Unearthed beneath Wacker: Evidence of the war we didn’t fight

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.suntimes.com/news/steinberg/11337298-452/unearthed-beneath-wacker-evidence-of-the-war-we-didnt-fight.html

Unearthed beneath Wacker: Evidence of the war we didn’t fight

NEIL STEINBERG [e-mail] March 17, 2012 1:00AM

We were going to blow each other up. The world might come to an end.

That’s what we were afraid of, anyway. Someone would make a mistake in the war of nerves between the United States and the Soviet Union, the missiles would fly, and civilization would vanish under a funeral shroud of expanding mushroom clouds.

There was really nothing people could do, except worry, and plan for the unthinkable. So we built bomb shelters — in our backyards, most famously, but also in the basements of public buildings.

The question arose how people lucky enough to get to a shelter in time were supposed to survive until it was safe to come out. So supplies were laid away — food and water and other essentials.

[dionysus]

1. good article. kick

[Enrique]

2. this part is incredible

Rheem closed its Kedzie plant in 1988. But not only is Schulze & Burch still there, but a few of the same workers who packed the tins of biscuits in 1962 still work at its factory at 35th and Racine.

“I remember them, yes,” said Annie Hall, 76, who joined the company as a packer in 1958. “We packed them, then they wrapped them. Then the tin would go down, there was a pool of water, and we’d test it, we’d submerge each can, to see if any leaks were in there.” She laughed. “We used to call it the ‘baptismal pool.’ ”