My sister, Katy, is six years younger than me. She has a better memory, and apparently paid more attention to stories when we were younger. (I was never much of a history buff.) We’ve been discussing all the stuff we can’t seem to figure out about the family’s history during this time, and her memory unearthed some stories that Grandpa told her, so we’ve been able to put a few more pieces of the puzzle together.
Katy remembers a story Grandpa told her about getting their first “real” refrigerator. Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, rationing was started. One of our readers, ChrisD, is also a historian, so I picked her brain for some information on how the rationing worked. Here’s what she had to say:
“[Rationing] started with coffee and sugar and later expanded to meat, rubber, silk, fuel. The last rounds of rationing (there were four) included cheese as well. This last round also included typewriters. The motto was: ‘Make Do’. The World War II generation was still reeling from the dearth of the Great Depression and were used to making do. The important thing about rations was that everything useful went to the war effort. The Americans supported their troops and were happy to give the best to their guys and gals overseas so their suffering could be lessened in any way possible. Another interesting note was that in the last round processed foods were also rationed. Mr. Hormel gave freely of his processed food and it was a staple in all the C-rations our troops had: SPAM. In fact, after the war, President Eisenhower thanked Mr. Hormel for his generosity.”
Appliances were also rationed because they were in short supply, as all metal was being put into the war effort. To get items that were rationed, you had to have “stamps”. I asked Chris how the stamps worked . . .
“. . . every person had an assigned number of stamps they would get each month from the US Office of Price Administration. You would not (for example) be allowed to buy a pound of sugar unless you had the stamp for it. It did not matter how much you could pay. The top of the stamp booklet said: More is Going to War.”
Grandpa was given a stamp for a refrigerator from a man who had the stamp, but then did not have the money with which to purchase the refrigerator. The poor fellow had ended up having to use what money he had on a family emergency, and could not use the stamp, so he gave it to Grandpa, and Grandpa bought the refrigerator.
Katy and I have often spoken of how Grandma, whenever a national “disaster” would happen, would tell us: “You better get to the store and stock up just in case.” Folks who lived through the Depression and the War had it hard, and were forever wary that it could happen again.
We still have no idea how long the Hyde family lived in the Kansas City area, but if I find out, I’ll give you an update. Meanwhile, we’ll move on, and I’ll tell you what happened between life in Kansas City and Hazel beginning high school in some upcoming posts.
The Life of Hazel Ilene 
I was born at the height of the war. My father was not eligible to serve in the military because he was an amputee, but he and my mother both worked in a factory making war materiel. I was their first child and my mother really wanted to get a washing machine to handle all the laundry. My father went to an appliance store in Enid, OK and tried to buy a washing machine. He was told that even if he had a ration card for it, there were no washing machines available. My father, being quite resourceful, asked if he could order repair parts for a washer. The man said that, yes, parts could be ordered if one had a washer. Enough to build a complete washer?, my father asked. And again he was told that this would be possible……..so my father ordered all the parts of a washer and built his own. We washed clothes in that washer until the summer that I was 17 years old. It didn’t break down…….it was replaced with an automatic washer……a great improvement in labor saving devices.