My mom is 95 and is one of the Last Ones. We were up late last night going through her memories for the family tree I’m putting together. She’s very sorrowful that her world is gone and no one seems to take her seriously any more (I do), even though she knows more than most people and has seen more than they ever will. It was a fascinating evening.
I (born in 1949) and others like me,witnessed you guys and tried to emulate you...Some of us succeeded...
Thank you....
It was a generation that got to savor both privation and plenty. All we’ve known since is the latter ... to our detriment.
And at that time a REAL SILVER DOLLAR had a value of about 47 cents.
Then LBJ removed the silver from our coins and the printing presses cranked up turning out Federal Reserve notes like there was not tomorrow.
-—post of the day -—excellent-—
I wonder how much longer that list COULD be?
• My mother and her sisters married their childhood sweethearts.
• Mom was always home.
• My brother and I had grade school teachers who had taught our parents.
• I can remember my father cried while talking about his RAF buddies who ‘didn’t make it’.
• I remember when finding a nickel was an event.
• I remember taking shoes to the shoe repair... to get more mileage out of them.
• We walked to and from school, (lunch time included).
• Every nationality on earth lived in a 4 bock area where we grew up and we never locked our doors…
And on, and on, and on…..
Remember oleo margarine used to be packed in a cellophane pouch, white. Looked like Crisco.
There was a little bright orange tab that had to be kneaded into the white margarine to give it a nice yellow color.
That was my job.
We grew up at the best possible time, a time when the world was getting better... not worse.
BLAM said the following a while ago >>>
I feel grateful to have been born at the best time in history, in the best country and living conditions in all of human history. I live better than most kings and royalty in all of human history...how could I have been more fortunate?
Few here cannot deny the truth of both of the foregoing...
And the music of that time is still the best!
Loved reading this. Describes my mom and deceased father well. Some of those money-saving habits remain to this day, and I took them on as well. We owe a debt of gratitude towards our elders; they have seen a lot.
Bookmarked
1932 here.
Brother 1935.
Father died 1938.
Tough times.
.
Age-ism against those born in the 20s or earlier.
I was born in 1935 and of course relate to that article.
The statement "Up on Blocks" reminded me of my first automobile which I got in the early 50s .
It was a 1937 Packard that had been "Up on blocks" till after WWII was over. -Tom
Your post is terrific and very timely - started writing my memoires 30 years earlier... better get moving again. Time is just running away - but I remember childhood events during WWII more clearly than yesterday.
I understand that’s normal for geezers;)
Isn't it interesting that Millennials are so interested in and support podcasts?
Yes, things have changed, but I'm not going to bewail the changes. Many of them were for the better. Particularly better technology, including medical technology. I had an older cousin who had polio. I was among the first to get the anti-polio sugar cube. Polio is no longer the threat it once was.
In college I had a job as a transmitter operator at a radio station. One of my important duties was to listen for a CONELRAD alert, and turn off the transmitter if the alert ever came (thank God it never did). But I lived under the threat of The Bomb, and that duty made me conscious of it every time I went to work.
My life didn't turn out the way I imagined it would back when I was in high school. On net balance, I'd say it turned out better than I could have imagined.
Thanks for your post. I am 80 and my wife is 83, married 50 years and have many of the same memories. Just seems that many of the younger people today simply don’t have the same values.
Born in 1933, WWII is a stark memory of neighbors disapearing and my Dad being drafted in 1942 for the Navy. Since he hated boats, he was allowed to choose the Marine Corps instead. Before the end of the year he was in the Pacific.
I remember sitting huddled on hallway floors in elementary school during air raid drills or when German subs were spotted off the coast of Boston.
I remember how hungry we (my brother and I) were by the time the meager $100 per month allotment check came. I remember one neighbor who was a defense worker who got to eat bacon, butter, and meat throughput the war.
OTOH, my grandfather bought me my first gun (.22) when I was 8 years old and a 410/.22 over and under when I was 10. I remember in 1945 getting my drivers license when I was 12.
I remember my grandparents ranting about the communist in the WH, particularly after the "temporary" implementation of having taxes deducted/stolen from a paycheck with the promise that it would be canceled when the war ended.
I remember the "psychotic" WWII Marines vets who were my drill instructors in the early 1950's.
Again, most of all I remember what it was like to enjoy the individual freedoms guaranteed by a Constitutional Republic.
My mom grew up in the Depression and had no electricity or indoor plumbing until she was in high school.
Going the bathroom in the middle of the night involved shoes and a flashlight and a coat for much of the year.
We never went camping when I was a kid because she had lived it.
Had a family friend growing up with a withered arm from polio.
Growing up in the 30’s and 40’s wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be.