Ripley's Believe It or Not by Ripley’s Believe It or Not! for February 02, 2015

So, how was a sandwich made in WWII?

I am sure the metal used for slicing machines would have killed the effort & lost the war. Probably a lot less total metal than in just one ship sunk by a torpedo.I worked with someone who claimed that during the war he helped purposely destroy tons of butter, which was rationed. It was a psychological thing by the government to get the public into the war effort he claimed. Knowing what we do about the government these days, I have no reason to doubt his story.

Sliced bread was banned for only 2 months during WW2. Facts from wiki copied & pasted below.t seems that the history of sliced bread should end here, but that’s not the case. For about two months in 1943, sliced bread disappeared from the shelves completely. In the midst of World War II, the government ordered a ban on sliced bread. The manufacturing of weaponry and other wartime necessities was deemed more important than the manufacturing of bread-slicing machines, and the conservation of materials—such as the thick wax paper used to wrap the loaves—was integral. But the ban did not go over well with bread making companies or with the general public. One woman even wrote a letter to the New York Times admonishing the ban:

After being initiated in January, the ban on sliced bread was lifted in March of 1943. The government said that the savings were not as much as were expected, but the quick turnaround of the ban likely had to do with the severe backlash from producers and consumers.

Kicking soccer balls would be a good way to check for land mines.

WWII saw a LOT of rationing in the US: meat, sugar, butter, gasoline, and a lot of mandatory metal ‘shortages’ – copper (in 1943 pennies were made of steel), aluminum, brass – all to ‘support the war effort’. Even helium was strictly controlled by the government.

I was only a year old when WW II ended. I remember the ‘steel’ pennies issued in 1943 to conserve copper. There was always some joker claiming to have found a 1943 copper cent, but it was only something like a copper-plated 43 steel, or a 1948 cent with the 8 altered to look like a 3. Also, along Route 101 in California were bells made of cast lead to commemorate the El Camino Real as part of a Depression-era public works project. Many of these bells were melted down for bullets when the war came.

I was a child during WW II, but I don’t remember not having sliced bread. I remember a lot of sandwiches, tho. I also remember stomping cans flat to recycle for the war.

So then, War is “the greatest invention since sliced bread”???

The ban wasn’t against sliced bread itself, just the slicing machinery. Slicing with a knife at home was okay, hence sandwiches were still made and consumed.

I was 12 when WW II started. I don’t remember not having sliced bread.

After the Great Depression, conserving for the war effort probably didn’t hurt them like it would us.

Never heard of a band on sliced bread back then! Bread in them days were either way, sliced at the store or taken home and sliced by bread knife to desired thickness, We mostly bought fresh baked rolls We had scrap drives that collected metal and some of it was old slicers. Fresh rye bread was great unsliced!

I remember having to home slice bread – difficult to make the slices come out even!