Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

How the U. S. Military taught Americans to Smoke
Zocalo Public Square ^ | August 5, 2019 | Joel R. Bius

Posted on 08/11/2019 10:53:24 AM PDT by re_tail20

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100101 next last
To: sparklite2

I asked my dad. (just turned 91) He said they called them that and a “Good Humor Man Suit”

USN 1946-48 USS Howard W. Gilmore AS-16


61 posted on 08/11/2019 1:37:09 PM PDT by headstamp 2 (There's a stairway to heaven, but there's a highway to hell.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: sparklite2

If you ‘suspected’ Mrs Mcgilicuddy was listening in, just say something ‘dramatic’ about her and wait for the gasp from HER and all the others..then the ‘click’...

Without thinking I will STILL say ice box and am a tad older than 30....

Of course, all us USN types (well military) can have a conversation using the ‘old’ words and it is sort of cryptic... (Don’t pull a Clark Gable saying I had a ‘gay old time’ last night in the 1930s reruns)


62 posted on 08/11/2019 1:38:27 PM PDT by xrmusn (6/98"HRC is cast as the Grandmother that lures Hansel & Gretel to the pot")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 59 | View Replies]

To: sparklite2

no kneepads, no helmets, no airbags, no seat-belts or when they were there, no one paid the slightest attention to them ... it’s a wonder anyone survived ...


63 posted on 08/11/2019 1:41:06 PM PDT by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies]

To: Redcitizen

Thanks for your thought.

He commanded a Stewart light tank and was in the Battle of the Bulge. After that was among the first forces into Germany proper. The stuff that man must have seen. Concentration camps, fighting old men and young boys at times. House to house fighting. A boy of 13 shot his commanding officer.

He never really talked about it much but sometimes it flowed out of him.

He smoked from the age of 11 and died of lung cancer at the age of 86. He had been diagnosed the year before. No emphysema or anything really.


64 posted on 08/11/2019 1:45:47 PM PDT by headstamp 2 (There's a stairway to heaven, but there's a highway to hell.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: re_tail20

Tobacco was a major cash crop of the near South. Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Carolinas were all big tobacco producing states and key states in the ruling Democrat coalition during the two world wars. Wilson and Roosevelt were dependent upon the support of the “solid south”, this was why tobacco was so important.


65 posted on 08/11/2019 1:47:57 PM PDT by reg45 (Barack 0bama: Gone but not forgiven.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TomGuy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnKLpO9qhOE


66 posted on 08/11/2019 1:48:01 PM PDT by headstamp 2 (There's a stairway to heaven, but there's a highway to hell.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 58 | View Replies]

To: catnipman

[[[no kneepads, no helmets, no airbags, no seat-belts or when they were there, no one paid the slightest attention to them ... it’s a wonder anyone survived ...]]]

I vacuumed the toilet out twice when I was a kid. LOL

Slinky in the electrical outlet (fireworks) and pouring water in a Touché light. (bang)


67 posted on 08/11/2019 1:50:43 PM PDT by headstamp 2 (There's a stairway to heaven, but there's a highway to hell.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 63 | View Replies]

To: re_tail20

After an attack one of the first things requested were
ammunition and tobacco. The tobacco was to cover the
smell of the dead.
Also allayed the pangs of hunger.
Yes, I remember the C-ration packs of 4.
MOstly Luckies and Pall Malls.


68 posted on 08/11/2019 1:51:16 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: reg45

Also to a lesser extent, Connecticut.


69 posted on 08/11/2019 1:51:39 PM PDT by headstamp 2 (There's a stairway to heaven, but there's a highway to hell.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 65 | View Replies]

To: Mr Rogers

I remember this radio jingle back in the early 50s. “Pepsi cola hits the spot,12 full ounces that’s a lot, twice as much for a Nickle too, PEPSI COLA is the drink for you”.
That’s when coke was in the 6 oz bottles.


70 posted on 08/11/2019 1:57:51 PM PDT by Hurricane
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: headstamp 2

Yes he deserves respect for his service. I can’t comprehend the experience and memories he carried.

We need more men like him.


71 posted on 08/11/2019 2:02:12 PM PDT by Redcitizen (Tagline not secure.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 64 | View Replies]

To: xrmusn

wait for the gasp from HER and all the others..then the ‘click’...


There was this beer joint I frequented with my parents (kids did that then) that had a phone on the bar that had no dial on it; it was incoming calls only.

The pay phone in the back was for calling out, but someone figured out that dial phones transmitted a number of clicks based on the number you dialed. A seven, for example, had seven clicks which set a stepper relay at the phone company to that number.

So we would tap the receiver cradle on the dial-less phone to generate the numbers we wanted, and called out for free.

I don’t think we ever got caught.


72 posted on 08/11/2019 2:04:37 PM PDT by sparklite2 (Don't mind me. I'm just a contrarian.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 62 | View Replies]

To: re_tail20

What a piece, written from the ignorance of an overactive imagination. It’s not “smoking culture.” It’s the lack of sleep!


73 posted on 08/11/2019 2:06:22 PM PDT by familyop ("Welcome to Costco. I love you." - -Costco greeter in the movie, "Idiocracy")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: tet68

Ah, yes, Pall Malls.

“Pall Mall ‘travels’ the smoke,
filters it, and makes it mild.’

... just like every other cigarette. LOL


74 posted on 08/11/2019 2:09:28 PM PDT by sparklite2 (Don't mind me. I'm just a contrarian.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 68 | View Replies]

To: sparklite2

Hmm...remember being told that if ‘your’ mind was used for good instead of evil how much better off you would be.
Of course, it wasn’t as much fun.

Even before cell phones, if the barkeep wasn’t ‘paying attention’ I would call from the pay phone by the bar (great idea ONLY if you don’t mind people think you are ‘wasting’ your time at a bar) and order a drink...

Everyone likes a ‘little arse’ no one likes a ‘smart arse’.


75 posted on 08/11/2019 2:12:50 PM PDT by xrmusn (6/98"HRC is cast as the Grandmother that lures Hansel & Gretel to the pot")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 72 | View Replies]

To: xrmusn

I got to be pretty decent at shuffleboard back then.
Sad you don’t see them much anymore. I hate pool.


76 posted on 08/11/2019 2:16:46 PM PDT by sparklite2 (Don't mind me. I'm just a contrarian.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 75 | View Replies]

To: headstamp 2

wow!

and i thought i was a bad kid ...


77 posted on 08/11/2019 2:22:52 PM PDT by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 67 | View Replies]

To: RPTMS

Good observation and memory. It’s happened throughout modern history.


78 posted on 08/11/2019 2:35:13 PM PDT by laplata (The Left/Progressives have diseased minds.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]

To: re_tail20
"U.S. soldiers used to smoke often in historical footage, so why don’t they anymore?"

"Why do you ask?"


79 posted on 08/11/2019 2:37:31 PM PDT by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: catnipman

I had a fascination with mechanical things at an early age. LOL

After that I moved into my all things involving fire stage for a few years.

I was destined to be a plumber and electrician.


80 posted on 08/11/2019 2:47:06 PM PDT by headstamp 2 (There's a stairway to heaven, but there's a highway to hell.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 77 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100101 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson