WW2 Westras - Remembering Rationing

 

When Covid-19 came on the scene - there was a sudden rush for products. Toilet paper was gone from the shelves. Bottled water was nowhere to be found. Antibacterial wipes, hand sanitizer, masks, gloves ... and later on basic staples like yeast, flour and sugar. All either impossible or very hard to find. Similar shortages have happened in certain areas before big storms. This perhaps can give us a small glimpse into why rationing was important in 1942.

Here are a couple great websites explaining rationing ... 

NationalWW2Museum and Ames History Museum

During the Second World War, you couldn't just walk into a shop and buy as much sugar or butter or meat as you wanted, nor could you fill up your car with gasoline whenever you liked. All these items were in short supply. The US government’s Office of Price Administration established a system of rationing that would more fairly distribute these limited products. Every American was issued a series of ration books during the war. The ration books contained removable stamps good for certain rationed items, like sugar, meat, cooking oil, and canned goods. A person could not buy a rationed item without also giving the grocer the right ration stamp. Once a person’s ration stamps were used up for a month, no more of that type of food could be purchased. 

Going through boxes of memorabilia from Granma Lucille's estate, 

some of these old ration books were discovered and scanned in to share here. 

First page of a book, and several examples of different ration stamps.

Information (name/address/age/height/weight/sex/occupation) had to be filled out.

This gives us a unique look at this information for our family!

... as mentioned, gasoline was rationed as well as food, 

so there were separate stamps and books issued for necessary transportation. 

This was Dad/Lamar and his family ... Dad was six years old. On Mom/Margie's side of the family, Grandpa Rex had been drafted and Grandma Zada was on her own with three small children. She doesn't mention the war much, but did make this statement " I will never forget the day President Roosevelt died, or the rationing that went on during the war."  (In The Army Now). 

What was rationed and when? Check out the chart below.

... at least toilet paper is back in stock now, right?

Army Pictures and Paperwork

 

There has already been a post about Grandpa Rex Norman's military service (In the Army Now) which showcases some family furlough photos and portions of his written history. As we continue to research, additional photos and documents have been uncovered. So here's a few more peeks into Grandpa Rex's military service. Two new photos (above) and some paperwork (below, click on any image to enlarge).

This record shows the duties/positions, work experience and prior education 

as well as dates entering and leaving the service.

We found it interesting to note on the discharge papers, that Grandpa Rex was only 5'7" and 151 pounds. This also includes "Decorations and Citations" and we are grateful he didn't need to go into action overseas!

Certificate of Appreciation 

This was the pouch that Grandpa kept these papers in.