Guest Post – Rationing Gone Wild by GPCox
This look back helps us to appreciate what we have today!!
We’ve all heard about rationing but with GP’s help, we’ll now know quite a bit more about it. Enjoy.
https://pacificparatrooper.wordpress.com
The Second World War was fought on two fronts and as we’ve seen in previous posts, the home front rarely received the credit it deserved for its efforts. The generation that endured the Great Depression, worked long, hard hours and were often forced to use the barter system to survive now, for the war effort, had shortages for most everything. If you can name it – there was probably a ration book for it and a black market to get it; if you dared. The children also pitched in by giving, what money they could earn, back into the family.
Rationing started just weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor and sugar was the first product to be rationed when sales ended 27 April 1942 and commercial manufacturers received…
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Posted on May 6, 2018, in Home Front, Uncategorized, WWII and tagged History, Home Front, nostalgia, Rationing, Vintage, WW2, WWII. Bookmark the permalink. 47 Comments.
Pacific Paratrooper 
My mum grew up in Ireland and Scotland during WWII. Her mother cooked parsnips and flavored them with banana to make mashed bananas. She made the girls dresses out of flour sacks. We are so lucky today.
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We most certainly are, but it’s hard to get that across to some people. Thanks for stopping by, Kerry.
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😘 I have been MIA for a while with the blues but feeling better now.
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Glad to hear it. If it happens again, stop in here and unload your worries.
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Thank you so much, my friend.
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Excellent insight into the scenes of rationing on the Home front, always knew about Nylon stockings and a few other items through old movies, but didn’t realise it covered just about every commodity or appliance we take for granted today.
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And due to the Great Depression, they didn’t have much to begin with!!
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GP,
I would like to contribute a post to your site. It’s my father’s account of his experience in the Battle of Okinawa. He died today, and I wanted to honor him with this transcription of his handwritten story. However, I could not find a means for submitting. Thank you for all you do.
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Please – accept my deepest condolences for the loss of your father! I know words do not fill the void or make things easier, but in my feeble way, I want you know that I sympathize.
I will contact you on your site.
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Mike I received you story and I will honored to publish it. Am I correct that your father passed away on the 12th?
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Thanks GP for sharing my Blog with your readers. I love the comments.
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M pleasure, Judy. Doing these posts was a highlight of my blogging experience and taught me quite a bit too.
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😀
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I learned so much. Thank you, GP.
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My pleasure, Jennie. Say Hi to your students for me before they take off for summer vacation!!
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Will do!
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It occurred to me that there is one thing that maybe the children could do for Military Appreciation Month. They could make thank you cards for the vets and have them sent to your local VFW, American Legion, or VA hospital. The children could thank them for the sacrifice out of their lives to watch our backs. They not only go to combat for us, they help out during emergencies here at home and tons of other projects. A simple ‘Thank you’ means so much to them. Just an idea.
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Thank you! I call this a hard copy thank you.
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Excellent, GP.
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Thanks, John.
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We could learn a few lessons from this!
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I know the younger generation certainly could!!
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Food rationing didn’t hit my family as hard, as they were farmers. Raised hogs, cattle, chickens, ducks, and geese. They always had orchards and big gardens. Surplus produce was shared. There was a manpower shortage at home. Many older men and wives filled in for the boys that went to war. My grandfather had a hired man to make up for my father’s absence.
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You were lucky, plus families like yours should be given credit for keeping people fed. I heard a saying once I’ll never forget – “When you complain about a farmer, don’t do it with your mouth full!!”
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I was young but I remember the rationing, the victory gardens, the stamps. Even after the war ended, somethings were still hard to come by. Real rubber inner tubes were black. Tubes that were red were not real rubber and were not much good for the necessities of growing up like binder guns and slingshots.
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Love to hear the home front stories from every one – thanks, Don!!
(personally, I did not know about the red inner tubes!)
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I was talking to my mother on the ‘phone after reading this post…she said that people in Britain were not aware of rationing in the U.S….they assumed that everything was normal there, so it was an eye opener for her at 101 years!
I think too that the sense of taking responsibility for yourself has all but evaporated from modern society….Leo worked on the London Stock Market in the sixties and seventies when its motto ‘My word is my bond’ was a reality. You just could not renege on a deal…but then the deals were done face to face, between people you would see every working day. If a firm of stockbrokers could not meet their obligations they were ‘hammered’…publicly put out of business.
Then came ‘big bang’ leading to the banks involvement in the market…and the start of wholesale market rigging…for which no one ever seem to be held responsible.
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I’m stunned that I could surprise a woman of 101 that survived such an age!!
I agree totally with the rest of your comment – all too much so, I’m afraid. It is unfortunate that each generation hence has become more ‘spoiled’ than the last.
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Wonderful post. I learned a lot today about rationing. I didn’t realize how extensive they were. I admire the resourceful of the Greatest Generation to make do of what they had. Can you imagine that today in our wasteful society?
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Today is an age of the Gimme Disease – gimme this and gimme that – and I don’t want to work hard for it either!
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You’re absolutely right! Hope the tide changes.
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The original Uber and AirBnB (or however that’s spelled!)
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I suppose you’re right at that, Jacqui!! Hadn’t thought of that.
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This is why I believe that World War II did not actually improve our economy, as some have said. With rationing, it seems the standard of living declined rather than improved. The only thing about the economy that improved during the war years was employment, in my view.
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With more employment, money comes into the household and is spent on the necessities. Today we look for money to have luxuries.
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Left a comment and link over there, GP.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Much appreciated, Pete. I’ll be seeing it.
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I appreciate this post (and all your posts) because I actually ‘lived through’ WWII as a young boy and still have a vague memory of some of what is described here (not to mention an actual ration book handed down by my parents).
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That ration book is a treasure. It symbolizes the strength of that generation’s survival from a Great Depression slap into a world war!!
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It was fascinating listening to my grandmother and mother talk about rationing and how they had to use their creativity juices….Americans of today would not survive…..good post chuq
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Truer words were never spoken!
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Fascinating read. I particularly liked the second last para “ A character trait such as this does not show up in the statistics for a country.” So very true.
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Isn’t that the truth!!
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Nice piece of research GP! I learnt new things again from you. Thanks😃💕⚘
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I appreciate you stopping by!!
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My pleasure as always GP. Happy Sunday🤗
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And you as well!
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