"Walter Build a Fallout Shelter - Happy Days 50's FUN!

[orangecrush]

I have read of instances where people have bought homes and found these things hidden behind fake walls, or under hidden hatches.

SENSITIVE VIEWER SUBJECT WARNING

[asiliveandbreathe]

1. During the 50s..yup, we had a fallout shelter..my brother planted his garden to

obscure the hatch..he went to the Norfolk Aggie HS in Mass.. so a garden was one of his requirements for a course..over time, our mom would store all her canning goods..from tomatoes, to tomato and spices for sauce, pickles, peppers..corn relish, etc..

We had what I call a silo, a couple miles away that was ready to ring the alarm of an attack..went by it every day on the school bus..it looked like a rocket..it was only the alarm..

I don't recall we talked a lot about an attack..some how we just knew to prepare..NOT that it would have done us any good..

[orangecrush]

2. Sounds like a wonderful time

To grow up.

I also grew up with the shadow of nuclear war always in the background.

I lived in a steel mill town.

The mill had an air raid siren powered by a 50's Chrysler V-8 motor, that was tested every Saturday at noon for about 10 minutes.

That thing was so darn loud it didn't matter where you were, you heard it.

Didn't stop until the early 1980's.

[asiliveandbreathe]

3. At the age of 8-12 years old what did I know..it was a simple life, innocent,

Mom in her rose colored glasses, and everything rosy...she did teach us to be aware of our surroundings without creating anything alarming..so many wonderful memories..she was funny..loved music..all kinds, she spoke of the war..romanticized to a fault..loved John Kennedy..like I said, a simple life..we weren't rich..but we were comfortable in a middle class kinda way..

BTW..I don't remember the air raid siren (thanks for filling in air raid for me) ever going off..although, as I look back, it was strategically located to cover the whole town..if it ever did go off..

A 50's Chrysler V-8 motor - that is so cool..

[orangecrush]

4. Thank you

For sharing the wonderful memories!

It is said that the new owners of Walter's house sometimes smell the scent of pine tobacco rising from the basement, and the scraping sound of a trowel...

[asiliveandbreathe]

5. Thank You for allowing a trip down memory lane...

[orangecrush]

6. My pleasure!

[zanana1]

19. We're still in the shadow of nuclear war.

[orangecrush]

20. Sadly, yes.

[LudwigPastorius]

7. Good ole Walt's not fooling anybody.

That's his and the wife's Kink Dungeon.

[orangecrush]

10. So you noticed

How he was trying to pull the young couple into his little games...

[LudwigPastorius]

11. He had WAY too many cans of creamed corn down there.

[orangecrush]

12. O.K.

I can't "beat" that one!

[Mr.Bill]

8. Very handy.

If you happen to be at home when the attack happens.

[orangecrush]

9. Or if you never

Leave the house

[debm55]

13. We had a Bircher that lived next to us .

Last edited Thu Oct 20, 2022, 09:19 AM - Edit history (1)

He built one, In fact the county fair had tables set up to show different tvpes. I remember because the ones they had on display made be think --I wouldn't want to be stuck with my crazy family in one.
Speaking of shelters, do you remember the Civil Air Patrol. Sirens would go off, and everyone would have to get in their home or into a building. The CAP would march up the street, in uniform, with sand buckets. I think it was around the Bay of Pigs, or could have been My husband doesn't remember this, but my grandmother lived on the main street and we would watch from the windows.

CORRECTION ==it was Civil Defense Patrol.

[orangecrush]

14. The only Civil Air Patrol I remember

We're pilots who did search an rescue for downed aircraft.

It's entirely possible they did things like this way back when.

[debm55]

16. I found a local newspaper clipping it states that the Civil Air Patrol squad are flown helicopter

rough terrain and dropped to innaccessable places. Amother photo shows a young CAP rappeliing down from the top of the building to the bottom. How do I know this- I was the one who climbed stories up to attach it. I was 18. So that was in 1973. OMG BRAIN Fart--it was the Civil Defense.

[debm55]

17. Orangecrush, As I was going through Clippings.I realized it was not CAP but the Civil Defense that

were marching. Will look them up tomorrow, they were much earlier and more strict. Sirens went off everyday at 12:00 PM

[orangecrush]

21. Civil Defense

Sounds right!

[wnylib]

23. I don't remember people getting off the streets

But I do remember CAD sirens being tested.

I didn't know anyone that had a shelter, but we were taught in school to know where public shelters existed. They were large buildings that had a Civil Defence logo on the door or next to it. Our grade school's basement was a designated shelter. Good if we were in school at the time of an attack. Not good if at home 7 blocks away. But there was a church 3 blocks away that had a CD logo on its foundation stone.

[debm55]

24. This was during the summer. We had an underground walkway from the school. When the siren went off--

the whole school would shelter in place underground. Maybe the drills during the summer were to shelter in place in your home. We lived very close to the Duquesne steel mill(Kari Works) It was told that they would be bombed. One interesting note you could walk through the inside of the mills all the way to Pittsburgh.
I should have added the sidewalk , you where to hunker down in your house or a place of business until the siren went off again. I don't remember any cars on the road as the Civil Defense would march up the main street.

[wnylib]

26. Yes, our basement would have been

the right place if at home. But we were taught to be aware of CD shelters wherever we were in case we were on the street away from home. The instructions were to go to the nearest CD shelter if away from home or our basement, whichever was closer.

Our grade school basement had many uses. Besides being a designated CD shelter, It was a voting site during elections. In the summer, the playground was open, with supervisors and craft items to work on as well as swings, a slide, etc. If it rained, we ran indoors and down the stairs. The basement was always open to us for a drink at the water fountain or for old movies, shown once a week.

[debm55]

27. Sounds like a nice area for kids. We had the playgrounds too--crafts, movies at night and fieldtrips

Our grade school didn't have a basement so we used the tunnel to the church.

[wnylib]

28. There was a baseball field on the school grounds, too.

The block next to the school was a city park where we collected colored leaves in the fall on our way home.

The park's name was Washington. The school's name was Irving. Although the park was not part of the school property, the names went together well - Washington Irving.

[zanana1]

18. Toilet?

[orangecrush]

22. They made these

Chemical toilets

[debm55]

25. Oh my, I don't remember these, but it makes sense, Do remember the shelters came in various sizes

for the number of family members. They had a section of the Allegheny County fair set aside for the venders and a sample you could go in.---sort of like a RV show.