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G0TEZ > TODAY 30.11.12 23:59l 80 Lines 3462 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : C80158G0TEZ
Read: GUEST
Subj: Re: Today in History - Nov 29
Path: IZ3LSV<IW0QNL<JH4XSY<JE7YGF<JS1FVG<JH9YMQ<VE3UIL<GB7MAX<GB7YEW<GB7CIP
Sent: 121130/2149Z @:GB7CIP.#32.GBR.EU #:2446 [Caterham Surrey GBR] $:C80158G0T
From: G0TEZ@GB7CIP.#32.GBR.EU
To : TODAY@WW
Rationing ?
I found the story of American rationing quite amusing compared with the
british. Our rationing got worse, not better after the end of WWII.
Personally, one memory which sticks is the fact that we had no chocolate,
yet on one occasion, when I was about 4, we had a German POW cutting
hedges around our farm and he got a Red Cross parcel.
He took a break and called me and my brother over and took out a bar of
something coloured brown and offered it to us. We were very suspicious as
you learn not to eat things coloured brown. After he had broken off a
piece and eaten it, we accepted the pieces he gave us. The bar was about
the size and shape of, what we call aYorkie Bar.
I wasn't to eat a bar of chocolate again until 1954 when rationing ended.
I have since heard stories about chocolate being available during the war
but I never saw any. My brother and my cousins, all about the same age
took to eating other things, in my case, raw onion between dry bread and
one cousin would eat OXO (beef stock) cubes. None of us developed a
fondness for sweets or chocolate as we were too old to care when they
became availablr.
Fuel just wasn't avalable except fro doctors, farmers and other essential
people. The food allowance was a fraction of the American one. We had a
better life as farmers often broke the rules on not eating their own
livestock so we had it better than people in towns.
We were officially the poorest western country both during and after the
war, even the germans and italians were better off than us.
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> At first, limiting the use of certain products was voluntary. For
> example, President Roosevelt launched "scrap drives" to scare up
> throwaway rubber-old garden hoses, tires, bathing caps, etc.--in
> light of the Japanese capture of the Dutch East Indies, a source
> of rubber for the United States. Collections were then redeemed
> at gas stations for a penny a pound. Patriotism and the desire to
> aid the war effort were enough in the early days of the war.
>
> But as U.S. shipping, including oil tankers, became increasingly
> vulnerable to German U-boat attacks, gas became the first
> resource to be rationed. Starting in May 1942, in 17 eastern
> states, car owners were restricted to three gallons of gas a
> week. By the end of the year, gas rationing extended to the rest
> of the country, requiring drivers to paste ration stamps onto the
> windshields of their cars. Butter was another item rationed, as
> supplies were reserved for military breakfasts. Along with
> coffee, the sugar and milk that went with it were also limited.
> All together, about one-third of all food commonly consumed by
> civilians was rationed at one time or another during the war. The
> black market, an underground source of rationed goods at prices
> higher than the ceilings set by the Office of Price
> Administration, was a supply source for those Americans with the
> disposable incomes needed to pay the inflated prices.
>
> Some items came off the rationing list early; coffee was released
> as early as July 1943, but sugar was rationed until June 1947.
>
>
> 73, K.O. n0kfq
> N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
> E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
> Outpost Version 2.6.0 c29
-----------------------------------
73 - Ian, G0TEZ @ GB7CIP
Message timed: 18:38 on 2012-Nov-30 GMT
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