I lived in Winthrop in those days. I don’t remember having air raid drills while in school.
But we had them at night, and after we turned all our lights off, the family went outside to hear the sirens, and to watch the searchlights explore the sky. It was fascinating. And except for the searchlights, everything was so dark. We could look across a broad marsh at East Boston, and the dark there seemed so strange.
“And except for the searchlights, everything was so dark.”
Yes,they were scary times. It must have been weird looking over at a dark East Boston.
We had an air raid warden(a neighbor) who would walk up and down the street making sure no light showed at all.
For the school air raids we all had to make black oil cloth(remember that?)cushions that we would all sit on when we were down the basement.
We also had an ID tag hanging on a chain around our necks.
This was in Boston Public Schools. It was very organized.
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