Duck And Cover Drills

After WW-II the “Great Generation” came home to enjoy a better life. The children born during this time were known as the “Baby Boomers”– it was my generation, and I loved the freedom we were given. Television was a new novelty. We were a world power, yet there was an underlying belief that we were on the brink of nuclear war. In 1949, after strange atmospheric conditions were observed, it became clear we were not the only nation with nuclear bombs, as the Soviet Union started testing bigger and better “nukes” in the atmosphere. In an effort to prepare, the U.S. Government began training the nation about what to do in the event of nuclear war. The television played an important role when we were introduced to Bert the turtle, who taught us how to “duck and cover” in the event of a nuclear attack (during school, we even had drills in the hallways). Elementary school children were issued “dog tags” for identification after an attack. There was a film we watched about what to expect in an attack, and one part of the film is embedded in my mind. The film showed a two-story building with trees around it getting hit by a bomb – one moment it is there and then the next moment it was gone, completely destroyed by wind and fire. Yes, we learned to live under that threat and still go on with life, but reality came crashing down again during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. I was in tenth grade and I remember how quiet the high school halls were – it was very scary. During those few days, we all held our breath. Throughout the decades after that, life went on with the threat never leaving us until one day it was over – the Soviet Union no longer existed. Now we live under a different type of threat, with terrorist of religious zeal threatening our lives and basic beliefs. There were two principles I learned during the Cold War – always have faith and know, this too shall pass.