So What Did You Do During The War? - (Ken Burn - PBS Special on WWII)

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Watching it

Pretty good. I had some concerns beforehand when I heard that he was going for mostly interviews with those who lived through the war, mainly because I've seen some pretty awuful low budget "documentaries" with horrid interviews. But these have all been very very good, plus there's enough vintage footage to make it visually interesting.

My parents both lived through the war. My dad served in the army air force in North Africa and Italy (mechanic/staff sargeant). Neither of them wanted to talk about the war years very much. So it's good to hear people talking about their war experiences in Burns' film.
 
Bagel? What's a bagel?

My grandparents came to this country due to famine/scarcities in Europe. Even the most basic staples were not easily found.

My aunt recalls the huge containers that arrived in her country with the US flag on them. She recalls fondly "Uncle Truman", as he was known, for rescuing her town and family by sending food and supplies.
 
My Dad and several of my uncles were in WWII, and my mom worked at a defense plant in Council Bluffs, which made some sort of radios for the military.

With all the talk of the privations of the war years on the homefront, I think it would make a great reality show to have a "typical American family" have to live that way. I'm not being original at all - the British did that show a few years ago - but I think it would be interesting, if not funnier. We'd probably be a lot whinier about it ;-)

Imagine having a ration book limiting your purchases of meats, butter, fat, cooking oils, cheese, canned and frozen foods, juices, dry beans, soups, baby food, catsup, clothing, shoes, coffee, gasoline, tires, and fuel oil. We'd all be nervous wrecks.
 
Slow

I did watch the first one. Beautifully done and one of the cities is Sacramento, so seeing the old photos and the interviews was interesting.

But it moves very slowly and I have seen it before in different forms.

Martin
 
Some of the reviews have said that this Ken Burns effort is rather slow in parts, but I don't mind. I just get up and get some coffee or a snack.

Just love the bit about Mobile, Alabama! That seemed the place to be during the war, with all the manufacturing.

With so many people whingeing about "war" today, don't think we would ever have the country pulling together the way things were back then. Everyone did their bit regardless of what they "thought" about the war.

As for rationing:

Program stated there was lots of black-marketing going on. Something like 1 in 4 retail transactions were under the counter or not reported. Oh and don't forget all those war hoarders! *LOL*

For us vintage appliance buffs, the war had a benefit: after things were over, all those factories retooled to make consumer appliances/goods.

L.
 
Dan, There was a show in the mid 70s about life on the home front during WWII. I do not know if it was a series (it was short lived if it was) or something like a PBS special. Two scenes I remember:

A family has college-age children who are home on break. The mother is preparing meatloaf for dinner. The children's friends begin dropping by to see them and they are asked by the kids to stay for dinner. It was very bad etiquette to accept meal invitations in times of rationing, but their friends accepted and the kids kept coming into the kitchen letting their mom know that there would be another person for dinner. Finally the mother says to herself that if she has to add any more corn flakes to the meatloaf mixture, she is going to give up on dinner and just call it breakfast.

The other scene was how carpools functioned with all of the rationing. It showed a man waiting for his ride in the morning. He is standing in the street part way down a hill. The car comes over the crest of the hill, slowly. Before it gains too much speed he starts jogging. When the car gets near him, the door is thrown open, he grabs the door pillar, jumps onto the running board and then steps into the car. Very little brake or tire wear and no extra gasoline used with this mode of picking up riders.

I watched this program with an older friend who related to much of the program including these two scenes.
 
One of my college profs told a funny story. He was a kid in WWII and when America entered the war, he rode into town with his dad. His dad walked out of the store with a CASE of coffee. When asked by my prof why he bought all of that coffee, his dad responded "I want to lay in a good store before all the jerks start hoarding it."
 
J.C. knew the value of a side of beef.

Thats why Joan went ballistic in M.Dearest. when young Christina would not eat her steak or prime rib (whatever). Ms Joan had probably paid a fortune for that side of contraband beef. The book made it Clear, the movie did not make an effort to defend Joan's actions. Im sure it must of been difficult under circumstances of sacrifice, and rationing, even for the "well to do", can you imagine being dirt poor?
 
"With so many people whineing about "war" today, don't think we would ever have the country pulling together the way things were back then. Everyone did their bit regardless of what they "thought" about the war. "

Laundress, there's a huge difference between a war where we were actually attacked, and this farce of an occupation, where "doing our bit" seems to consist of shopping and keeping our traps shut, so that corporations can thrive on misery.

People are people, and we're still capable of great strength and sacrifice. But when our leadership fails us, this is what you get.
 
I still have a few ration books from my grandparents and remember hearing the stories about that time from them. Victory gardens, scrap metal drives, war bonds, etc. My grandfather worked at Martin Aviation (Martin Bomber Plant) in Bellevue, NE during the course of the war. He was a left-wing inspector and remembers clearly the day that the Enola Gay rolled off the line, curiously without bomb racks like the hundreds of other B-29's had been. His eyes would sparkle and his chest would swell with pride when he talked about his role in helping the U.S. win "The War".
 
I'm glad you brought this up. I wish my Father were around so we could talk about these espisodes.

I've been watching this pretty religiously. It's a brilliant piece but I can't say I'm "enjoying" it. It's very affecting and painful to watch at times. I can't imagine being in the situations these men and women had to face. The piece on Guadalcanal gave me nightmares and made me feel an overwhelming debt to these people; what they did went beyond simple self-sacrifice.

I wonder what the Japanese government thinks about it. So far, it reveals the Japanese of that period as psychotic sadists and, I'm ashamed to admit, I'm looking forward to the first atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima. It's changing how I perceive how Truman dealt with the Japanese.
 
Rationing and War "Deprivations"

Much of what one has been hearing is that while rationing certinaly caused some people "hardship", most just made do. Remember WWII came really on the heels of the Great Depression,where people had already gotten used to doing without.

Also remember much of what people were being asked to do was conserve and save what would otherwise be thrown away or used to excess. Cooking fat,once poured down the drain, was saved and collected to make munitions. Scrap metal/iron that has been sitting around gather dust in garages and attics was hauled out. Then as now many Americans had many things lying around surplus to requirements, that could be used for the war effort. If one lived in the country or had access to a plot of land, you could grow a "Victory Garden" which was heavily encouraged. In the NYC area, people grew them all over, with those lucky enough to live outside the city having lots of space to grow things.

Think also there was something we don't see again, and probably never will; the shared effort to win the war and bring our fighting men and women home. People thought by giving up petrol, bacon, meat, etc every bit could go to the effort of supporting our troops.

L.
 

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