In James Jones’ Pulitzer winning book “WWII” he includes a cartoon of an emaciated Japanese soldier obviously starving to death offering to surrender to some Marines with the caveat “My man are appoint me to offer surrendering—only under one condition—that we are not required to eat admirable American delicacy named spam.”

When it comes to sausage “Don’t ask; enjoy” has always been good advice. Of course, the same thing can be said for many food items and the jokes concerning Spam were legion among troops during WWII. But hunger will drive people to many extremes where even Spam may be considered a delicacy despite the point made in the cartoon, or even to the extremes of “No Blade of Grass” or “Soylent Green.”

Many are the accounts of cannibalism from the most ancient of times, and many such cases were reported in Russia and elsewhere during WWII. Even the Old Testament has a story of people eating their children, and some of the more grim fairytales of witches cooking children come from a background of famine and cannibalism. I have no doubt such things are happening right now, though not making it to the MSM. Such stories would not reflect well on tyrants and dictators in third world nations that are profiting by the food given them from countries like America while their people starve.

There is much to commend a vegetarian diet, and much like Thoreau to whom the eating of animal flesh became more unpleasant to imagination than any dietary concerns I took to a largely vegetarianism a few years ago, though not fanatically so. But with the apocalyptic scenarios playing out on TV such a diet may become more “convenient” to people because of the rising cost of meat. And as the costs escalate for so many things Americans have come to take for granted perhaps it would be of value to share a few memories of mine from that time past when we did not take so much for granted.

Along with our Victory Garden of WWII my grandparents raised rabbits and chickens, so while meat was rationed we ate very well though things like sugar, lard, cooking oil, dairy products, clothes, leather and metal products and many other items required ration stamps. And of course that “A” stamp for gasoline and the unavailability of new tires and spare parts certainly limited travel for many. “Is this Trip Necessary?” signs appeared everywhere in those days.

During WWII there were a great number of activities for those of us on the Home Front by which contributions were made to the war effort giving us the sense of participation, doing things useful in fighting the war. Some of these activities enabled even children to make their contributions, things like peeling foil from gum and cigarette pack wrappers, rolling it in a ball and turning it in to a scrap metal collection center. I would help grandad flatten tin cans with hammer and anvil for the same purpose. Many children were also turning in metal toys for the war effort, most of which would command a very high price today as “collectibles.”

 Few people today would think about wire clothes hangers being hard to come by, but even such a mundane though utilitarian item was scarce at the time, so, grandad made them. Being a jack of all trades, building our house, the church and grocery store in Little Oklahoma (Southeast Bakersfield) there were construction materials around the place before the war, and having a roll of wire on hand grandad fashioned a jig of a board and nails. Then cutting the wire to the proper length he would twist it around the jig and voila; a wire clothes hanger. Grandad was always doing things like this that made him my idol; grandad could do things, really fascinating and useful things, and he took the time to teach me to do things as well.

In so very many ways those of us living the events of WWII were made to feel useful in the war effort; we were making a contribution to defeat the Axis Powers. Rationing was hard on many, but more were making jokes about it than complaining. After all, our boys overseas were fighting and dying; what were the hardships on the home front compared to that, especially when those small flags with gold stars in the windows of homes in the neighborhood reflected the reality of the ultimate price being paid by so many?

You could depend on the funny papers, The Saturday Evening Post and Collier’s Magazine having cartoons about rationing; but very little of poking fun in such a way was of “gallows humor.” Most certainly there was no humor to be found in those fighting and dying overseas. Any such attempt at humor would have been met with an army of home front folk bearing tar and feathers.

Even Bill Mauldin was sensitive enough to know better than make light of the actual grim realities of what was happening on the front lines, though we all blessed him for the humor he was able to convey through “Willie and Joe” in the face of such grim realities. Which makes it all the more to be wondered why anyone would attempt “humor” in any fashion concerning 9/11, as some have done?

Much in the way of the preamble to Gone With The Wind, the way of life in the America of my generation of WWII is quickly passing away, perhaps never to be seen again, a time when people believed in virtue, believed crime did not pay, that honesty was the best policy. These values were taught in the homes and schools throughout that America. We trusted our leaders to have the best interests of America in view at all times in making decisions, passing legislation and making policies; it was a time when the courts had more concern for victims than for criminals.

Notwithstanding the legitimate faults and weaknesses that are to be found, my generation was a time reflecting the values of our Founding Fathers, whom we still held in the highest esteem, still reflecting the best of Western Civilization in our schools and society. If times become hard enough once more here in America I wonder how this generation will fare since the foundation of the America we knew, honored, and sacrificed for that sustained us during WWII has been destroyed and this generation is so fragmented and divided?

Today there is going to be a test here in the Kern River Valley of the warning siren to be used if (when) the Isabella Dam should break. But the warning sirens are going off all about us that the “dam” is about to fail in America. Mine was a “Can Do!” generation. This generation is simply not prepared for the dam to break, it is not equipped for “Do with, or do without” as my generation was.