Daily life in 1944 was impacted in hundreds of ways by the Second World War. Every issue of The Port Credit Weekly reported on the war's effects “on the homefront.” Here's a few highlights from the Feb. 10, 1944 issue of Port Credit's newspaper.

Municipal recycling programs are only a few decades old, but recycling in support of the war effort was mainstream during the Second World War. Dubbed “salvage,” the practice saw a whopping 456 million pounds (207 million kilograms) of metal, paper, and other reusable materials collected and redirected to war production in Canada between May 1941 and December 1943.

Canada had a “potato controller,” Montreal's Walter A. Stanford, who made sure that the spuds were equitably distributed throughout the country, to avoid shortages. This was part of a large program of “controlled distribution,” that saw rationing of popular foods.

If you had visited Europe, the government wanted to see your vacation photos. They weren't being voyeuristic: In an age before satellite photography, those snapshots could be used to build the armed forces' knowledge of future battlegrounds. The naval service credited a postcard of a bridge as helpful in the Allies liberating Trieste, Italy from enemy control.