean War Vets are in their late 70s and their 80s and 90s. Most Nam Vets are in their VERY late 50s. I'm a Nam Vet and I'm 70. And some War 2 Vets went to Korea and some later Korean War Vets went to Nam. And some later Nam Vets went to the Sandbox. I just KNOW I have a great deal of respect for anyone that put on a Uniform and served Honorably. To all those that did-THANK YOU.

[pais]

  Of all the stuff my Father didn't save. He saved this and I am grateful. It hangs on the wall in our living room with great pride and honor!

[solo1]

Take care of that letter, it's famous! 

  Ike thought long and hard when he gave the go ahead.  The invasion was postponed for one day because of the weather and the weather forecast wasn't too good for June 6th but he made the decision.

I do remember delivering the morning paper with headlines four inches tall,   "D Day!!!!"   I wanted to knock on doors and tell people but 4 AM wasn't the time to do that.  Even at 16 years old I prayed for success.

Those were the days when hard decisions had to be made with no equivocating, unlike today.

[Firefighter]

My Dad was a Marine and fought on Guam and Iwo Jima , Marshal Islands and somehow survived. He would barley speak about it and couldn't sit through a TV documentary on it.

His twin brother was also there and survived, they were in two different Marine divisions but located each other on one of those Islands and were able to visit for a short while! I thought that was incredible!

They lied about their age to get in. What do they say, the best or greatest generation. Thank You to all veterans and all of you who helped with the efforts.