Jeepers, Creepers, Where'd you get those Sneekers!
Updated: Apr 10, 2020
Very quickly in 1942, rationing of food, gasoline, tires, shoes and other consumer products became prevalent. Local rationing boards were established to issue coupons for consumer products. I do not remember our family suffering much of a shortage. We grew most of our own food and farmers generally got a “C” gas card which provided 12 gallons a week.
The only real shortages that I recall were shoes. At the time my feet were growing fast and we only got two pairs of shoes per year. I had to spend one of my coupons on a set of roller skates. Fortunately, basketball shoes were exempt and a set of Converse helped tide me over that year.
In order to save gasoline, there was a national speed limit of 35 miles per gallon during the war. I remember getting good lessons from a local State Trooper as I was approaching driving age. He would gather a bunch of teenage boys in the back seat of his cruiser and let us witness him issue speeding tickets. There were not radar speed detectors at that time and he would make an estimate of the speed of violators for the ticket.