The 1% age group

Clyde said:

Not sure about all of that. I'm vintage of 1943, so right there in it. Korea popped when I was just old enough to pay attention and I knew folks who went. Recall the news (both newsreels, and magazines like LIFE) with news of the French difficulties in Vietnam, especially the Siege of Dien Bien Phu. And Duck & Cover Drills (along with Fire Drills) inschool, because the Russians (never recall them called Soviets) might drop A-Bombs. And Vietnam blew up while i was in college. i went...

On the other hand, there is a lot that is accurate and my memories of society are pleasant, mostly. And I do indeed feel privileged and fortunate to have gown up in good times indeed.

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Pryceplace said:

Sent a prayer

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Pryceplace said:

This was sent out from the VVA that I belong to I found it interesting and thought I’d share. Enjoy.

The 1% Age Group. This special group was born between 1930 & 1947 = 17 years. In 2022, the age range is between 76 & 92. Are you, or do you know, someone "still here?”

You are the smallest group of children born since the early 1900s.
You are the last generation, climbing out of the depression, who can remember the winds of war and the impact of a world at war that rattled the structure of our daily lives for years.
You are the last to remember ration books for everything from gas to sugar to shoes to stoves.
You saved tin foil and poured fried meat fat into tin cans.
You saw cars up on blocks because tires weren't available.
You can remember milk being delivered to your house early in the morning and placed in the "milk box" on the porch. The ice cream truck coming through the neighbourhood.
You saw the 'boys' home from the war, build their little houses that they were so happy with.
You are the last generation who spent childhood without television; instead, you “imagined” what you heard on the radio and you read library books.
With no TV until the 1950s, you spent your childhood "playing outside". Many kids walked to school.
There was no city playground for kids. You organized neighbourhood cricket and football games on vacant lots. You rode your bike everywhere.
The lack of television in your early years meant that you had little real understanding of what the world was like.
AND WEREN’T WE BETTER OFF FOR NOT KNOWING RATHER THAN BEING BOMBARDED BY MEDIA HYPE AND SENSATIONALISM.

On Saturday mornings and afternoons, the movies gave you newsreels sandwiched in between westerns and cartoons.
Telephones were one to a house, often shared (party lines), and hung on the wall in the kitchen (no cares about privacy).
Computers were called calculators; they were hand-cranked.
Typewriters were driven by pounding fingers, throwing the carriage, and changing the ribbon.
'INTERNET' and 'GOOGLE' were words that did not exist.
Newspapers and magazines were written for adults and the news was broadcast on your radio in the evening. Kids read comic books.

The Government gave returning Veterans the means to get an education and spurred colleges to grow.
Loans fanned a housing boom.
Pent-up demand, coupled with new instalment payment plans opened many factories for work.
New highways would bring jobs and mobility.
The veterans joined civic clubs and became active in politics.
The radio network expanded from 3 stations to hundreds.
Your parents were suddenly free from the confines of the depression and the war, and they threw themselves into exploring opportunities they had never imagined.
You weren't neglected, but you weren't today's all-consuming family focus.
They were glad you played by yourselves until the streetlights came on.

They were busy discovering the post-war world.
You entered a world of overflowing plenty and opportunity; a world where you were welcomed, enjoyed ourselves and felt secure in your future although the depression poverty was deeply remembered.
Polio was still a crippler.
You came of age in the '50s and '60s.
You are the last generation to experience an interlude when there were no threats to our homeland.
The second world war was over and the cold war, terrorism, global warming, and perpetual economic insecurity had yet to haunt life with unease.

Only your generation can remember both a time of great war and a time when our world was secure and full of bright promise and plenty.
You grew up at the best possible time, a time when the world was getting better...

You are "The Last Ones."
More than 99% of you are either retired or deceased, and you feel privileged to have "lived in the best of times!"

Amen! It’s great being part of the 1% …. Special Group!!

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Big Coulee said:

Yeah, I'm one of the 1%'ers and was born in the early 30's. Right after the war ended there was an Army / Navy store in the small town where we went to buy "stuff". I bought a K-bar knife there for $1.00. I think that must have been in 1945 or '46 and I still have it in my gun safe. I was drafted into the US Army in 1954 where I spent two wonderful years packing a M1 Garand and a M1 Carbine around and hoping the Korean War didn't get started all over again. We were told we could and would be right in the big middle of it if and when. I attended Tulsa University on the Korean War GI bill and graduated with a degree in Petroleum Engineering that led to a 52 year career in the industry. And oh yes, I wore out two slide rules during my time at the university and in my career.

One of my memories from depression era and the war years was an old inner tube that hung in our garage with 36 patches in its circumference. We made old thing work in those days and didn't throw much away. We too had an outdoor bathroom facility and took showers outside in the summer time behind a canvas encloser.

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