Remember Basement Bomb Shelters?

OH OH , Im dating myself here!
When I was a kid in the 60's our family, as did many others, had a bomb shelter in our basement. This was because of a threat of nuclear war at the time. Anyone else remember? We also had Air Raid Sirens go off every Wednsday at 2:00 in the afternoon as an emergency test. When this happened our class at school would get up from our desks go to the basement and cover our heads with our coats. Glad it was only a test!!!
Those were some scary times people, The threat of nuclear war, war in Vietnam, assasinations left and right. civil unrest. I remember my next door neighbor comming home with only one leg. I was pretty young but I witnessed lot of it on TV and experience some of it personally

[edit on 28-3-2006 by tommyb98201]

I agree the old Cold War days were pretty scary. I find it funny sometimes when people consider the present as the most dangerous time to live in. IMHO present aint nothing compared to when we lived in real fear of global nuclear war between the US and Russia. As close as the world has ever come to being radically changed with likely billions of people being killed.

Most will agree that threat though still there is nothing compared to what it was during the height of the coldwar

The weapons are still out there. And God help me for saying this, but I trust Reagan more than I trust bush

Just on this topic, there's an amazing book called Ressurection Day by Brendan Dubois. I just happened to pick it up at a used book store. It's one of my favorite books and tells a story of life after Cuba launched its nuclear missiles during the Cuban Missle Crisis. I definetly reccomend it.

Originally posted by tommyb98201
OH OH , Im dating myself here!
When I was a kid in the 60's our family, as did many others, had a bomb shelter in our basement. This was because of a threat of nuclear war at the time. Anyone else remember? We also had Air Raid Sirens go off every Wednsday at 2:00 in the afternoon as an emergency test. When this happened our class at school would get up from our desks go to the basement and cover our heads with our coats.

you betcha' I remember those days. I was, like, 7 yrs. old when The Missle Crisis went down.
I remember the "duck and cover" drills at school, and how they would make us go outside and line up on letters on the playground, then block-mothers would walk us home (quickly, adds to the level of stress).
I remember that we had a broom closet under the stairs which my dad said was where we would go. He has since admitted that this was simply an effort to give the kids some sense of security, even though the house was a stick-frame job which would have evaporated, given our proximity to Travis AFB at the time.

I think the thing which still creeps me out when I think of it is the old emergency broadcasting test pattern which used to come up on the tv. Weird black and white tv glow, weird looking image, unnerving high-pitched noise...

I wonder how many kids of that era retain these strong images today?

Thanks for the memories...I think

I remember those times. I have strong memories of the Cuban Missile Crisis: my parents and aunts talking quietly and somberly during those days.
We didn't have weekly drills when I was in school though. When we did, I remember thinking that basement wouldn't protect us much, it had windows.

Looking back, it kind of ticks me off to think the Cold War may have been a creation of Those Who Rule to keep us in line

Does anyone know if Russian school kids went through similar drills during the 60s?

I always wondered what the other side was telling their people to do in the event of a nuclear war.

[edit on 28-3-2006 by ShadowXIX]

Originally posted by apocalypticon


I think the thing which still creeps me out when I think of it is the old emergency broadcasting test pattern which used to come up on the tv. Weird black and white tv glow, weird looking image, unnerving high-pitched noise...

I wonder how many kids of that era retain these strong images today?

Thanks for the memories...I think

Those emergency test patterns were definatly the creepiest part of those scary times for me too. It was a time for great fear and great pride in America, those Soviets had a different way of thinking in ours mindset and we were terrified they would blast us.

Good times...

We still have Bomb Shelters in every apartment building and public building in Finland, mainly for chemical/nuclear accidents... But You can never truly outrule a russian agression around here (I live well within artillery range from the russian border)

Originally posted by northwolf
... But You can never truly outrule a russian agression around here (I live well within artillery range from the russian border)

what a load of pants... I think Russian interests in Finland went with Stalin somehow... I understand why there may be lingering suspicion considering history (believe.. I still have family in eastern Poland who always talk of the Russians maybe returning..) but it's all nonsense...

if you live in Tblisi on the other hand...

Q

I know current Russian threat is non-existent, but knowing the underlying tendencies in russian politics it's not impossible to imagine an agressice russian goverment...
...Not in 5 years, maybe not in 10, but eventually they will threaten us... And we will be ready, just as we were in '39... (Why do you think we have a 350 000+ men trained reserve?)


But that's all off topic, the fact is that due to the threat from east we have extensive shelters that are very useful during accidents too

posted by tommyb98201 UH OH , Im dating myself . . I was a kid in the 60's . . had a bomb shelter in our basement. because of a threat of nuclear war . . Anyone remember? We had the Air Raid Sirens every Wednesday at 2:00 PM as a test . . our class at school would get up from our desks go to the basement and cover our heads with our coats. Glad it was only a test! Those were scary times people! The threat of nuclear war, war in Vietnam, assassinations. Civil unrest. I remember my next door neighbor coming home with only one leg. I was young . . I witnessed lot of it on TV and experienced some of it personally. [Edited by Don W]

In 1958, I was hired by the local Civil Defense to be a Geiger counter instructor. I was paid well for 3 hours work two times a month, making demonstrations at local schools and churches. My partner was a specialist in large shelter provisioning and how to shower off contaminated soil or dust. My home, Louisville, Ky, had assumed contorl over a large stone quarry which ran several hundred feet into the earth. It was used to stockpile everything from water, food, tents, bunks, clothes and misc. equipment. Every city in America had one or more. Too bad some of us old soldiers didn’t work for FEMA before Katrina. But then, I never owned or trained a horse.


[edit on 3/30/2006 by donwhite]

Originally posted by donwhite

In 1958, I was hired by the local Civil Defense to be a Geiger counter instructor. I was paid well for 3 hours work two times a month, making demonstrations at local schools and churches. My partner was a specialist in large shelter provisioning and how to shower off contaminated soil or dust. My home, Louisville, Ky, had assumed cont9rl over a large stone quarry which ran several hundred feet into the earth. It was used to stockpile everything from water, food, tents, bunks, clothes and misc. equipment. Every city in America had one or more. Too bad some of us old soldiers didn’t work for FEMA before Katrina. But then, I never owned or trained a horse.

I lived in a small city north of Boston. We had a fall out shelter in the basement of our City Hall. We also had stockpiles of all of the above.

My job was as a radio operator/monitor. I was a volunteer ham radio operator and we had to monitor a broadcast from Boston with all of the fall out information for our area should a bomb be dropped on Boston. It was a long time ago, but I believe that I had the duty once a week.

It is strange now to look back and remember living normally under those conditions.

posted by Mahree: “I lived in a small city north of Boston. We had a fall out shelter in our City Hall. We had stockpiles. My job was as a radio operator monitor. I was a volunteer ham radio operator . . we monitored broadcasts from Boston with fall out information for our area should a bomb be dropped on Boston. It was a long time ago, but I believe I had the duty once a week. It is strange now to look back and remember living normally under those conditions. [Edited by Don W]

I was also served by the MARS - Military Amateur Radio Service - from Korea’s K14 to home via ‘skips’ and finally connected to Ma Bell at someone’s personal expense. I guess now in Iraq I’d have a cell phone - no roam - no long distance? Yes, it was a long time ago and far far away. I recall one class which took a template of the H-bomb fallout from the Pacific’s Johnson Island and laid it over a map of the eastern US. The fallout would have covered Boston south to W-DC. When I saw that I realized my job was a PR job. Even worse, I learned the 2 weeks stockpile was merely a guess. Some of the fallout isotopes - like Strontium 90 - have a half life of 28.7 years. Were we looking at Donner Pass re-runs?

Brooklyn bridge holds cold war supplies

Workers inspecting the structural foundations of New York's famed Brooklyn Bridge have found a trove of emergency supplies salted away during the Cold War days of the 1950s.

They are still trying to figure out who put the supplies there, why they were put there (warehousing or for a group of people to go there for shelter) and why no one remembers that the stockpile was there.

JDub