WWII Kids

Keith’s Corner

There are many names for different generations of Americans, such as Gen X and Z, Millennial, baby boomers, bobby soxers and of course ‘The Greatest”, which in my opinion is the greatest.

So, where does my generation fit into this scheme? We more or less landed in between ‘The Greatest’ and the bobby soxers/baby boomers. I don’t believe that I have ever heard a name for us, so I decided to name us, the ‘WWII Kids ‘ Generation.

One of the reasons for this, is the fact that ,of all the Americans alive today, there are 2 groups that can remember living in those days. First and foremost would be ‘The Greatest Generation’ along with some of the older bobby soxers and secondly, my generation. Many of the bobby soxers were involved in the Korean War. That war ended while I was a senior in high school. We were geared up to go, but just missed it. I think that the Korean Vets have been slighted. That war was fought from foxholes, a lot like WWII.

So, my generation of McGill heathens fits in there somewhere. We were in school when Pearl Harbor was bombed and the cruel Bataan Death March and the Doolittle Raid and many other events that happened in those years. We didn’t have that thing called TV, just newspapers and magazines. There was some radio, but only in the evening. The major magazines at the time were , LIFE. It had a lot of pictures of what was going on around the world. I can still remember pictures of the Bataan Death March to this day. LOOK, was another big magazine.

Another source of news was the newsreels at the theater. There was RKO, Movietone, March of Time and several others. Those were our TV of sorts.

The news was blunt in those days and so we grew up with reality, which helped us cope with the world situation. We were never told to be scared like was the case in later years. i.e. shelter under your desk. We were prepared for an invasion from the west coast and lived with it.

We had ration books, blackout practice, lots of first aid training, paper drives, metal drives, etc.etc. to keep our genius brains occupied. We were always playing soldier and hunting for spies. It was a different era. Our heroes were ‘The greatest Generation”.

Therefore, unless someone has a better name for us, I am sticking with, “WWII Kids Generation”.