Hard times during World War II

In the early 1940’s the United States was immersed in World War II. Despite the ravages of war on our country, Americans celebrated patriotism on the Homefront and the Frontlines.

My beloved Grandma Witham left me a wartime cookbook called Woman’s Home Companion Cook Book. Page, ix, is titled WARTIME POSTSCRIPT.

 

It reads:

As this edition goes to press our country is still at war. Rationing is in force and shortages of many foods have developed. In a fine spirit of patriotism American homemakers have adapted themselves to the changes. Their minds open to new ideas: foods they have never served before are now appearing on their tables.

There’s more, but I think you can see that America’s mealtime might have been slightly leaner in those years.

In the Woman’s Home Companion Cook Book, there are many wartime friendly recipes.

Here’s a recipe for Cabinet Pudding: (PLEASE, remember that food safety has changed GREATLY since WW2. Use caution when making vintage recipes.)

Milk, 1 pint

Sugar, 2 Tablespoons

Butter, 2 Tablespoons

Cake crumbs, 2 cups

Eggs, 2

Salt, ¼ teaspoon

Vanilla, ½ teaspoon

Scald milk with sugar and butter; cool slightly then add cake crumbs. Beat egg slightly; add salt and vanilla; stir slowly into first mixture.

Turn into a greased one-quart casserole and place into a pan containing warm water up to the level of the pudding.

Bake in a moderate oven (375 degrees F.) about 1 hour.


 

And another:

Pioneer Bread Pudding

Makes 4 to 6 servings

2 cups bread cubes

2 cups milk

3 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

dash of salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Use day-old bread, crusts and all, cutting it to 1/4 - to 1/2 -inch cubes. Place these in a buttered 1-quart baking dish.

Scald the milk with the butter and sugar.

Beat eggs slightly; add salt, then stir in the warm milk and vanilla. Pour over the bread cubes.

Set baking dish in a pan containing warm water up to the level of the pudding and bake in a moderate oven (350 degrees) about 1 hour or until a small knife comes out clean when inserted in the center of the pudding. Makes 4 to 6 servings


On the Homefront, when store bought meat wasn’t available, perhaps home-grown chicken or fresh-caught fish served as the main dish. When cream or sugar ran low, recipes were adjusted to fit the shortages. People got by on what they had and did it with thankful hearts.

I’m thankful for my big, loud, obnoxious family, for the abundance of food on our table, and most of all the love that surrounds me. I hope, regardless of your circumstances, you are able to find reason to be thankful.

Multi award-winning author, Michele K. Morris’s love for historical fiction began
when she first read Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House book series. She grew up riding horses and spending her free time in the woods of mid-Michigan. Michele loves to hear from readers on Facebook, Twitter, and here through the group blog, Heroes, Heroines, and History at HHHistory.com. Michele is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of the Steve Laube Agency.

FDR on Pearl Harbor: "A date which will live in infamy"

By Michelle Shocklee

Aerial view of Pearl Harbor

On December 7, 1941, the United States of America was attacked by the Empire of Japan at Pearl Harbor, Oahu, Hawaii.

It's hard to imagine, isn't it? Japan attacking America. I didn't have a loved one in Pearl Harbor, but my dad was a young man and joined the Air Force shortly afterwards. He served as a Turret Gunner on B-17's over Europe, flying fifty missions and witnessing things he never wanted to talk about. I'm awfully proud of him and all the other brave men and women who answered the call to arms after that terrible day in Hawaii.

One thing that took place the day after the attack, on December 8, 1941, has long been of interest to me.

FDR's speech.

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt served in office from 1933 until his death in 1945. He directed the federal government during most of the Great Depression, implementing his New Deal domestic agenda in response to the worst economic crisis in U.S. history. Prior to being elected president, he served as a senator for the state of New York, governor of New York, and was the Assistant Secretary of the Navy under President Woodrow Wilson.

In 1921, FDR contracted a paralytic illness, believed at the time to be polio, and his legs became permanently paralyzed.

By 1941, with his recent re-election to a third term in office, FDR was determined to keep the United States out of war. He gave strong diplomatic and financial support to China, the United Kingdom, and eventually the Soviet Union, but kept the U.S. officially neutral despite Prime Minister Winston Churchill's urging for the U.S. to declare war on Germany.

All of that changed on December 7, 1941.

A first draft of the speech with FDR's changes

Incensed by FDR's support of China and his oil embargo against Japan, Japanese leaders began formulating an attack against the United States. The horrific events at Pearl Harbor was the result, where 2,403 American servicemen and civilians died. The president took to the airwaves the next day, giving a speech before Congress that lasted a little over seven minutes but would go down in history as one of the most important speeches of all time.

"Mr. Vice President, and Mr. Speaker, and Members of the Senate and House of Representatives:Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan."

I can't imagine listening to this news, huddled around a radio with my family.

He went on to say, "The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost. In addition American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu."

The last lines of his speech give me chills.

"Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger. With confidence in our armed forces—with the unbounding determination of our people—we will gain the inevitable triumph- so help us God. I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire."

FDR signing the declaration of war against Japan.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Your turn: Did any of your family members serve in WWII? Tell me about them!



                                                                                                           Michelle Shocklee is the award-winning author of The Planter's Daughter and The Widow of Rose Hill, historical sagas set on a Texas cotton plantation before and after the Civil War. Her NEW historical time-slip novel set in Nashville will release in September 2020 from Tyndale Publishers Inc. STAY TUNED!  Michelle and her husband of 32 years make their home in Tennessee. Connect with her at www.MichelleShocklee.com.

THE WIDOW OF ROSE HILL

Widowed during the war, Natalie Ellis finds herself solely responsible for Rose Hill plantation. When Union troops arrive with a proclamation freeing the slaves, all seems lost. How can she run the plantation without slaves? In order to save her son’s inheritance she strikes a deal with the arrogant, albeit handsome, Colonel Maish. In exchange for use of her family’s property, the army will provide workers to bring in her cotton crop. But as her admiration for the colonel grows, a shocking secret is uncovered. Can she trust him with her heart and her young, fatherless son?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078CN65FH/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

The Ghost Army

By Marilyn Turk

With this month’s celebration of the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion in World War II, much has been written about how the final phase of the war was won by Allied Forces. A combined force of over three million troops from the United States and eleven other countries participated in the largest seaborne invasion ever carried out.
But did you know about the Ghost Army that was also part of the plan to overthrow Hitler’s Army? A couple of months after the D-Day invasion, this secret army arrived in France with a special mission: to deceive, mislead and befuddle the enemy by conducting a traveling road show.

Fake convoy

Officially known as the 1st Headquarters Special Troops, this 1100-man Army unit was trained to impersonate other Allied Army units. Many of these soldiers were recruited from art schools, advertising agencies and other occupations that encouraged creative thinking. In civilian life, they had been artists, actors, set designers and engineers.

There were four basic tactics the ghost army used to deceive the German Army: Visual deception, Sonic deception, radio deception and atmosphere.

Fake airplane

The visual deception was carried out by the 603rd camouflage engineers which used inflatable jeeps, cannons, tanks, trucks and airplanes which the men would inflate with air compressors, then partially camouflage them so the enemy could still see them. They created dummy airfields, troop camps (complete with laundry hanging on clotheslines), motor pool, artillery batteries and tank formations.

Inflatable rubber tank

Under the Signal Service Company, sonic deception was carried out. Aided by engineers from Bell Labs, a team went to Fort Knox and recorded sounds of armored and infantry units onto a series of sound effects records. These sounds were “mixed” to match the scenario they wanted the enemy to believe. Recorded on state-of-the-art wire recorders (predecessor to the tape recorder), the sounds were played with powerful amplifiers and speakers and could be heard fifteen miles away.

Sound deception unit with 500 lb. speakers

The radio deception was also carried out by the signal company. Creating “spoof radio,” special operators created fake radio transmissions, impersonating radio operators from real army units. They were so skilled in mimicking a departing operator’s method of sending Morse Code that the enemy couldn’t tell that the real unit with its real operator had moved on.

Inflatable truck

“Atmosphere” was the term used to describe the theatrical effects which supplemented the other deceptions. Using various techniques, this unit simulated actual units deployed elsewhere by using copies of their insignia, painting it on vehicles, and pretending they were being deployed as if they were regimental headquarters units. Trucks were driven in convoys with only a couple of men seated near the rear to simulate a truck full of infantry under the canvas cover. The unit’s members put their theatrical skills to use as well, engaging in "playacting, like pretending to be MPs (military police) who would stand at crossroads wearing divisional insignia. Other actors spent time at French cafes near the war's front to spread gossip among the spies who might be there, to, as one former Ghoster put it, "order some omelets and talk loose." Some actors would also play the parts of Allied generals, dressing up like officers and visiting towns where enemy spies could see them.

Fake artillery 

All these tactics were amazingly effective at creating believable scenes. From their landing in Normandy until the Allied Forces crossed into the Rhine River Valley, these men staged more than twenty battlefield deceptions, or “illusions” as the men preferred to call them, with some taking place just a few hundred yards from the front lines.

Kept classified as a military secret until 1996, the Ghost Army is estimated to have saved tens of thousands of soldiers’ lives with its deceptions and to have been instrumental in several Allied victories in Europe.

Have you ever heard of the Ghost Army? Do you know of anyone who served in it?

Marilyn Turk’s roots are in the coastal South, raised in Louisiana, moved to Georgia, then retired to Florida. Calling herself a “literary archaeologist,” she loves to discover stories hidden in history. She is the author of two World War II novels, The Gilded Curse and Shadowed by a Spy, and the four-book Coastal Lights Legacy series set in 1800s Florida—Rebel Light, Revealing Light, Redeeming Light, and Rekindled Light—featuring lighthouse settings. Marilyn’s novella, The Wrong Survivor, is in the Great Lakes Lighthouse Brides collection and Love’s Cookin’ at the Cowboy Café, in the Crinoline Cowboys collection. She also writes for Daily Guideposts Devotions.


She lives with her husband, 10-year-old grandson Logan, and a 17-year-old cat. When not writing, Marilyn can be found playing tennis, gardening, walking, fishing, or kayaking. She and her husband have visited over 100 lighthouses so far, but the RV is ready to travel and go see more. Marilyn is the director of the Blue Lake Christian Writers Retreat in Alabama, www.bluelakecwr.com. Website: @http://pathwayheart.com

If you're interested in World War II history, you might like the books I wrote that take place during that era.

The LAST Doolittle Raid Post!! (PLUS a Giveaway!)

The Dramatic Rescue of Doolittle's Lost Crews

Cindy K. Stewart and I have been tag-teaming to fill you in on the exciting adventures of the Doolittle Raiders. And it’s been my favorite kind of tag team—the kind where she does the bulk of the work! 😊 (You’ll find her final Doolittle Raid post here). But I have a special claim on Planes Six and Sixteen, “Doolittle’s Lost Crews,” as their story inspired my debut novel, The Plum Blooms in Winter. Since my novel will finally be available for pre-order this coming week—YAAY!—Cindy agreed I could have the last word. 😊

If you've been following this blog, by now you have the background. Just six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, sixteen of the Army's medium-weight B-25 bombers left the deck of the carrier U.S.S. Hornet—a feat never attempted before or since. They deployed their payloads on Tokyo and other key targets on the Japanese main island. 

A B-25 leaves the U.S.S. Hornet's deck

While the mission achieved its military objective, due to a communication breakdown the sortie left seventy-two of the eighty airmen stranded in enemy-occupied China. Eight men—the crew of Plane #16, the Bat Out of Hell, and the three survivors of Plane #6, the Green Hornet—were captured by the Japanese.

Anyone who saw the movie or read the book Unbroken will have a general picture of what these men endured. But where Louis Zamperini was a prisoner for a little more than two years, Doolittle’s “lost crews” remained in Japanese prison camps

… for forty long months, 34 of them in solitary confinement. We were imprisoned and beaten, half-starved, terribly tortured, and denied by solitary confinement even the comfort of association with one another. Three of my buddies were executed by a firing squad about six months after our capture and fourteen months later, another one of them died of slow starvation.… The bitterness of my heart against my captors seemed more than I could bear. 

—Corporal Jacob DeShazer in his tract I Was a Prisoner of Japan

A lurid wartime poster features an image of Doolittle Raider Lieutenant Robert Hite, captive, April, 1942

Sadly, of those eight men, only four came home. I’ve summarized the rest of their story, and how God used that tragedy for His glory, here and here. 

The Empire of Japan Surrenders

On the morning of August 15, 1945, the entire population of Japan… were told that at noon they must stop whatever they were doing and listen to the radio…. What the people of Japan heard that day at noon was not just unexpected, it was unimaginable…. A voice spoke—a voice they’d never heard before…. It spoke an odd form of Japanese, a dialect hundreds of years old that very few could understand clearly. For the first time in the history of the Chrysanthemum Throne, the emperor was speaking directly to his subjects.  

The voice told them: senso owari, the war is over. It said that the emperor was no longer the Son of Heaven, but an ordinary man…. The voice said it was time for the Yamato race to “endure the unendurable, and bear the unbearable.”

—The First Heroes (Craig Nelson, 2002)

In this indirect language, the people of Japan learned of their nation’s surrender. But while jubilation filled the streets of America at the news, it posed a serious question for the more than 80,000 Allied P.O.W.s still in Japanese hands, and for the captured Doolittle Raiders. 

Orders for a Massacre

The Japanese had regularly and publicly announced that, if they lost the war, they would kill every Allied P.O.W. under their control.

—The First Heroes (Craig Nelson, 2002)

The P.O.W.s were well aware of this policy. This so-called “kill-all order” was no joke. It had in fact been enacted on a few occasions when the Japanese surrendered ground: on Wake Island and on Palawan Island in the Philippines. How to ensure the order wasn’t carried out on a massive scale at the Japanese’ final surrender?

This challenge was assumed by the Office of Strategic Services (O.S.S.), the predecessor to the C.I.A. In the months preceding the surrender, the O.S.S. conducted painstaking research into the locations of Japanese prison camps. Immediately after the surrender, bombers began dropping cartons of supplies into the camps.

On August 17, 1945, just two days after the surrender, seven O.S.S. operatives parachuted onto an airfield in Beijing, China. They were surrounded at once by enemy soldiers brandishing rifles, bayonets leveled.

The Americans’ leader, Major Nichols, told the Japanese commander through his interpreter, “The war is over, and we are here to get the prisoners.”

“The war is not over yet,” the Japanese lieutenant responded, and ordered the Americans onto a truck.

Prisoners Released... Except...

The lieutenant’s stance was echoed by his superiors. Two anxious days passed before Major Nichols’ hard-nosed insistence produced the desired result. Hundreds of P.O.W.s were released from their cells and bussed to hotels in Beijing.

However, one set of prisoners were not released along with the rest. The eight captured Doolittle Raiders had been convicted in a kangaroo-court procedure and given special status as “war criminals.” The Japanese had no intention of releasing them.

The Tincup News Service

But praise God, the veil of secrecy behind which the surviving Raiders were held had its chinks. Starting in early 1944, the Raiders were able to exchange messages with a group of U.S. Marines including Commander Scott Cunningham. The messages traveled etched into the bottom of the tin cups that made their rounds through the prison meal service. Upon his release from the prison in Peiping, Commander Cunningham was quick to spread the news that four of Doolittle’s lost crew members were alive and still in prison.

…Cunningham was sure they would never be released… Major Nichols showed Japanese officials the results of his P.O.W. debriefings. He demanded they confess fully to their crimes of torturing, starving, and killing their captives. After confronting them… he demanded that they release the “war criminals” at once. 

—The First Heroes (Craig Nelson, 2002)

Return to Freedom

And so the remaining four Raiders, malnourished to a point of delirium and close to death, found themselves transported to the five-star Peiping Grand Hotel… and back into a life of freedom. George Barr, Jacob DeShazer, Robert Hite and Chase Nielson returned to the U.S. changed men. Here’s how they expressed it in a joint statement:

We were not what you would call religious men before we were captured.... [But in prison] we were given the Bible to read. We found in its ripped and faded pages a source of courage and faith we never realized existed. The verses we memorized as children suddenly came alive and became as vital to us as food.
We put our trust in the God we had not really accepted before and discovered that faith in His Word could carry us through the greatest peril of our lives. 

—Four Came Home (Carroll V. Glines, 1995)

Corporal DeShazer, the former bombardier of the Bat Out of Hell, was transformed by what he read in the Bible. Upon his release, Jake rushed to earn a Bible degree from Seattle Pacific College. In 1948, he returned to Japan with his new bride, Florence, as Free Methodist missionaries.

Corporal Jacob DeShazer upon his release from captivity

Colonel Jacob DeShazer, in a postwar publicity shot

The couple ultimately settled in Nagoya, the very city Jake had bombed during the Doolittle Raid. Their thirty-year ministry in Japan bore fruit in twenty-three church plants and in countless changed hearts.

This time I was not going as a bombardier, but I was going as a missionary. How much better it is to go out to conquer evil with the gospel of peace!

—Jacob DeShazer on his return to Japan

I finally get to give away my own book!! The Plum Blooms in Winter, inspired by a true story from the Doolittle Raid, will be available for pre-order this week. I'll randomly select someone who comments below to receive a complementary copy! The order will be fulfilled on 12/1. Thank you!

I stepped away from a marketing career that spanned continents to write what I love: stories of reckless faith that showcase God's hand in history. I'm so excited to work with the all-star team at Mountain Brook Ink to launch my debut novel, The Plum Blooms in Winter, on December 1! Inspired by a remarkable true story from World War II's pivotal Doolittle Raid, The Plum Blooms in Winter is an American Christian Fiction Writers' Genesis Contest winner. The novel follows a captured American pilot and a bereaved Japanese prostitute who targets him for ritual revenge. Please also feel free to check out my blog, Five Stones and a Sling, which hovers in the region where history meets Bible prophecy meets current events. It's rich ground--we live in a day when prophecies are leaping from the Bible's pages into the headlines!

I live outside Phoenix with my husband, a third-generation airline pilot who doubles as my Chief Military Research Officer. We share our home with two mostly-grown-up kids and a small platoon of housecats. When I'm not writing, you'll find me rollerblading--yes, I know that makes me a throwback 😊--or catching a moonrise, or dreaming of my next trip. Next up: Wales, then Israel.

From Rooftop Bandstand to King's Hall

The Pavilion, Herne Bay, Kent, on a steep slope, 1904-1912. Public Domain

Where historic North American bandstands were usually built of wood due to an abundant supply from forests, bandstand builders in the United Kingdom had access to a ready supply of coal and ore which were processed into poured cast iron or hand-wrought iron. Although both wood and iron could give decorative results, the iron bandstands had the advantage of longevity. Or at least they did until World War II came along and many of them were dismantled and melted down to make arms and ammunition. 

In my August 5th post, From Bandstands to Bandshells, I posted about the Herne Bay Bandshell, built in 1924, and how people called it the New Bandstand because an older one was further up the beach. Today's post is on the older one, which is quite confusing because when it was built in 1904, it replaced an even older bandstand on the same site.

The  rooftop bandstand was created during Phase 1 of a two phase project which cut into the hillside to create what was called the East Cliff Pavilion during it's colorful opening. Inside the small combination theater, concert hall, and dance hall, the windows were dressed with Venetian blinds, each room had gas brackets, and fresh air inlet ventilators ensured a supply of the sea air. 

The Bandstand & Pavilion, Herne Bay, Kent, 1908. Public Domain

The above postcard doesn't show a band in attendance, but according to the Wikipedia description, "There is a lot of reading, sewing, knitting and wearing of best clothes going on." Built during the British Raj era, the architecture of India is reflected in the pavilion's graceful and elaborate ironwork which has lasted throughout the years.

Elaborate Ironwork of Bandstand & Pavilion, Herne Bay, Kent, 1904. Public Domain

Phase 2 of this monumental project was the removal of a big enough chunk of the cliff for the creation of a new entertainment hall with seating for 1,500 people. The original pavilion, which couldn't hold more than 300 people, became the vestibule into the King Edward VII Memorial Hall, known simply as the King's Hall.

The next two postcards show how the King's Hall extends from the original pavilion toward the street and possibly even under it. 

The Bandstand & King's Hall, Herne Bay, Kent, 1913-1914. Public Domain

The Wikipedia description for this one says there are bathing machines in the image, but I only see cabana-style wagons which I thought were change rooms. Here's another view:

The Bandstand & King's Hall, Herne Bay, Kent, 1920's. Public Domain

Flash forward to 2011 and the King's Hall is still in beautiful form.

King's Hall Interior, Herne Bay, Kent, 2011. Creative Commons

And although the bandstand is gone, the platform remains where it once stood on the rooftop terrace of the King's Hall entrance amid the original ironwork which has been painted for beauty and endurance. Perhaps there is hope that the bandstand will rise again one day and entertain the crowds in the open sea air instead of merely having it piped inside.

King's Hall Interior, Herne Bay, Kent, 2011. Creative Commons

The evolution of the Herne Bay bandstands into modern structures show change due to circumstances. Vision was needed to build them, and appreciation kept them in place. The amazing fact is that although the rooftop bandstand itself is gone, the rest of the ironwork escaped the melting pots. 

Care to share your thoughts? Do you know what bathing machines they are referring to in this post? Have you stood inside a bandstand make of ironwork?

Other posts in this historical bandstand series can be found:

- May 5, 2018 - Wooden Bandstands of By Gone Years

- June 5, 2018 - Scenic Bandstands with a Water View

- July 5, 2018 - Elaborate Bandstands for Special Events

- Aug 5, 2018 - From Bandstands to Bandshells

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Anita Mae Draper's historical romances are written under the western skies of the Saskatchewan prairie where her love of research and genealogy yield fascinating truths that layer her stories with rich historical details.  Anita's short story, Here We Come A-Wassailing, was a finalist for the Word Guild's 2015 Word Awards. Her novellas are included in Austen in Austin Volume 1, The American Heiress Brides Collection, and The Secret Admirer Romance Collection. Readers can check out Anita's Pinterest boards for a visual idea of her stories to enrich their reading experience.  Discover more at:

Website - www.anitamaedraper.com

Pinterest - www.pinterest.com/anitamaedraper/