Lining up for beer ration on Sterling Island, 1944. The National WWII Museum, Gift in Memory of John O. Spinks Sr, 2011.018.018.
Citation: The National WWII Museum, New Orleans. "How World War II Saved American Beer Brewing." April 7, 2021. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/how-world-war-ii-saved-american-beer-brewing.
The following object description information includes basic elements from the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI). An additional notes field is included to list dates from the actual letter, envelope postmark locations, and any other identifying details.
Notes – Handwritten letter dated July 4, 1943, single page. Includes envelope, postmarked July 5, 1943, 12PM, from Dale Mabry Field, Tallahassee, Fla.
How World War II Saved American Beer Brewing
Brewers saw the war not only as an opportunity to restore an industry damaged by anti-German propaganda and 13 years of Prohibition, but also as a way to hone in on new, key consumers: American GIs. As detailed in a 1941 issue of Brewers Digest, the military presented a chance “to cultivate a taste for beer in millions of young men who will eventually constitute the largest beer-consuming section of our population.” In response, soldiers, sailors, and marines were largely happy to oblige and accepted their beer rations. As a deference to “dry” politicians representing constituents who continued to worry about the negative effects of alcohol consumption, the government agreed that the ABV—alcohol by volume—of beer sold to American service members would remain limited at 3.2 percent. Sold at the PX (Post Exchange) or issued aboard ships, 3.2 percent American lager became the beer of the US Military.
Citation: The National WWII Museum, New Orleans. "How World War II Saved American Beer Brewing." April 7, 2021. Retrieved March 28, 2023. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/how-world-war-ii-saved-american-beer-brewing.
How the U.S. Military Helped Invent Cheetos
"The first real cheese powder was 
developed in 1943 by George Sanders, a USDA dairy scientist. (Even before the war began, USDA’s research facilities had been enlisted to work toward military goals, exhorted by Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace “to consider their possible contributions to national needs as the defense program approaches the stage of ‘maximum effort.” [...] In the summer of 1945, Little Boy and Fat Man were detonated in Japan, ending the war and leaving the Quartermaster Corps with warehouses full of food as well as an elaborate manufacturing and distribution system still churning out goods for millions of troops. This would take years to redirect or dismantle. [...] A temporary federal agency, the Surplus Property Administration, sold off at bargain‑basement prices the food the Quartermaster Corps had amassed. Who doesn’t love something they get for free or at a third of the original cost? But what could one do with football fields full of potato flakes, a cave stuffed with dried eggs (the army’s strange storage location for one hundred million pounds of the stuff), or a mountain of dehydrated cheese? [...]
In 1948 the Frito Company (it merged with H. W. Lay & Company in 1961 to become Frito‑Lay, Inc.) debuted the country’s first cheesy snack food, made with the same Wisconsin cheddar the army used for its dehydrated products. Frito Company founder Charles Doolin had been a military supplier, even building a facility in San Diego, where there is a naval base, to service his contracts.
According to his daughter Kaleta Doolin, “During the war, tins of chips were sent overseas to be served in mess halls and sold in PXs. This venture helped put the company over the top as a nationwide business.” Afterward, new plants were opened in Dallas, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake City, where soon cornmeal and water were being extruded, puffed, fried in oil, and coated with finger‑licking, orange dehydrated cheese. Cheetos!"
Citation: Anastacia Marx De Salcedo. "How the U.S. Military Helped Invent Cheetos." August 7, 2015. Accessed March 28, 2023. https://www.wired.com/2015/08/us-military-helped-invent-cheetos/.