September 12, 1943

Dear Friends,
 It is Joe writing to tell you about how things are going.  I am 12 years old and I now live in Detroit, Michigan.  The last couple years have been tough with the US entering the war and my dad being shipped over to Europe to fight.  I write him letters every week to let him know how I am, and he writes me back telling me that he is going to help us win the war.  I really miss my dad, but I am not the only kid that I know that has a dad in the armed forces.  Thousands of the men from Detroit either joined the armed forces or were drafted to help fight in the war.
 With so many men and women entering the armed forces, people were needed to replace them in their jobs.  My mother, along with many of her friends and other women, got hired to work at the Ford Motor Company factory.  This factory, like many others, shifted in 1942 from building peace time goods to producing war equipment.  Ford shifted their production from automobiles to bombers in February of 1942, so no new automobiles have been built since then.  Some of my friends have recently begun working in the factory after school to earn money for their families.  This has been allowed because several states have decided to ignore child labor laws in this time of war.  My mother won’t let me work in the factory because she insists that I have enough other things to do.
 
When she says that I am busy, she isn’t kidding.  I go to school Monday-Friday.  While at school, we often read the newspaper and study current events.  My class has created a map of Europe so that we can understand the locations that are talked about in the newspaper.  After school, I usually go home and take care of my little brother until my mother gets home from work.  I have learned a lot about cooking and cleaning since my mom has started working.  When my mom gets home from work, we eat supper and listen to the radio for updates on the situation of the war.
I also help my mom take care of our Victory Garden.  A Victory Garden is a garden that we have in the backyard where we grow potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, lettuce, squash, peppers, and onions.  We eat these vegetables so that we don’t have to buy them at the store and farmers can send what they grow to the soldiers overseas.  When I go shopping with my mom, we are given a certain number of ration stamps.  Each product at the store is tagged twice, once with a ration number and once with a price.  We are only allowed to spend our given ration stamps, in addition to paying for the product with money, so growing our own vegetables also allows us to spend our ration stamps on other goods.
 
There are many things that are being rationed by the government so that enough supplies are available to build war equipment and feed soldiers overseas.  “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without” is a slogan that we have learned to live by.  Food, gasoline, metal, paper, rubber, and leather are all products that are being rationed.  To help collect these materials, I have participated in collection drives.  A group of my friends help me walk around town with a wagon to collect metal and paper.  In addition, we have each given our toys to be recycled and the materials used for the war, so we have to use our imagination when it comes to playing.  I was supposed to get a bike for my tenth birthday, but because they are made of metal and rubber, bikes have stopped being produced.  I can’t wait for the war to be over with so that my dad can come home and my life can return to normal.  I hope that you are doing well.
 

                                                                                                                    Your friend,
                                                                                                                            Joe

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