Mar. 3—Russian vodka — real Russian vodka, not the American-made stuff — was coming off store shelves Monday. That news caught my attention, but then I was flipping through the Daily Telegraph’s weekend edition when I saw an article that brought up childhood memories. Russian President Vladimir Putin had reminded the world that Russia has a nuclear arsenal if anyone militarily tried to help Ukraine. This remark brought to mind the need to stay prepared for natural disasters as well as less likely catastrophes.
I was born in 1961, a time when the United States and the Soviet Union were engaging in the Cold War.
Naturally, I was too young to understand what was happening at that time. My dad was an engineer in the National Guard in 1963 when the Cuban Missile Crisis was underway. America was contemplating an invasion of Cuba when the Russians started staging nuclear missiles there. Dad could easily have been part of that invasion force. Mom told me about watching television and seeing periodic updates about an a Russian convoy that was sailing toward the American blockade placed between it and Cuba. It was a scary time.
That crisis passed and the world stepped back from the brink of nuclear war. As I grew older, I started understanding the state of the world a little better. There were things that puzzled me, though.
Perhaps the best example happened in elementary school when my class was given some pamphlets to take home to our parents. They were instructions for building some things called “fallout shelters.”
Most of these shelters were things made of plywood and sandbags. The instructions suggested setting them up in our basements. Other designs could be built in backyards. There was even one design that could be used as a bar when it wasn’t being a bomb shelter.
Of course, there were lists of things to put in your fallout shelter. Have at least a month of canned goods, water, a transistor radio with extra batteries and even books and board games to keep the family from going insane. If I recall correctly, a lot of these bomb shelters weren’t much larger than closet.
In the early 1950s, the Department of Defense was making public service films about surviving a nuclear attack. Children at school were taught to hide under their desks. A 1951 cartoon called “Duck and Cover,” hosted by Bert the Turtle, offered what Civil Defense officials said at the time. They advised staying out of the glare of a nuclear blast if they had enough time to do so and head for their bomb shelters or any other refuge if an attack was underway. Survivors of the atomic bombs dropping on Japan had greater chances of survival if they did these things.
I can even remember the big tin cans filled with survival crackers and drums of drinking water. Almost every public building had yellow and black fallout shelter sign that was created the year I was born. A lot of those signs were taken down when shelter supplies started to expire, but you can still see one here and there. There’s one in a stairwell at the Mercer County Courthouse.
Hopefully, the days when we had to dig bomb shelters in our backyards or set them up in our basements won’t return. I will say that some precautions such as having extra food and water on hand as well as radios, batteries and other tools isn’t a bad idea. They work just as well when floods and blizzards strike. Even the term “zombie” has been used to excite interest in preparing for natural disasters and worse.
I’m watching what’s happening in the Ukraine with some concern, but being better prepared relieves some of the anxiety. These preparations work just as well when nuclear warheads start to fall and zombies come shambling down the street.
Greg Jordan is the Senior Reporter for the Daily Telegraph. Contact him at gjordan@bdtonline.com
Contact Greg Jordan at gjordan@bdtonline.com
