Originally published at: ABOUT THOSE NYC NUCLEAR DUCK AND COVER DRILLS
You may have heard about that story that New York City actually aired - for the first time since the 1960s - a televised public service announcement about what to do in case of a nuclear attack. When I heard about it, I couldn’t help but recall those ridiculous drills I had to do as…
5 Likes
I’ve always been bemused by the idea that you survive the shockwave or the ceiling falling on you only to spend the next three years dying of thyroid cancer.
1 Like
Oh those were the days.
Practicing nuclear drills at school: get under your desk and don’t look out the window.
Watching movies on how to build a fallout shelter (also movies of the reasons not to drink moonshine, but I digress): Seems the hole dug in the backyard had to have 1 foot of concrete for a roof, there should be some food, and blankets. Everyone in the neighborhood was putting in fallout shelters.
Asked my mom why we didn’t have a fallout shelter in the backyard. Mother said ask your dad (a WWII vet). He explained that if a bomb dropped 1 foot of concrete wasn’t going to help. Another problem was how long a person could stay in the shelter and finally, when we had to come out, everything would be destroyed and radioactive. Even as a child, I could see his logic.
Later when JFK was assassinated, one of the stories we ran home with was that the Russian boats were steaming to US to bomb us. Russian “boats” and “steaming.” My dad said, “Oh baby” and shook his head.
4 Likes
1 Like