Posted by Scoobydoo on Friday, August 1, 2008 at 10:13pm.
Although I was only 11 when WWII ended, I can tell you about a teen's life in a middle class neighborhood in Chicago.
Most teens I knew were in high school, but some dropped out at age 16 to work or at 17 to serve in the armed forces. We listened to popular music, comedies, and dramatic series on the radio. We jitterbugged at dances. We wrote letters to friends and relatives who were in the service. Rationing didn't mean much to me -- except that we couldn't get butter and our oleo was white unless we colored it with food coloring. Rationing also meant that we couldn't get enough gas to visit out-of-town relatives very often. Our family couldn't buy a new car, washing machine, etc., because they weren't being made. Long distance phone calls were expensive -- and were seldom made. Even close family deaths were reported by telegram.
Teens in poor rural areas lived a much different life. Many didn't have electricity so didn't have radios or electric lights. They tended to drop out of school before they were teens in order to help their families on their farms.
I didn't find anything useful online -- so I suggest you interview other people who are at least 75 years old in order to find what their lives were like. We are authentic sources.
My dad and three uncles were in the service. We had a huge world map over the kitchen table with pins in it to show where battles were being fought. We lived by the radio to hear what was happening every day. We collected grease and took it to a collection place, it was made into ammunition. The entire school was taken down to the cotten fields nearby a couple of days so that we could help pick the cotton crop.... another day were were let out of school to collect crap metal and bring it in to school. We didn't drive much because gas was rationed; we used honey made locally because sugar was rationed. We had a victory garden and canned everything we grew because canned good were rationed. Meat was rationed so we raised chickens. And kids danced ( jitterbugged) and listened to music and played baseball and swam just as they do now.
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