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Posted on 10/23/2004 11:47:55 PM PDT by snippy_about_it
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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| Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support. The FReeper Foxhole hopes to share with it's readers an open forum where we can learn about and discuss military history, military news and other topics of concern or interest to our readers be they Veteran's, Current Duty or anyone interested in what we have to offer. If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions. We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.
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 The Home Front “What does the 'A' mean?” someone will ask, pointing to the paper sticker in the window of my 1938 Buick sedan.  “Gasoline rationing during World War II,” I respond, but there's more to the story. Indeed, the main idea was to conserve rubber, not gasoline. The interior side of the sticker (shown below) instructs the driver on this point.  In May of 1942, the U.S. Office of Price Administration (OPA) froze prices on practically all everyday goods, starting with sugar and coffee. War Ration Books were issued to each American family, dictating how much any one person could buy. The first nonfood item rationed was rubber. The Japanese had seized plantations in the Dutch East Indies that produced 90% of America's raw rubber. President Franklin D. Roosevelt called on citizens to contribute scrap rubber, “old tires, old rubber raincoats, garden hose, rubber shoes, bathing caps…”. The OPA established the Idle Tire Purchase Plan, and could deny Mileage Rations to anyone owning passenger tires not in use.  The national maximum “Victory Speed” was 35 miles an hour. “Driving clubs” or carpools were encouraged. A magazine ad declared, “Your Car is a War Car Now.” Gasoline was rationed on May 15, 1942 on the east coast, and nationwide that December. The OPA issued various stickers to be affixed to the car's windshield, depending on need. To get your classification and ration stamps, you had to certify to a local board that you needed gas and owned no more than five tires.  The 'A' sticker was issued to owners whose use of their cars was nonessential. Hand the pump jockey your Mileage Ration Book coupons and cash, and she (yes, female service station attendants) could sell you three or four gallons a week, no more. For nearly a year, A-stickered cars were not to be driven for pleasure at all.  The green 'B' sticker was for driving deemed essential to the war effort; industrial war workers, for example, could purchase eight gallons a week. Red 'C' stickers indicated physicians, ministers, mail carriers and railroad workers, and incidentally were the most counterfeited type. 'T' was for truckers, and the rare 'X' sticker went to Members of Congress and other VIPs.  Apparently there was some cheating, but this was socially unacceptable as well as illegal. The Mileage Ration folder warns drivers to write their car's license number on each coupon, “Endorsement Protects You and Helps Lick the Black Market.” Dr. Cecil L. Betz of Los Angeles has done so on his C stamps shown. I wonder if Dr. Betz or his '36 Oldsmobile are still around?  And, in the words of the day, “There's a war on, you know.” Every citizen, military or civilian, was to do their part. Even in the popular Warner Brothers cartoons, Daffy Duck exhorts the audience to “Keep it under 40!”, and Bugs Bunny's plunging airplane halts just before impact, out of gas as a consequence of the `A' sticker on its windshield. Link to 8 minute Bugs Bunny (Real Audio) cartoon. Did rationing work? Generally it did. Consider that in the 1940s the automobile really wasn't the universal appliance it is now, so fuel restriction was probably less onerous to the average civilian than the rationing of other goods. For many who served on the Home Front, rationing may be the most remembered daily aspect of the war.       |
Hey! BicycleSpankenTruppen!
100 Ocatne Bump for the Freeper Foxhole on Sunday Morning
Hi manna :-)
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
27 August 1941.
Gas rationing.
Ha! I can't believe I didn't think of that when I posted it.
Good morning alfa6.
Night shift bump for you!
Good Night, Snippy.
Night shifts are fun, I keep telling myself that but I still don't believe it.
Hopefully will get the house painted today and that will be finished, have to fix a few thing for the ol' building inpsector and I can call an end to this weekend home improvement project.
Regards
alfa6 ;>
LOL. Until the next project begins.
Good night alfa6.
Good luck.
We checked the store, they have the insulation and drywall all done. Next comes the taping and lots of dust.
I used a dustless sander for my drywall work, nothing more than a 5gal bucket with some water, a bunch of hose and a big shop vac. Cut the dust by about 95%, it was only about $40 at the borg.
Yea the next project will be ripping out the plaster and lath in the two upstairs bedrooms. After the addition that will be a breeze.
Good luck on the shop I hope y'all do well.
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
Good morning Snippy.
Good morning, Snippy and everyone at the Freeper Foxhole.
This pic was from the 2004 Falasie Airshow in France IIRC.
Another nice shot of the same bird.
Well off to a few hours of sleep, back later.
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
On This Day In History
Birthdates which occurred on October 24:
1632 Antony van Leeuwenhoek Hol, naturalist
1788 Sarah Josepha Hale author (Mary Had a Little Lamb)
1815 John Edwards Brig General (Union volunteers), died in 1894
1890 Chicago Mainbocher uniform designer (Red Cross, Girl Scouts, Waves)
1904 Moss Hart Bronx NY, playwright (You can't Take it With You, Act 1)
1911 Clarence M Kelley FBI head
1923 Denise Levertov American poet/essayist (Joy Beneath the Skin)
1926 YA Tittle AAFC, NFL QB (Baltimore, SF, NY Giants, MVP 1963)
1929 George Crumb Charleston WV, composer (Pulitzer 1968-Echoes of Time)
1929 James Brosnan baseball player/writer (The Long Season)
1936 Bill Wyman England, rocker (Rolling Stones-Under My Thumb)
1936 David Nelson NYC, actor (Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet)
1938 Fred E Finn SF Calif, pianist (Mickie Finn's)
1940 F Murray Abraham actor (Amadeus, Mad Man)
1947 Kevin Kline St Louis, actor (Sophie's Choice, Big Chill)
1951 Todd Crespi Frankfurt Germany, actor (The Magician)
1953 Jonathan di Donato twin who swam the butterfly 406 miles
1972 Louis Michael Anthony Sassin Boston, rocker (4 Fun-Unbelievable Fun)
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