After The War

The Equalizer

            At the end of the war, the soldiers returned home.  Many with large sums of money from combat pay.  The automobile brought them the freedom of the road and a way to travel home.  With an auto, the world had become the GI’s oyster. 

The soldiers returned home, married their sweetheart, bought a home and began the American dream.  The car allowed him to live a distance from his job and no longer have to walk or catch the trolley.  The auto was a freeing mode of transportation that opened many doors that had only been open to the rich. 

Now the family could take vacations, live in the country, drive to the shore or just have a Sunday picnic at the park.  The automobile had become more then a status symbol, it had become an icon of freedom.  The glorious freedom of defeating the enemy was found in many ways back home.  The car gave the average person a way to expand their boundaries.  Not be restricted to where public transportation took them.  Hop in the car and be down the road a hundred miles in a couple of hours. 

With all the cars on the road, the giant auto industry grew beyond the dreams of many.  Splashy car ads were all over.  Aftermarket auto parts became a big business.  Cars of the 50’s were pretty easy to work on, and the backyard mechanic showed up.  . 

The weekend was a time to tinker with the new fangled horseless carriage.  No longer was there the crank, cars now had starters.  Radios were standard and the radio DJ’s were becoming a new phenomena.  There was an era on the horizon that many like to relive today. 

In the back of the barn, under years of dust, sits the WWII veterans’ first car.  It is now surrounded by other cars that he has bought and stored with his very first car.  It is a memory that has become indelible.  A moment that has been etched on the fabric of society. 

WWII and Smoking

The Smokers

            With the ending of WWII, the returning soldiers brought lots of the habits home with them from the war.  One of them was the cigarette, a new icon for masculinity.  Have the cigarette draped on the edge of the lips hanging out the side of the mouth, was the new cool.  The roaring Twenties and the Speakeasy, was probably the first chapter in smoking to be acceptable across the general population.  Until then it had been the stodgy backrooms and boardrooms of cigars and pipes.  Then there was the cowboy with his funny rolled weed pile that smoked away. 

            During WWII rations were the common meal for those on the frontlines.  The ration pack, generally included a chocolate bar and a small pack of cigarettes.  When the young man from back home had his first ration meal, he was confronted with a pack of cigarettes.  Most had never smoked before and were not sure.  They were surrounded by the city boys who had been smoking for years and would trade for the cigarettes.  These puffers of smoke looked cool, so the youngsters from the country sampled the tobacco.  It was a new experience that grew on many of the youngsters.   Soon, to smoke became a status symbol of acceptance into the group. 

            Besides having cigarettes, one had to have a lighter and the Zippo became the hallmark of smokers.  There were other lighters, many that looked like the Zippo but none were equal of the Zippo.  Unlike today of the disposable lighter, lighters back then could be refilled.  Refueling the lighter became a ritual and different techniques were sworn on by the different people. 

            A few tried using gas from the jeep and it worked until it exploded or burned as hole in their leg.  So the little cans of lighter fluid and flints, became as prominent icon as the lighter did.  In the duffle bag, beside the cigarettes, was the can of lighter fluid and the flints. 

            Sitting on the front lines after the C-Rations were consumed, one could see the waffs of smoke curing up from the after meal cigarette.  Through war, the cigarette had found its way into American Society.  To smoke brought acceptance of the group.  War movies back then, showed the dying soldiers last request, was to have one more cigarette.  GI’s were shown with cigarettes hanging from their mouths as they fired at the enemy. 

            Today that image is being revisited by Hollywood on how they portray their heroes and cigarettes. 

           

Pearl Harbor

 

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor is slowly sinking into the dim memory files for many.  No longer is this brutal day etched in the minds of many.  The news reels of the attack are seldom played and Hollywood has glossed over the brutal horror of death

This day touches me in various ways.  There were some local people that were there.  One was on the Arizona, the local VFW is named in his honor.  I also had an uncle there.  He had enlisted in the Navy to get out of the depression and dust bowl. 

He seldom talked about that day until later in life.  He also carried such a hatred for the Japanese.  Any thing Japanese was detested by him.  If he got a present that said made in Japan, it was in the trash in a hurry. 

He was asleep in the barracks when the attack started in the early dawn hours.  He said he was angry being woken up so early after a night on the town. 

Running outside, he saw what was happening.  He ran back to the barracks and grabbed his rifle and headed back outside.  His buddy grabbed some ammo and followed.  They found a knoll near the billets to shoot from.  Uncle was shooting at the planes, buddy was reloading the rifle and clips.  They stayed there shooting at the Zeroes until they were gone. 

I’ll never forget the low anger in his voice as he told his story.

Being a medic, he had to deal with lots of the carnage, the torn and dead bodies.  It left a deep scar on him that he kept buried for decades. 

Here was a day that will not fade for a few, yet the few are fading.  The 9-11 attack has replaced much of the anger and focus.  Yet what Japan did, left a deep scar on many.  Germany was nasty but they did not reach into the psyche of the country like Japan did.

Yet this evil is still out there.  There are people that still want to dominate the world and what country they will arise from is unknown.