An ole Geezer remembering

[solo1]

                                           An Old Geezer Remembering


Sometimes I get lost trying to follow posts here on the VRCC, especially the music .  It’s all Greek to me..  I’m  not suffering from ‘Old Timers Disease’ either.  I thought that I’d throw out a few things that I remember that might be strange to you’all. Let’s go back a few.

I remember, in 1934, the first load of coal down the chute that my Dad could afford after burning scrap wood during the Depression to heat the house.

I remember his first car in 1936, a very much used ’27 Chrysler and all the problems keeping it running.   He graduated to a new 1941 Plymouth as times got better only to sell it at the beginning of WWII.

I remember rationing  The “A’ card in the windshield allowing us to get 3 gallons of gas/ week. Sugar rationing, shortages, Hershey bars under the counter and given out to favorite customers.  Working in a Defense plant after school when I was 16.  D Day  June 6th, 1944 proclaimed in three inch letters on the front page of the paper that I was delivering.  Music of the day was Big Bands like Glenn Miller and the Dorsey brothers.  

I remember the dancing in downtown streets in Ft. Wayne on VE and VJ Day.  My first powered two wheels, a Whizzer motor crammed into my Schwinn bicycle. I remember that 500 cc was considered a BIG bike if it was British but not so big if it was a HD or Indian.  I remember most of us wanting a HRD but couldn’t afford one.

I remember coming home from Korea and meeting my ’best friend’ by accident.  A short conversation . “I’m back”  and his reply “You were gone??”   I found a new friend.

I remember watching our first television station on a 10 inch console TV set.  My 47 inch  Tv lcd is much nicer!

I remember my first ‘real’ motorcycle, a 1946 Matchless 500,    I remember our trip to the BRP before it was finished. I remember the cost for the 1600 mile trip........ $9.60 for gas.

I remember courting and marrying my Phyllis on November 5, 1955, a date that would become famous some years later in the movie “Back to The Future”.

I remember all the good and sometimes bad times of married life and raising a family.  I remember all the memories of riding that helped me through the  rough times and better memories of perfect riding experiences

And finally I remember losing my wife in 2002.  Sometimes there are too many memories but never-the-less, they are there to treasure.

Solo1  

[Gary]

Thanks for sharing your memories.

Most of all, I wish you all the best on this date of your Anniversary. 

Side note, it's my daughter & son-in-laws anniversary today as well. They were married on November 5, 2005, 50 years after yours.

Gary

[solo1]

Thank you Gary.

[Momz]

With age, comes wisdom.
Please share more memories with us.
Stories like yours tend to make me reflect on my own experiences.

Thank you Wayne

Peace and/or Shalom

[John Schmidt]

Wayne, thanks for the trip down memory lane. Like Momz said, it causes one to stop and reflect on their own life. I also recall rationing, although a little kid at the time I have some very vivid memories of WWII and the life we led.

Take care my friend, hope to be able "kick back" with you next year. Be nice if RJ could join us.....YA HEAR THAT RJ?   

[hubcapsc]

Music of the day was Big Bands like Glenn Miller and the Dorsey brothers. 

The Glenn Miller band is still going strong, not Glenn himself, mind you...  we saw the Glenn Miller
band a couple of years ago at a cool old refurbished auditorium in Walhalla. I got a CD of war-era
Glenn Miller and put it on my iPod...

  what do you do in the infantry, you march and march and march...

-Mike

[solo1]

This has been a day of memories for me.  Fifty six years ago today (a Saturday too) this picture was taken on a 4x5 Speed Graphic camera.   .  I haven't always had white hair.

My daughter is having me over for supper today and I appreciate that.

http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/yy243/solo9899/nov51955.jpg[/img]]

[Hedgehog]

I love to hear all this stuff - you lived through some pretty historic events and I often wonder how my life would have been If I'd been born in the 20s and not the 60's.

Keep it coming. Its interesting stuff.

HH

[Serk]

Thanks for the history lessons with heart Wayne... Seriously... I really appreciate your posts and the wisdom you've gained from your time here, and  really hope I get the honor of finally meeting you in person one of these days...

[MacDragon]

Happy Anniversary Solo/Wayne.  I'm sure Phyllis is still with you today... She wore a beautiful gown that day 56 years ago...

[Thunderbolt]

As always Wayne, I appreciate your posts, no matter what they are.  But I especially like the nostalgic ones.  I have some ration stamps that I bought at a yard sale, I was born in 47 so don't have first hand knowledge of their use like you.  My Mother who is 91 now, remembers the rationing.  She said they would save their chewing gum wrappers for the war effort.

[R J]

I remember the gas rationing.    Grandpa and a couple of his sons, my dad included, had a gas station.     I was trying to remember what the stickers were,  A was pleasure, D was a truck I think and then there was one for Police, Fire Fighters and etc.   God that was a long time ago.   The tank truck only gave us gas for what we had in stamps, no more, no less.

I also remember my dad wrapping rope around a wheel and then putting the tire on, rope was in place of the tube......   When the NATIONAL speed limit was 35, no matter where you were, it worked.   Some of the tires on the car had holes big enough for me to stick my head through, but they still used them.

Also remember dad pulling a piston out of the tractor cause it broke and no replacement parts.   He used it to farm with till he was drafted, all 3 cylinders.  It was a Farmall, F20.

Thanks for the memories Wayne, and Happy Anniversary.     Now I see where the kids got their good looks, they all took after mom.......

[solo1]

Yes, they reclaimed the tin in the tinfoil on the wrapping papers. Black Jack gum ( you can still buy it!).   Also all used cooking oil was saved up in coffee cans and turned in at the grocery store.  "Get your Fat Cans down to the Grocery store"  was the unofficial slogan.  The very last of the few new 1942 cars came off the line with WOODEN bumpers, as Ripley said 'Believe it or Not!'    Midway into the war years, tires were impossible to get.  When my Dad sold his Plymouth, it sold for a premium because of the almost new tires.  The national speed limit was 35 mph which was ignored by the politicians as they also ignored gas rationing. RHIP then too.!

War bond drives were held at high school rallies,  The ladies gave up their 'nylons'.  A  P-47 Thunderbolt was flown in, disassembled, and reassembled at the court house in Ft. Wayne to help with the bond drives.  Trolley cars (we called them street cars) picked me up and dropped me off after working at the GE defense plant.  A seven cent token for the ride.  One dollar would buy a 1 week pass to ride street cars anywhere, anyplace, any time.  I spent many hours just riding the street cars and would help the conductor pivot the backs of the seats to face the other direction at the end of the line.  Changing everything from one end to the other and we were off again in the opposite direction.

Back then it was safe to walk anywhere in Ft. Wayne, at any hour and only the police carried guns, it just wasn't necessary.  I could go on but I'll stop.

RJ, The gas rationing stamps were:  A  3 gallons/week   B    5 gallons/week    C  Unlimited Politicians and other public servants.  I can't remember D but you might be right...........farm trucks

[Karen]

Thanks for sharing, Wayne, beautiful picture of you and your bride. I was born in '42, so don't have those memories, just remember my parents & grandparents whooping and hollering. When I asked what was going in, they said the war was over, and I asked what's a war... I remember my folks talking about how they saved and borrowed the gas rations and were able to take a trip out to Yellowstone before I was born. I really appreciate your memories.

[Valkernaut]

Wayne - have you completly forgotten cutting both ends out of tin cans, inserting both inside the cans and then stepping on it to smash it flat? And tying newspapers into bundles to be picked up for the paper drive....and there was lots more! Going to work with Dad(nightwatchman) on a WPA job & sleeping on the drafting tables held up on the walls by chains(us kids - not DAD)['course that was before the war]. RJ may not remember the "before" things....

Jim

[solo1]

Wayne - have you completly forgotten cutting both ends out of tin cans, inserting both inside the cans and then stepping on it to smash it flat? And tying newspapers into bundles to be picked up for the paper drive....and there was lots more! Going to work with Dad(nightwatchman) on a WPA job & sleeping on the drafting tables held up on the walls by chains(us kids - not DAD)['course that was before the war]. RJ may not remember the "before" things....not making light of his age - but don't know about his remember-er.

Jim

Sure I remember that .  Also roller skates and the 'key' to tighten them on your shoes.  Wheels from roller skates nailed to a couple of boards to make a scooter.  Soap Box Derbies sponsored by Chevy and U Control model air planes meets sponsored by Plymouth. Schwinn bicycles with New Departure and Morrow coaster brakes, Motorcycles with magnetos but Lucas Lighting., Premium stamps with Chesterfield cigarettes, LSMFT Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco, smoking in hospitals,  coke bottles with a hole in the cap to dispense 'blueing',  Fels Naphta , Life boy, and Palmolive soap,  ("May I hold your palm, Olive?  Not on your Life Boy!)  how's that for just another start?

[shortleg]

  My Dad used to make fun of me because I loved
all the Big Band music from the time I was a kid.
  Would always tell me that I was born to late.
  Now that I think about all he went through
and saw, I don,t think I would of had the guts needed.
  Remember Dad coming home from Korea after 3 years and
getting to know him again.
   We have a small Muntz tv that my Grandma would
say would cause terminal small screen squint.
         Shortleg[Dave]

[The Anvil]

I'm just old enough to remember coal fired furnaces. My grandparent's house was the last on their street to have one. That was in about 1976.

[Buda]

Cool stuff.....our house is around 100 years old and has a coal door in the basement.

[art]

I'm not quite tha old but old enough[1943] .I remember chasing the steam locomotives down the track an have them blow steam at us kids on bikes .my bike was a schwinn corvette with the horn in the tank.real neat.Buying a cap pistol an playing cops an robbers or cowboys an indians yea the good old times.The first time I seen a dive bomber I was living in Chelsea ,Ma. It scared me so much I ran crying into the house.I thought they were going to bomb our house.My first car was a 1950 chevy six cyl.I bought for $50 an sold six mo. later for $50 .I remember the first boeing 707 flying over my high school WOW.I could go on an on.Those years were great .I was one of the lucky ones ,had a good home life .I was always proud of my dad ,he was a firefighter.

[John Schmidt]

I remember dad having to stuff a couple tires with straw in place of the tube. We (I'm sure I was a big help!) rolled and packed the straw as tight as possible, then would tie it into a long tubular bundle. He would then stuff it in the tire and it would work in place of the tube. Since he was the school Superintendent, he was offered unlimited gas but turned it down, saying it was better that someone else use it that needed it more than he. The folks would sometimes send me to the grocery store with the ration book because...as they me told years later, I was good at looking needy with my big brown eyes. I can remember doing some "horse trading" even as a little tyke.

Victory Gardens, ration books, the war news with H.V. Kaltenborn, blackout practice...all memories of those tough years. I recall when oleo first came out. You had to break the little color capsule in the bag and knead it to give it the buttery look. We didn't have central heat, just a big funace in the basement which was my job to "help" keep it stoked. Dad would borrow a trailer or pickup and go to surrounding farms each fall and get loads of corn cobs to burns with what little coal we could afford.

When I think back to the war years, I don't complain about what I have now.

[R J]

Wayne - have you completly forgotten cutting both ends out of tin cans, inserting both inside the cans and then stepping on it to smash it flat? And tying newspapers into bundles to be picked up for the paper drive....and there was lots more! Going to work with Dad(nightwatchman) on a WPA job & sleeping on the drafting tables held up on the walls by chains(us kids - not DAD)['course that was before the war]. RJ may not remember the "before" things....

Jim

I was born in 1932, so I remember a lot of things.

[Popeye]

Happy Anniversary Wayne.

Always enjoy your posts, no matter the subject.  Keep em coming.

[old2soon]

Thanks Wayne and you have a lovely bride. I was born in 1945 but i remember the big band sound and still enjoy it.
 Dad told us what they did during war 2 and how rough it was at times. I remember the Korean armistace being signed sub orbital flights orbital flights going from steam to diesel electric on the railroads. I remember on a trip to southern Illinois as a child we found a gas war and it was like 3 or 4 cents a gallon and THEY pumped it. Dad traded a 1954 ford two door in on a 62 Rambler American with a flat head 6 3 on the tree with over drive. I bought dads ol 54 for $100.00 and learned to wrench on that old ford.  Did my bit in Vietnam and learned a good life lesson in the Navy. I've been fortunate enough to drive old U S 66 and be part of the transition between prop and jet aircraft. First Television i remember seeing was a huge old monster with a 5 or 6 inch circular screen with an oil filled magnifier in front of the screen.  I also rember summers with out air conditioning and winters with a sub par furnace. Again-thanks Wayne.   Would really enjoy meeting you and R J one of these days.  RIDE SAFE.     

[Thunderbolt]

she said that when you went to the store to get toothpaste, you had to bring your old empty tube to trade in during the war years.
Keep the stories coming folks, this is an interesting thread that Wayne got started.

[sugerbear]

all i can say is.  i ALWAYS read your post.

[MartinT]

Happy Anniversary Sir!

My memories start about halfway yours: watching TV in the late 50's on a huge wooden cabinet with a small b/w CRT. My parents had saved enough to buy one, and all the neighborhood kids would come over on Wednesday afternoon to watch the childrens' programming. Mind you, this was Rotterdam, the Netherlands, where everything happened about 5 years later than here in the US.

My dad's first car was a Trabant! The only thing affordable to us in the sixties. What I remember most are two things: the fact that you had to add 2-cycle oil to the tank every time we got gas, and the frequent trips to my grandparents with 5 (FIVE!) of us in this tiny automobile. Great times.

Martin

[Valkernaut]

How about the "tractors" we made from a wooden thread spool, a matchstick & a rubber band -and a rubberguns we put welts on one another with! The wagon wheel hub rings we pushed down the road  with a stick or a fancy pusher we made,to school and back. Spmetimes two and three grades in the same row in the schoolhouse. Biscuits and sorgum for breakfast and caned rabbit for supper in the summertime 'cause they would let us shoot the rabbits on account of the woles)sp?) in them.

There's more....

[Valkernaut]

Ridin' the horse to the mill on a sack of corn and back on a sack of cornmeal(minus the millers toll). Feedin' the cane mill and boiling the juice down into sorgum. Shootin rats in the corn crib. Having fights using the corn cobs outta the hog pen - wasn't as bad in the frozen winter!(except they hurt worse....)

The only baloons we had were hog bladders at  killin' time! Were those REALLY the 'good old times"?

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Always enjoy the stories Wayne 

[highcountry]

Great post!  Beautiful photograph.  It is great to read those memories.  I do remember the Korean war as my father was recalled into the Navy and we had to move to Norfolk for 18 mos, and I saw my first snow there.

[Super Santa]

During the war I remember squeezing those bags of oleo with the yellow food coloring packet to make it look like 'butter'.

I remember those little tractors made with an empty thread spool and matches and rubber bands.  I seem to recall we cut notches in the 'tractor wheels' with a knife to make them grip better.

My Dad had a service station during the war, 'Ray's Flying A'.  It was an Associated station which he sold when Associated sold out to Richfield and he didn't want to be part of the new company.

Our family (5 kids) didn't have a lot when I was growing up.  I do remember the family got there first television while I was halfway around the world on my first Navy tour between 1960-62.

Just after the war my Dad bought a WWII surplus Indian motorcycle.  I remember him uncrating it
and painting it before assembly.  He sold it in the 1990's without my knowledge.  I wish I could have gotten hold of it before it was sold.

Good to look back on the memories.