Living History--what's Your Story?

[sameech]

Thought I'd create this thread to ask people to share stories from their past that they think might be worth sharing just for whatever it is worth. Maybe an incident from a war; what life was like in rural America during the time they were living it; maybe stories older relatives told them that they would like to get out onto the web before they pass along too. Stuff Like that.

Not really wanting a lot of debate on the politics of what is said, just different perspectives of periods in the past from some of the members here who are older or who have had run-ins with historical events in their lives, be it civil rights, war, cold war, etc.

Anybody got anything they would like to get out there?

 

[regent]

OK let's see if we can start this with my pathetic story.
During the Great Depression I was usually hungry, but during the school lunch hour it was the worst. By that time I had eaten all the uncooked oatmeal I had in my pocket and the school lunch room odors wafted about the school. Mrs. Mack's lunchroom cost a nickel but many of us had no nickel but what we had was "cobs." Cobs meant if someone was eating something and you yelled cobs or bites the eater must give you some of what he was eating. But if one yelled "no cobs" or "no bites" before the cobee yelled then he didn't have to share. Many a scuffle took place over who yelled first,
What I find ironic is that during this period of prosperity we have free lunches for school kids and during the Great Depression we had cobs.

 

[Mr. H.]

When there was no crawdad, we ate sand.

 

[jwoodie]

I am a member of the Most Selfish Generation (aka Baby Boomers).

 

[longknife]

I grew up during WWII rationing and can remember eating a lot of rabbit instead of chicken and goat instead of pork.

 

[sameech]

I grew up during WWII rationing and can remember eating a lot of rabbit instead of chicken and goat instead of pork.

Did you ever horde ration stamps or trade the gas ones for coffee or anything? I heard coffee was horrible when it was being rationed (not that it is great today)

 

[Delta4Embassy]

People are the same everywhere. Drove cross-country in my wild youth, California to Florida. "Woulda gone further but ran out of continent." as I like to say. Along the way I stopped a lot, for gas, stretch my legs, food, enjoy some sight or scenery. And met a lot of people. Even visited many churches and synagogues. Woulda loved to visit an actual mosque, but if I passed any I didn't see them. But in my journey I realized we're all the same no matter where. Accents might be different, even language, but no one was so unrecognizable or foreign I couldn't interact with them. Maybe it's just a travellers thing, but without travel and new experiences I think a person really does suffer a kind of 'limited perspective of reality' where they believe what they know describes the whole world in some respects.

Easy to marginalize people in other countries, am guilty of it myself on occasion. But by travelling out of our comfort zones we learn we're not so different afterall. And we're all 'someone else to someone else, maybe someone someone else marginalizes.'

 

[gipper]

OK let's see if we can start this with my pathetic story.
During the Great Depression I was usually hungry, but during the school lunch hour it was the worst. By that time I had eaten all the uncooked oatmeal I had in my pocket and the school lunch room odors wafted about the school. Mrs. Mack's lunchroom cost a nickel but many of us had no nickel but what we had was "cobs." Cobs meant if someone was eating something and you yelled cobs or bites the eater must give you some of what he was eating. But if one yelled "no cobs" or "no bites" before the cobee yelled then he didn't have to share. Many a scuffle took place over who yelled first,
What I find ironic is that during this period of prosperity we have free lunches for school kids and during the Great Depression we had cobs.

My father grew up during the Great Depression in rural Tennessee. He too often had little to eat. Many days he had only an apple or stale bread dipped in sugar water as his only meal.
He never experienced three meals a day until at age 18, having just graduated high school, was drafted into the army to fight FDR's war, were he got three meals a day for the first time. He recalled how many of his follow GI's complained about how bad Army food was. My father never complained and thought those who did, where crazy.

You who admire FDR have failed to realize that his crazy economic policies, which forced American farmers to destroy livestock and crops in a kooky effort to raise prices, during the Great Depression, was the cause of much of your's and my father's lack of food.

 

[regent]

OK let's see if we can start this with my pathetic story.
During the Great Depression I was usually hungry, but during the school lunch hour it was the worst. By that time I had eaten all the uncooked oatmeal I had in my pocket and the school lunch room odors wafted about the school. Mrs. Mack's lunchroom cost a nickel but many of us had no nickel but what we had was "cobs." Cobs meant if someone was eating something and you yelled cobs or bites the eater must give you some of what he was eating. But if one yelled "no cobs" or "no bites" before the cobee yelled then he didn't have to share. Many a scuffle took place over who yelled first,
What I find ironic is that during this period of prosperity we have free lunches for school kids and during the Great Depression we had cobs.

My father grew up during the Great Depression in rural Tennessee. He too often had little to eat. Many days he had only an apple or stale bread dipped in sugar water as his only meal.
He never experienced three meals a day until at age 18, having just graduated high school, was drafted into the army to fight FDR's war, were he got three meals a day for the first time. He recalled how many of his follow GI's complained about how bad Army food was. My father never complained and thought those who did, where crazy.

You who admire FDR have failed to realize that his crazy economic policies, which forced American farmers to destroy livestock and crops in a kooky effort to raise prices, during the Great Depression, was the cause of much of your's and my father's lack of food.

Farms were a problem until FDR got some government farm policies in operation, and that took a little time. Much of the dumping of farm products was by farmers themselves. Farmers lost money on their crops and they would lose more money by paying to send crops to market. Lack of a farm program may have brought on the depression earlier and it was one of the first things that needed repairs. My family lost their farm in Iowa for lack of fifty dollars.
I noticed the GI's that bitched about the food were always bitching in line waiting in line for the mess hall doors to open. Food was great.

 

[gipper]

OK let's see if we can start this with my pathetic story.
During the Great Depression I was usually hungry, but during the school lunch hour it was the worst. By that time I had eaten all the uncooked oatmeal I had in my pocket and the school lunch room odors wafted about the school. Mrs. Mack's lunchroom cost a nickel but many of us had no nickel but what we had was "cobs." Cobs meant if someone was eating something and you yelled cobs or bites the eater must give you some of what he was eating. But if one yelled "no cobs" or "no bites" before the cobee yelled then he didn't have to share. Many a scuffle took place over who yelled first,
What I find ironic is that during this period of prosperity we have free lunches for school kids and during the Great Depression we had cobs.

My father grew up during the Great Depression in rural Tennessee. He too often had little to eat. Many days he had only an apple or stale bread dipped in sugar water as his only meal.
He never experienced three meals a day until at age 18, having just graduated high school, was drafted into the army to fight FDR's war, were he got three meals a day for the first time. He recalled how many of his follow GI's complained about how bad Army food was. My father never complained and thought those who did, where crazy.

You who admire FDR have failed to realize that his crazy economic policies, which forced American farmers to destroy livestock and crops in a kooky effort to raise prices, during the Great Depression, was the cause of much of your's and my father's lack of food.

Farms were a problem until FDR got some government farm policies in operation, and that took a little time. Much of the dumping of farm products was by farmers themselves. Farmers lost money on their crops and they would lose more money by paying to send crops to market. Lack of a farm program may have brought on the depression earlier and it was one of the first things that needed repairs. My family lost their farm in Iowa for lack of fifty dollars.
I noticed the GI's that bitched about the food were always bitching in line waiting in line for the mess hall doors to open. Food was great.

It would appear from our post that you minimize the harm done by FDR's policies. It is clear that his policies forced many farmers to destroy their products. FDR was an utterly incompetent dunce when it came to economics. He thought creating scarcity would raise prices. This while many Americans had little money, were unemployed, and without food to eat.

My father would have loved to drink a glass of milk or consume a piece of chicken during the Great Depression....yet FDR was throwing these things in the garbage.

I blame him for the terrible suffering my father and many Americans endured during the Great Depression. You should too.

 

[PoliticalChic]

OK let's see if we can start this with my pathetic story.
During the Great Depression I was usually hungry, but during the school lunch hour it was the worst. By that time I had eaten all the uncooked oatmeal I had in my pocket and the school lunch room odors wafted about the school. Mrs. Mack's lunchroom cost a nickel but many of us had no nickel but what we had was "cobs." Cobs meant if someone was eating something and you yelled cobs or bites the eater must give you some of what he was eating. But if one yelled "no cobs" or "no bites" before the cobee yelled then he didn't have to share. Many a scuffle took place over who yelled first,
What I find ironic is that during this period of prosperity we have free lunches for school kids and during the Great Depression we had cobs.

My father grew up during the Great Depression in rural Tennessee. He too often had little to eat. Many days he had only an apple or stale bread dipped in sugar water as his only meal.
He never experienced three meals a day until at age 18, having just graduated high school, was drafted into the army to fight FDR's war, were he got three meals a day for the first time. He recalled how many of his follow GI's complained about how bad Army food was. My father never complained and thought those who did, where crazy.

You who admire FDR have failed to realize that his crazy economic policies, which forced American farmers to destroy livestock and crops in a kooky effort to raise prices, during the Great Depression, was the cause of much of your's and my father's lack of food.

Farms were a problem until FDR got some government farm policies in operation, and that took a little time. Much of the dumping of farm products was by farmers themselves. Farmers lost money on their crops and they would lose more money by paying to send crops to market. Lack of a farm program may have brought on the depression earlier and it was one of the first things that needed repairs. My family lost their farm in Iowa for lack of fifty dollars.
I noticed the GI's that bitched about the food were always bitching in line waiting in line for the mess hall doors to open. Food was great.

It would appear from our post that you minimize the harm done by FDR's policies. It is clear that his policies forced many farmers to destroy their products. FDR was an utterly incompetent dunce when it came to economics. He thought creating scarcity would raise prices. This while many Americans had little money, were unemployed, and without food to eat.

My father would have loved to drink a glass of milk or consume a piece of chicken during the Great Depression....yet FDR was throwing these things in the garbage.

I blame him for the terrible suffering my father and many Americans endured during the Great Depression. You should too.

You've made me consider an OP about the fallacy of FDR's economic policies.....

...a big thank you.

It will be instructive, but not to the FDR-groupies.

 

[sameech]

OK let's see if we can start this with my pathetic story.
During the Great Depression I was usually hungry, but during the school lunch hour it was the worst. By that time I had eaten all the uncooked oatmeal I had in my pocket and the school lunch room odors wafted about the school. Mrs. Mack's lunchroom cost a nickel but many of us had no nickel but what we had was "cobs." Cobs meant if someone was eating something and you yelled cobs or bites the eater must give you some of what he was eating. But if one yelled "no cobs" or "no bites" before the cobee yelled then he didn't have to share. Many a scuffle took place over who yelled first,
What I find ironic is that during this period of prosperity we have free lunches for school kids and during the Great Depression we had cobs.

My father grew up during the Great Depression in rural Tennessee. He too often had little to eat. Many days he had only an apple or stale bread dipped in sugar water as his only meal.
He never experienced three meals a day until at age 18, having just graduated high school, was drafted into the army to fight FDR's war, were he got three meals a day for the first time. He recalled how many of his follow GI's complained about how bad Army food was. My father never complained and thought those who did, where crazy.

You who admire FDR have failed to realize that his crazy economic policies, which forced American farmers to destroy livestock and crops in a kooky effort to raise prices, during the Great Depression, was the cause of much of your's and my father's lack of food.

Farms were a problem until FDR got some government farm policies in operation, and that took a little time. Much of the dumping of farm products was by farmers themselves. Farmers lost money on their crops and they would lose more money by paying to send crops to market. Lack of a farm program may have brought on the depression earlier and it was one of the first things that needed repairs. My family lost their farm in Iowa for lack of fifty dollars.
I noticed the GI's that bitched about the food were always bitching in line waiting in line for the mess hall doors to open. Food was great.

It would appear from our post that you minimize the harm done by FDR's policies. It is clear that his policies forced many farmers to destroy their products. FDR was an utterly incompetent dunce when it came to economics. He thought creating scarcity would raise prices. This while many Americans had little money, were unemployed, and without food to eat.

My father would have loved to drink a glass of milk or consume a piece of chicken during the Great Depression....yet FDR was throwing these things in the garbage.

I blame him for the terrible suffering my father and many Americans endured during the Great Depression. You should too.

Probably depends on where he lived. I remember older relatives/neighbors talking about the depression when they were kids. They basically were subsistence farmer families who already bartered with other poor folk so it wasn't really that much worse on them most of the time. They didn't have a lot of store-bought goods.

 

[gipper]

Thought I'd create this thread to ask people to share stories from their past that they think might be worth sharing just for whatever it is worth. Maybe an incident from a war; what life was like in rural America during the time they were living it; maybe stories older relatives told them that they would like to get out onto the web before they pass along too. Stuff Like that.

Not really wanting a lot of debate on the politics of what is said, just different perspectives of periods in the past from some of the members here who are older or who have had run-ins with historical events in their lives, be it civil rights, war, cold war, etc.

Anybody got anything they would like to get out there?

Back to the OP.

Prior to graduating high school, my father's entire class had enlisted or were drafted, except one boy who had polio. I asked him if he was worried about going to war. He said he never was. At 18, one does not think about dying. He did not know exactly how many of his classmates died or were wounded, but there were many.

He completed basic training at an army base in southern Illinois. It was the first time he had ever been outside the county he was born in. While there, he witnessed a large group of German prisoners from the Afrika Korps, who would often exercise in full view of his unit. He said they all looked over 6 feet, in excellent shape, and nicely tanned. They would drill in perfect precision. My father thought at the time, we are in trouble if we have to fight those guys.

 

[regent]

OK let's see if we can start this with my pathetic story.
During the Great Depression I was usually hungry, but during the school lunch hour it was the worst. By that time I had eaten all the uncooked oatmeal I had in my pocket and the school lunch room odors wafted about the school. Mrs. Mack's lunchroom cost a nickel but many of us had no nickel but what we had was "cobs." Cobs meant if someone was eating something and you yelled cobs or bites the eater must give you some of what he was eating. But if one yelled "no cobs" or "no bites" before the cobee yelled then he didn't have to share. Many a scuffle took place over who yelled first,
What I find ironic is that during this period of prosperity we have free lunches for school kids and during the Great Depression we had cobs.

My father grew up during the Great Depression in rural Tennessee. He too often had little to eat. Many days he had only an apple or stale bread dipped in sugar water as his only meal.
He never experienced three meals a day until at age 18, having just graduated high school, was drafted into the army to fight FDR's war, were he got three meals a day for the first time. He recalled how many of his follow GI's complained about how bad Army food was. My father never complained and thought those who did, where crazy.

You who admire FDR have failed to realize that his crazy economic policies, which forced American farmers to destroy livestock and crops in a kooky effort to raise prices, during the Great Depression, was the cause of much of your's and my father's lack of food.

Farms were a problem until FDR got some government farm policies in operation, and that took a little time. Much of the dumping of farm products was by farmers themselves. Farmers lost money on their crops and they would lose more money by paying to send crops to market. Lack of a farm program may have brought on the depression earlier and it was one of the first things that needed repairs. My family lost their farm in Iowa for lack of fifty dollars.
I noticed the GI's that bitched about the food were always bitching in line waiting in line for the mess hall doors to open. Food was great.

It would appear from our post that you minimize the harm done by FDR's policies. It is clear that his policies forced many farmers to destroy their products. FDR was an utterly incompetent dunce when it came to economics. He thought creating scarcity would raise prices. This while many Americans had little money, were unemployed, and without food to eat.

My father would have loved to drink a glass of milk or consume a piece of chicken during the Great Depression....yet FDR was throwing these things in the garbage.

I blame him for the terrible suffering my father and many Americans endured during the Great Depression. You should too.

The problem with the farms at the start of the Great Depression was too much food but few consumers could afford the prices that had been spent to produce the food. Should farmers have paid money to ship the food to market where they would lose even more money? Should farmers have given the food to a hungry people at their own expense? Should the government have passed laws cutting down the production of food so food produced a profit for the farmers? At this juncture someone should wonder why was there so much food that so many could not afford.

 

[sameech]

Back to the OP.

Prior to graduating high school, my father's entire class had enlisted or were drafted, except one boy who had polio. I asked him if he was worried about going to war. He said he never was. At 18, one does not think about dying. He did not know exactly how many of his classmates died or were wounded, but there were many.

He completed basic training at an army base in southern Illinois. It was the first time he had ever been outside the county he was born in. While there, he witnessed a large group of German prisoners from the Afrika Korps, who would often exercise in full view of his unit. He said they all looked over 6 feet, in excellent shape, and nicely tanned. They would drill in perfect precision. My father thought at the time, we are in trouble if we have to fight those guys.

One of my relatives said their school let people graduate a year early if they were going into service. They only had to go to 11th grade and still got their diploma. He knew he was shipping out for Europe but did not tell his bride that he already knew. He decided to wait and write her a letter once he got there to give he less time worrying when she thought he was training. She on the other hand told me that she knew he was going to Europe because she had heard it from someone else but pretended like she didn't because she didn't want him worrying about her worrying about him.

 

[Bush92]

Leaving a birthday party early so we could race home and watch Apollo 11 land on the moon.

 

[longknife]

I grew up during WWII rationing and can remember eating a lot of rabbit instead of chicken and goat instead of pork.

Did you ever horde ration stamps or trade the gas ones for coffee or anything? I heard coffee was horrible when it was being rationed (not that it is great today)

As I was born in 1939, I wouldn't know what my parents did. I do know my dad was an LA cop and mom worked in a Boeing plant as a riviter.

 

[Boss]

My father was born in 1929 and grew up through the depression. When he was about 6, he and his older brother (8) got to travel 'to the city' to sell some produce or pick up supplies, it was the first time my dad could remember going to 'the city' in his life. The city was a small town in Alabama called Centerville.

While in town, waiting on the tailgate of the truck for their father to return, a nice lady from the soda shop had seen them sitting there looking poor and homely, so she brought them both an ice cream cone. It was the first time either of them had enjoyed an ice cream cone.

My dad said, he got down to where he was having to lick deep into the cone to get to the ice cream, so he bit his. Just then, the older brother screamed... What are you doing, you idiot? Don't you know we gotta return these for the deposit?

 

[Politico]

Hope you get some good stories. I would share mine. But no one ever believes it lol.

I am a member of the Most Selfish Generation (aka Baby Boomers).

I applaud you for your honesty. I have never been able to get my parents to admit that.

 

[konradv]

My father grew up during the Great Depression in rural Tennessee. He too often had little to eat. Many days he had only an apple or stale bread dipped in sugar water as his only meal.
He never experienced three meals a day until at age 18, having just graduated high school, was drafted into the army to fight FDR's war, were he got three meals a day for the first time. He recalled how many of his follow GI's complained about how bad Army food was. My father never complained and thought those who did, where crazy.

You who admire FDR have failed to realize that his crazy economic policies, which forced American farmers to destroy livestock and crops in a kooky effort to raise prices, during the Great Depression, was the cause of much of your's and my father's lack of food.

So much for honoring the OP's request to not make this a political pissing contest. I guess honor like personal responsibility is a concept meant to flog opponents, not principles to live by.