HISTORY: Civil Defense During WWII, interesting TIME article

[jimmydeanno]

I thought this article from December 22, 1941 was interesting in its description of the Civil Defense Efforts of the time.  It even notes the plans for CAP.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,931953-1,00.html

The U.S. At War, CIVILIAN DEFENSE: To Meet the Improbable
Monday, December 22, 1941

The block wardens met at 8 p.m. in the Borough Hall. It was like a town meeting. The atmosphere was serious, solemn, a little ponderous. They were practical men, met to discuss practical steps to be taken. Nobody suggested the extreme improbability of the Luftwafte bombing this little country town; all the discussion, all the questions centered about the practical details of what to do when the Luftwaffe came.

The chairman, a serious young man, talked of incendiary bombs (one plane can carry as many as 2,000), of the consequences of a lucky hit on exposed telephone wires, or whether or not it would be a good idea to use Boy Scouts as messengers during a raid. (When someone suggested that young boys ought to be kept out of harm's way, a veteran father said, "Hell, if there are bombs dropping, you won't be able to keep the kids indoors anyway.") A man from the gas company feelingly urged his fellow wardens not to attempt any repair jobs on broken gas-mains, etc., but to send for him—"and for God's sake don't monkey with any loose wires."

All over the U.S. last week, but particularly along both flanks of the U.S., such meetings were held, such plans discussed. Civilian-defense offices up & down both coasts were logjammed with applicants. Mayor LaGuardia's Office of Civilian Defense moved too fast to keep track of its own progress. But this week the civilian-defense picture was taking shape.

> Hottest area for defense enrollments was New England, which leads the nation with 1,287 local councils. Coolest was the Midwest. In Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin are only 251 councils altogether.

> Though men are wanted (for air-raid wardens, bomb squads, etc.) the big need is for able women. OCD estimated that it could use 500,000 women for home nursing, another 100,000 for nurses' aides. Some 300,000 women are wanted to take charge of OCD's nutrition program, 100,000 more to look after school lunches.

> Mayor LaGuardia announced that he will enlist 90,000 licensed pilots, 90,000 student pilots, 100,000 ground workers to serve in a Civil Air Patrol for the war's duration. Under the command of Major General John F. Curry of the U.S. Army Air Corps, CAP will operate from 2,000 airports in the U.S. which are not used for military or commercial flights.

Chief hitch in the Mayor's program so far is lack of air-raid facilities. It would take a mort of heavy cloth to blackout New York City's 10,000,000 windows. Most big cities are so noisy that civilians cannot hear air-raid warnings. New York's Board of Estimate last week appropriated $25,000 to buy sirens. In the newspapers, OCD took full-page advertisements telling civilians what to do ("Keep cool. Stay at home. Put out lights.") if raiders come.

In all Manhattan, a preliminary survey disclosed virtually no adequate shelters. (OCD does not consider subways adequate—they are too near the surface, covered with a vulnerable network of wires, pipes, cables.) In Stamford, Conn, an old bank vault, nine feet under the sidewalk, was converted into a bomb shelter last March—as a money-raising stunt by British War Reliefers. Detroit, like Chungking, is well supplied with natural shelters. Under the city, 1,100 feet down, are Detroit's old salt mines, with 25 miles of passageways, all dry, healthful, air-conditioned.

[Smithsonia]

JimmyDeanno;
Once again you have found a gem. I went through Time Magazine's online collection years ago and didn't find this one. Here's the BIG QUOTE from this article:
Under the command of Major General John F. Curry of the U.S. Army Air Corps, CAP will operate from 2,000 airports in the U.S. which are not used for military or commercial flights.

The reason that this item is so significant is that CAP wasn't founded as an SAR/Sub Hunting/Courier Service military lite. It was running lunch counters, gassing airplanes, running bus services into town from the Airport for military aircrews, etc. We had to earn the bigger jobs. We earned these jobs but these are NOT part of our original DNA, these were part of our education and service. Next time some one puts a foot down about working with various customers that are beneath our dignity step on that foot and say -  that we were made NOT by the Air Force/Air Corps... and please refer them to this thread. We were made by the Civil Defense Authority... now called Homeland Security.

I've said it before and I'll say it again... if we want CAP to flourish, our common answer should be:
"We are Volunteers and planes with training and grit, America; 'What can we do for you?"

I've been to numerous Air Force Briefings and they've said the same thing every darn time. Make plans for a different future with less SAR and more customer service. We need to honor the Air Force by Serving their customers any way that we are able. Man the photo missions, CD missions, comm, GA8, cyber-war, etc. and if need by an occasionally if need be, a lunch counter. Be humble. Do good.

[CPT Anderson]

Ha ha ha....thanks for informing me.    Hmmmm, where'd you get the idea for that?