Thomas Murray

Thomas J. Murray, the cheery, coffee-drinking GI who urged home-front rationing during World War II on popular posters, died Oct. 16 at St. Mary ' s Hospital in Troy, N.Y. He suffered from Parkinson ' s disease. He was 87.

In 1943, the U.S. Office of War Information selected the Army veteran to pose for two of many illustrations that were part of its campaign to gain support for the war effort.

From 1943 to 1945, Mr. Murray served as the face for rationing, an appeal to Americans to make do with less so the soldiers fighting overseas could have more.

" They were looking for someone who would represent GI Joe in the foxhole, " his nephew Frank Murray said. " It was just meant to say, ' Hey, this is a soldier on the front. Don ' t cheat him. ' "

The 22-by-28-inch poster now hangs in the National D-Day Museum in New Orleans and at a military museum in Greensboro, N.C. The poster became so popular that the war office reprinted a larger version with a slightly different headline.

" The poster was pretty symbolic back in those days, " said Mr. Murray ' s daughter, Stephanie Phillips of Colonie, N.Y.

During the last three years of World War II, Americans needed ration stamps to buy such products as meat, cheese, canned goods, sugar, butter, shoes and gasoline, said Michael Aikey, director of the New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center in Saratoga Springs.

A typical allocation of sugar was 12 ounces a week. Auto validation stamps permitted 3 gallons of gasoline per week. One pair of shoes a year was the norm from February 1943 to October 1945.

" Rationing was one of the many battles fought during World War II, and like a lot of battles there were mixed results " because of the growth of black markets, Aikey said.

Mr. Murray, a native of New York City, moved to Latham, N.Y., in 1966. In 1975 he relocated to the Buffalo area, where he worked as regional superintendent for the state Department of Labor, from which he retired.

He settled in Clifton Park, near Albany, in 1989. He recently moved into an assisted-living center. His first request was for the 1943 poster to come with him, his daughter said.

" He was so proud just that he could do something visible that would encourage the people of that time to sacrifice, " Phillips said.

Mr. Murray ' s survivors include his wife of 56 years, Madeleine Leddy Murray of Latham, N.Y.