COLUMN
A Queens summer in the middle of World War II
In conjunction with the
Greater Astoria Historical
Society, the TimesLedger
newspaper presents noteworthy
events in the borough’s history.
Welcome to July 1943!
Russians stop huge Nazi
drive along a 165 mile front.
Report 10,000 casualties
and 738 tanks knocked out.
Russians open greatest tank
battle in history at Kursk.
Sea battles rages in Solomon
Islands. Japanese base at
Munda doomed. Sicily invaded;
4,000 prisoners taken as Axis
lines crumble. Ultimatum sent
for Italy to oust Mussolini.
Italian troops mutiny. Yanks
split Axis army. Palermo falls.
Axis army in trap. Sicily lost
to Nazis.
Rationing is in place
during the war. Each person is
limited to one pair of shoes a
year, can use stamp #18 in the
war ration book. Stamp #1 is
good for one pair until October
31. All coal and oil stoves are
subject to rationing. Motorists
must write their license
number and state on back of
each ticket. ‘A’ coupons are 5
gallons, ‘B’ and ‘C’ valued at
2 1/2 gallons. Bicycles can be
purchased only by students
needing to commute to school,
or persons gainfully employed
doing war work. You can
get a certificate at the local
Ration Board in Lon g Island
City, Flushing, Ridgewood,
Jamaica, or the Rockaways.
Dining at home was getting
down to picnic status with
the butchers extolling the
frankfurter. They are trying to
convince shopping housewives
that they don’t want veal, lamb,
or mutton anyway. Queens
butcher shops have been out of
beef for close to four weeks but
until recently are able to offer
plenty of pork as a substitute.
No mater how good or instant
the customer, the butchers are
talking frankfurters. That all
they have to sell.
Beets, peas, beans, radishes,
tomatoes potatoes, onions,
Swiss chard, cucumbers,
lettuce. No, they are not for
sale. They represent part
of the vegetable crop being
grown by employees of Con
Edison in Astoria, the largest
Victory Garden in the city at
20th Avenue and 20th Street.
The produce will be
consumed by the families of
employees during the summer
or canned. Benny Furino
believes in irrigating his crops
‘like we did in the old country.
In Italy we dug ditches and
built dams, and let the water
run all over the garden.’ All
his crops are flourishing, but
not twenty feet away is another
plot which is not watered but
also is flourishing. Benny,
who lives at 8-04 36 Avenue,
Astoria shrugs his shoulders.
‘It’s the way he did it in the old
country. That’s the way I do it
here.’
Old Dobbin stages Flushing
comeback. The old gray mare,
‘she ain’t what she used to
be’ but then again she may
be coming into her own as
civilians face gas and rubber
shortages. Residents in and
around Flushing lately awake
to the clop, clop, clop, of horse’s
hoof on the pavement 5 a.m.
The court upholds a will
written on an envelope.
An Astoria man’s penciled
testament is admitted to
probate in an action disposing
of an estate worth over $14,575.
Judge Anthony Seravese
accepted the penciled will of
Salvatore Campo, owner of a
bar and grill at 27-01 24 Ave.
and who died in St. Johns
Hospital. The judge appointed
his widow, Mrs. Tindara Camp
as administratix.
There is a glass sitting
on top of the mirror at the
Sunnyside Tavern in Astoria.
It may rest there for the
duration and it may stay there
forever. Sergeant Jack Scotti,
a marine, who has service
marks the whole length of his
sleeve, is drinking in the place.
It is the ebb of the evening. The
sergeant surveys his capital
goods and announces the he
has 70 cents left. “I want to
have a stake in this town when
I come back,” the Marine
‘topkick’ (first sergeant) said
jangling the coins. “They’ll
never get me. They didn’t in
24 years and they wouldn’t
this time.” Marty Verbit, the
bartender, tossed the Marine
for the stake and lost. Sergeant
Scotti has $1.40 in change
resting in the glass above the
mirror. “It’ll stay there until
he comes back for it” said the
barkeep.
That’s the way it was in
July 1943!
For further information,
contact the Greater Astoria
Historical Society at 718-278-
0700 or visit our website at
www.astorialic.org.
ON THE WEB
LAST WEEK’S TOP STORY:
Bayside’s Uno Pizzeria & Grill ordered closed by health inspectors
over critical violations
SUMMARY: The city’s Health Department ordered a
popular pizza chain restaurant in Bayside closed last week. It has since
been reopened.
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