World War II restrictions cut deep into every American pantry
as federal officials announced that sliced bread would be
rationed on this day in history, Jan. 18, 1943.

"I should like to let you know how important sliced bread is to
the morale and saneness of a household," distraught mother
Sue Forrester of Fairfield, Connecticut, claiming to speak on
behalf of America’s housewives, lamented in a New York Times
letter to the editor.

Wartime rationing had already caused severe restrictions on
the nation’s household food supply.

Basic resources were devoted in ever-growing volume to the
war effort in 1943, as the tide of battle turned and the U.S. and
its Allies went on the offensive across the vast expanse of two
oceans.

Bread rationing marked the depths of sacrifices on the home
front. 

Young boy with a war ration book at a supermarket, as
children were taught the facts of point rationing during
the war.