As World War II moved along in February 1943, local residents on the home front had some new things to adjust to in their daily lives.
Shoe aficionados, and those who perhaps needed a sizeable collection for their wardrobes were in for a little adjustment that month, as readers of The Oneonta Star of Feb. 8 learned, “The government suddenly put shoes under rationing Sunday. Sales are prohibited Monday. Rationing starts Tuesday. Three pairs a year are allowed every man, woman, and child, but members of a family may pool their coupons so that some may buy more if others buy less. Shoe repair work and second-hand shoes are not rationed.”
For Oneonta, it meant a bit more peace and quiet at shoe stores, while repair shops got busier.
Fast-forward 80 years and during February, we’ve heard in the news how many places are adopting a four-day work week. That’s fewer hours, 32, at the same pay. A total opposite was the case in 1943.
As The Star reported on Feb. 10, “A general 48-hour week was ordered by President Roosevelt Tuesday night as part of ‘the fullest mobilization’ of American manpower and resources to carry out 1943 war plans calling for a tremendous invasion of Europe. The sweeping order meant substantial increases in the weekly earnings of large numbers of people.”
Something as simple as better physical fitness became a plan in our local schools, as The Star reported on Feb. 11 how, “‘The Japanese and German boys and girls are good — we must be better. Physical weakness is sabotaging American youth and the future of the United States,’ Junior High school pupils were told at an athletic assembly program given in the gymnasium yesterday afternoon under the direction of Edward J. Raynsford.
“After an explanation of the importance of physical and moral health, there were demonstrations of various types of exercise by groups of pupils,” including wrestling, running obstacle courses, basketball, hiking, skating, skiing and gymnastics.
Not far away in Cooperstown, those already in service to their country, perhaps on leave, got a special treat from a local family.
“Mr. and Mrs. Stephen C. Clark announced Thursday,” The Star reported on Feb. 12, “that the large stone house with its spacious grounds on the Fenimore farm will be opened in the spring as a club for men of the armed forces. It will be known as the ‘United Nations Service club,’ and will afford a place of rest and recreation for the men in the services.” We know that stone house today as the Fenimore Art Museum, on state Route 80.
While many men were overseas in battle, others were leaving and more were needed. Women were being asked to step in to help on the home front.
One way they could help was explained in The Star’s Feb. 17 edition. “‘Each of you has the power to help raise an Army of 150,000, an army the size of the British Eighth army which swept through Libya,’ Lt. Betty L. Wells said last night in an appeal to women of Oneonta to enroll in the Womens Army Auxiliary corps.
“Addressing a public rally in the Municipal building, Lt. Wells told about 50 women that ‘you have the power to raise this Army through the WAAC. Every woman who enrolls in the WAAC releases a man for combat duty at the front; every woman who enrolls sets another man free to strike at the enemy.’”
Lastly, it wouldn’t be business as usual on the old ball diamond that summer at Neahwa Park Field, known today as Damaschke Field. As Star readers on Feb. 23 found out, “The Canadian-American baseball league was added Monday to the war’s victims.
“Directors of the eight-club class C circuit voted, 5 to 3, to suspend for the duration and ‘freeze the territory,’ which in baseball parlance means keeping post-war exclusive franchise rights of the league.”
Oneonta’s team was a farm club for the Boston Red Sox at the time and play resumed after the war, when more men returned home from service.
On Wednesday, we’ll look at our area’s business beat in early March 1988.
Oneonta City Historian Mark Simonson’s column appears twice weekly. On Saturdays, his column focuses on the area before 1950. His Wednesday columns address local history 1950 and later. If you have feedback or ideas about the column, write to him at The Daily Star, or email him at simmark@stny.rr.com. His website is oneontanyhistorian.com. His columns can be found at www.thedailystar.com/opinion/columns/.