Yes, I remember well when I was a little boy, there were constant reminders of the war.
Our the managers of our apartment complex took an empty field and turned it into "Victory Gardens," to grow food and help the war effort. We had our little plot.
When we opened tin cans, we would take off both ends, stamp them flat, and recycle them, because the steel mills needed scrap. People remembered how the Japanese had bought the scrap steel from the 3rd Avenue El when it was torn down, and were determined to make it up. My job when I was maybe six or seven was to jump up and down on soup cans and stamp them flat on the kitchen floor.
There was no bubble gum in the stores, and I remember looking forward to the end of the war so I could chew bubble gum. What a pleasure it was when I bought my first roll after V-Day!
My aunt and uncle had horses, and there was strict gas rationing, so they harnessed up the carriage to go to church on Sundays. And we used a sleigh in the winter. How's that for saving oil?
If anyone complained about these minor hardships, which were intended to give everyone a sense of sharing and helping, the other fellow would inevitably say, "What'sa matta? Doncha know there's a war on?"
My memories are the same, but with an urban setting. I was in charge of the victory garden we had on school grounds.
WWII worked because evrerybody pitched in.
No nonsense about a 20% saving in oil consumption in 10 years! (to me the most disappointing part of the State of the Union):
What if the President had said: "A car with no passengers is a car with Osama bin Laden inh passenger seat"