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If you look at the war documentary "They shall not grow old" you may come to the same conclusion. A good portion of people in that era were malnourished. If I r
by thevagrant 5y ago
If you look at the war documentary "They shall not grow old" you may come to the same conclusion. A good portion of people in that era were malnourished. If I recall correctly, the documentary mentions the army had to do a fair bit to get recruits into shape (by feeding them well and putting them through training).
Lack of dental and fluoridated water may be another factor. I suspect back then it was also more common to smoke.
- shagie 5y agoThe National School Lunch program was signed into law by Truman in 1946. Its purpose was stated as to "safeguard the health and well-being of the Nation’s children" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_School_Lunch_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_School_Lunch_Act https://www.thecongressproject.com/national-school-lunch-act-1946 https://www.thecongressproject.com/national-school-lunch-act... > Additionally, because this occurred in a post-war Congress, another argument to make funds permanent came from the fact that men were rejected from Selective Service during the war because of poor nutrition when they were children.
- abrookewood 5y agoThis is an excellent documentary. Thoroughly recommend it if you have even a passing interest in WW1, though it's heart-breaking. Produced and directed by Peter Jackson: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7905466/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7905466/
- ericd 5y agoIt's also a technical tour de force, they turned shaky black and white footage with variable frame rate (from early hand cranked video cameras) into almost-cinema-grade color footage, and they recreated the sound using speakers local to the areas of the soldiers, combined with lip reading. It's an incredible work.