I can remember my Dad telling me that he used to put mayonnaise on bread and load it up with pepper, etc., just to make the stomach feel full as that was all they had to eat. (His Father was a blacksmith and his mom ran a boarding house.) He joined the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) briefly out of college just to get free room & board until he could get a coaching job. (I don’t want to overdo the “tough times” bit in my Dad’s case–just that things were tough everywhere. Dad’s parents did well enough to put 5 kids thru college and let Dad play tennis–he and his doubles partner were nationally ranked in the Jrs when in HS and went on to a 10 ltr tennis, diving and basketball career in college. He was a piker tho–his older brother won 14 letters in football, BB, tennis and track. Depression couldn’t have malnourished ‘em ALL that much.

My father had to apply a few times to get in the Army in ’44, though that was because of his trying to get in while underage. Being a farm boy he ate well given the times.

It is my impression that most country folk did especially well during combat due in part to their experience growin up. Did not have a college degree, but they were used to hardship, self-reliance, knew how to use weapons, were comfortable in the woods, and knew how to find North.

Same with fashion. The armed services has had to substitute tennis shoes for combat boots in much of basic tng because so few kids wear leather shoes to school anymore that their bone and muscle structure can’t tolerate going cold-turkey into combat boots for extended periods until their feet have become “aclimatized” to the more unyielding boots.

As to the poly? As in so many things, only as good as the operator.