For the Duration: The War Years (12 page)

Tom only got a “B” ration card for his delivery truck, so he can still deliver grocery orders mostly to the ladies who live in big houses near Choate School, which is a very fancy boys' school. He will be able to buy eight gallons a week.

Because Dancing School is over for the summer, I'll be able to go to Tom and Nana's store on Saturdays, as well as our usual Sunday visit.

Tom told me that when I visit on Sunday, he'll take me across the street to see Mr. Andretti, an old Italian man, who has a big, big garden. He grows the best strawberries in Wallingford. They are just ripening, so we'll get some.

“Mr. Andretti is going to make his garden bigger and I'm going to buy his vegetables to sell in the store,” Tom said. “We are going to call them Luigi's Victory Garden Vegetables. So, we'll both be doing our patriotic duty.”

“For the duration?” I asked.

“For the duration,” Tom said.

Everybody is talking about “the duration.” We have to go to City Hall to pick up our ration books that we will need for meat, coffee, sugar, and butter. We will need to use our ration books “for the duration.”

This coming Fourth of July, there will be no firework stands in Tracy “for the duration.” The newspaper said that there will be a
final
Fourth of July City Fireworks display at Lewis Avenue Field, which means that we'll be able to see it from Fairmount Avenue. There won't be another one “for the duration.” Even the movies have a message on the screen between films that reads, “This theater will soon be selling war stamps and war bonds to help our nation for the duration.”

Air-raid drills, blackouts, rationing, shortages, no chewing gum, no fireworks, war stamps, war bonds, so many new things so fast.

And all
for the duration
.

Gas rationing was all about rubber.

The military needed rubber for the tires on all of their vehicles, but the Japanese had captured the rubber plantations in the Dutch East Indies. These plantations produced ninety percent of America's raw rubber. President Roosevelt asked U.S. citizens to help by contributing scrap rubber so it could be recycled. Scrap rubber was “old tires, old garden hoses, rubber raincoats, rubber shoes and overshoes, and even bathing caps and hot water bottles.”

The rationing of gas was voluntary at first. But not enough people cut down on driving, so by the spring of 1942, it became mandatory. It was hoped that reduced travel would help conserve tires especially.

To receive a gas ration book, you had to swear to the local ration board that you had
only
five tires (four on the car and one spare) and you needed gas. There were several categories.

About half of U.S. automobiles were issued an “A” sticker, which allowed four gallons a week. It was issued to people whose use of their cars was considered nonessential. When you went to the gas station, the attendant (no one pumped their own gas in those days) would make sure your mileage ration book had the same letter as the sticker on your windshield. Then you'd hand over your money and the coupons from your ration book and they would pump three or four gallons ONCE a week. No more! The “A” sticker was a white “A” on a black background.

The “B” sticker was a white “B” on a green background. “B” sticker holders were allowed eight gallons a week because the cars were deemed important to the war work.

“C” stickers were a white “C” on a red background. Of course, they were allowed even more gas a week. The “C” sticker and ration books were the most often counterfeited.

There were two more designations. “T,” for truckers of all sorts, and “X,” which were only given to Congressmen and -women in Washington.

The speed limit was dropped to forty-five miles an hour across the country. On the back of the ration stickers, the following was written in fairly large type so the driver would be constantly reminded:

Gas rationing was extremely successful, and truly helped win the war.

“Anchors Aweigh” (U.S. Navy)
http://www.navyband.navy.mil/anchorsaweigh.shtml

 

“The Caissons Go Rolling Along” (U.S. Army)
http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/lyrics/caisson.htm

 

“Marines' Hymn” (U.S. Marine Corps)
http://www.marinecorps.com/node/154

 

“The Air Force Song” (U.S. Air Force)
http://usinfo.state.gov/infousa/life/symbceleb/airforce_song.html

 

“What Kind of Noise Annoys an Oyster?”
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/corridor/5109/NovWKOyst.html

Tomie dePaola has created over 200 books for children. His work has received the Newbery Honor Award (
26 Fairmount Avenue
, 1999) and a Caldecott Honor Award (
Strega Nona
, 1975). He was also awarded the Smithson Medal, the Regina Medal (from the Catholic Library Association), and was designated a “living treasure” by the state of New Hampshire. Most recently, he is the first author known primarily for children's book writing to be honored with the Sarah Josepha Hale Award, in recognition of a distinguished body of work in the field of literature by a New Englander.

Tomie dePaola was born in Meriden, Connecticut, in 1934 to a family of Irish and Italian background. By the time he could hold a pencil, he knew what his life's work would be.