Guest Post – gpcox – American Family Life in the 1940’s
I recall my mom “double-dutch” jumping rope and my dad describing “kick-the-can” as a soccer/tag “you’re “It” sort of game and singing a cappella with your buddies in “Jersey Boys” style and he could still hit the high notes later in life using a falsetto voice.
As Judy said, let us know how your family recall those times.Personal note – correction for “Enemy they faced” post of mine. http://www.allworldwars.com/Japanese-in-Battle.html, very sorry.
I’ve invited gpcox to share another post with us. This one concerns the life of an American Family during the 1940’s. I learned a few things myself.
Gpcox of pacificparatrooper.wordpress.com
Judy’s collection of letters from her grandfather is an excellent example of what the American family endured during the Second World War.
With the onset of war, patriotism certainly skyrocketed as well as marriages, job opportunities and salaries. But here, fresh out of the depression, poverty, divorce and taxes soared. Twenty million people bordered on starvation. There was a shortage of shelters, hospitals and child care facilities. Many youngsters quit their education to help support the family.
Food rationing began. The Office of Price Administration (OPA) was constructed to handle the rationing regulations. Since most
everything went to the military, Americans at home had to tighten their belts once again. If the readers have seen my father’s first few letters…
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Posted on January 7, 2013, in Home Front, Uncategorized, WWII and tagged Army, Military History, Pacific War, veterans, war, WWII. Bookmark the permalink. 20 Comments.
Pacific Paratrooper 
My company is writing a book on Arthur Komori who acted as a Japanese spy for the US military while in Manila. We would like to include the image that you have of the Old Bilibid prison, 1945. Do you know where I can get the copyright permission for the photo usage?
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I have a number of pictures of Bilibid – which post are you talking about?
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The post is called Tagatay Ridge, Luzon and it was posted on Jan 9. Here is the link to the image from your post. https://pacificparatrooper.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/old-bilibid-prison-800×537.jpg
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Sorry for the inconvenience, I’m getting to that age where my memory isn’t keeping up with me. The site where I retrieved the photo is –
freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~stevens/all/93…
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No inconvenience at all! I am sorry for inconveniencing you by making you track down a single photo for me. Unfortunately, the link you sent me says that the webpage is no longer there or it has been moved. Do you know where else I could possibly looked? I checked google, but your blog is the only site that has this image.
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I found 2 other sites that have the picture, but I know I did not get it from them – it must have been from the U.S. Army Archives since it is so difficult to relocate. Sorry I wasn’t more help.
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Thanks for you help! Do you have the links to the other sites?
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I tried them myself, but they were no longer available on the internet.
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Alright. Thank you very much for all your help!
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Sorry.
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I still have my parents ration books for gas and sugar.
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A look into the past, isn’t it great?
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Great mag that features this stuff mostly written submissions – Reminisce
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I’ll look for it, I always enjoy this kind of story.
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Thank you for re-posting my blog. I liked reading the comments on your post and will check for more later. It is an honor to share your extensive research with my readers. It adds another dimension to my letters. Thanks.
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Thank you, but it works both ways.
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I remember my gran telling me stories about the war purely from the English side, the high notes, like the uncle that got a medal, he was in North Africa with the LRDG under Montgomery, the sad ones, another uncle (big Yorkshire families) that survived the North Atlantic crossings (Merchant Navy), had three ships torpedoed underneath him and survived somehow and then got killed just before the end by a V1.
Yet another died of Blackwater Fever, having been interned for several years in dire circumstance by the Japanese.
My father watched dog fights over the South Downs as a child, before he was sent to the coast. His father (my Grandfather) was at Monte Casino
Cat dressed as rabbit in the local butchers shop, rashion cards, every last saucepan went to the war effort.
It was a war that touched everyone in it. And everone out of it too. Lets hope the likes of it never happens again..
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Thanks adding the stories. Always – add what you know.
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Its all second hand and mostly not relevant to the Pacific. Only my Great Uncle jack went to that campaign..
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It is still history that will be forgotten if it is not repeated.
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