Discussion about this post

User's avatar
WD Lindberg's avatar

Hmm ... I was 5 at this time. My dad was working for Honeywell avionics and we were moving from contract location to contract location (Lockheed in LA, McDonnell/Douglas in St Louis, White Sands Proving Ground in Alamogordo, NM). In 1960 we moved to Germany as they were building the F-104 for NATO. I don't remember any mention of the nuclear threat but I do remember how upset people were when the Berlin wall construction was started (it was on TV a lot). By the time we got back to the US in '64, the duck'n'cover thing was waning. I do remember at least one drill in grade school in '64 or '65.

Some of the idea may have come from US servicemen that saw or experienced the backyard bomb shelters in London. Those actually were used and worked.

Expand full comment
Leslie R. Schover's avatar

Very thoughtful post. I lived through this era, having been born in 1952. My family would have been in the demographic target, living in suburban Chicago with a nice big, back yard that could accommodate a shelter. I vividly remember seeing the ridiculous civil defense film Duck and Cover (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKqXu-5jw60), and engaging in drills where we hid under our desks when a warning siren sounded. I also recall reading about building a bomb shelter, perhaps in a newspaper or magazine. It was close to the time of the Cuban missile crisis, and my family was petrified--because my father had worked in X-10 at Oak Ridge as an electronics technician. During the cold war, he continued as an electronics engineer to work on missile components and underground nuclear testing. So I asked him, "Dad, why aren't we building a bomb shelter?" I was so disappointed when he said, "Honey, it wouldn't help." Another memory I have is that plans urged people to build zig-zag entrances to the shelters, since supposedly, radiation could not navigate around corners! I did not see that in the plans you found, however.

Expand full comment
6 more comments...

No posts