Vintage Things That Have Disappeared In Your Lifetime?

[BlueTrain]

There's nothing happening to us that didn't happen to every other generation that came before us. We grow old and die, losing friends along the way.

 

[LizzieMaine]

"Havlicek stole the ball!!!"

I once had an HR manager with that same voice. She kind of looked like Most too.

I have that voice right now. Bronchitis will do that.

 

[sheeplady]

My grandfather attempted to enlist for WWI, despite the fact he was too young. He knew the recruiter in town, so he went to the next county over and tried to sign up. The recruiter had been injured on the front and refused to sign my grandfather up. For WWII he was in his early forties, married, and running a successful farm (sheep for wool uniforms, crop land, fruit) and he was told he was more valuable as a farmer.

My grandfather lost (at least) two of his cousins during WWI, likely more. One cousin died on the front and the younger brother got the telegram. He was so distracted by the news he stepped off the trolley he was on and was killed by an oncoming trolley.

So thank you mystery recruiter.

 

[2jakes]

One thing about military is if you screw up, you won't get fired.
But everyone around will know that you messed up.

Several times, I would see older soldiers with one stripe on their
shoulders where at one time there were several.

You could see the new green area made by the patch on the shoulders
on an overall faded fatigue uniform.
Also you can't give a "two weeks" notice !

And I cannot find the words to describe to those that have
never experienced:
What it feels like when some one is shooting at you to end
your life. On a daily basis.

So you will pardon me, if I seem to be overly optimistic and
grateful to enjoy life so much no matter what problems I may
have in the future.

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

Another thing that kids now will never experience: When I was growing up, nearly all our fathers and some of our moms served in uniform in WWII. You knew where all your friends'dads had served. Everybody in our neighborhood knew my dad served in the Army Air Force in CBI ( China-Burma-India) and my uncle Pete flew a B-17 out of England and was shot down and finished the war as a POW. We knew that Dave's dad was deck crew on an aircraft carrier and Hank's mom was a WAC nurse and my cousin Mike's dad was in North Africa. It gave us a sort of group solidarity that doesn't exist now. WWII was the backdrop to our lives.

 

[ChiTownScion]

One thing about military is if you screw up, you won't get fired.
But everyone around will know that you messed up.

Several times, I would see older soldiers with one stripe on their
shoulders where at one time there were several.

You could see the new green area made by the patch on the shoulders
on an overall faded fatigue uniform.

Remember the B-17 wait gunner I mentioned before? Ed regaled me with a tale of how he lost two stripes.

His bomber group was being addressed by a brigadier who was seeking volunteers for a mission likely to reap a lot of casualties. This was after the second Schweinfurt raid, and the crews were really not into risking their lives for glory and fame.

With no takers, the general bellowed out, "What ARE you?? A bunch of COWARDS??"

Ed cried out, "You're ****ing- A RIGHT!!"

The bomber group howled with laughter.. and Eddie took the demotion like a man.

 

[tonyb]

Another thing that kids now will never experience: When I was growing up, nearly all our fathers and some of our moms served in uniform in WWII. You knew where all your friends'dads had served. Everybody in our neighborhood knew my dad served in the Army Air Force in CBI ( China-Burma-India) and my uncle Pete flew a B-17 out of England and was shot down and finished the war as a POW. We knew that Dave's dad was deck crew on an aircraft carrier and Hank's mom was a WAC nurse and my cousin Mike's dad was in North Africa. It gave us a sort of group solidarity that doesn't exist now. WWII was the backdrop to our lives.

You got a few years on me. My folks' contemporaries were of the Korean conflict age group. But it seemed that just about every man over 25 or so was either a veteran or still in "the service."

In relative terms, these days far fewer of us have any skin in the game.

 

[tonyb]

There's nothing happening to us that didn't happen to every other generation that came before us. We grow old and die, losing friends along the way.

Really?

 

[BlueTrain]

Oh, so you're not going to die like the rest of us? Well, it is possible that you'll be an exception, I suppose.

But I think I understand what you're saying. But don't imagine that your experiences are somehow special or that your generation was the first one to experience great changes. World War II was not the worst war Europe ever had and hardly the worst war we were ever in, either. We were still fighting the Indians when my grandparents were born and Custer hadn't fought his last battle yet. There was an anti-immigrant mood sweeping the country then, too, which is ironic since we were still fighting the natives.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Oh, so you're not going to die like the rest of us? Well, it is possible that you'll be an exception, I suppose.

But I think I understand what you're saying. But don't imagine that your experiences are somehow special or that your generation was the first one to experience great changes. World War II was not the worst war Europe ever had and hardly the worst war we were ever in, either. We were still fighting the Indians when my grandparents were born and Custer hadn't fought his last battle yet. There was an anti-immigrant mood sweeping the country then, too, which is ironic since we were still fighting the natives.

If there's one common thread that carries thruout American history, it's petty, vicious xenophobia.

 

[BlueTrain]

It's bad but never as bad as it seems. Almost nothing ever is.

 

[tonyb]

Everything is novel to the young. That might go some way toward understanding why youngsters tend to think their generation was the first to do any number of what are really very ordinary things. There may be new vocabulary to describe whatever the particular matter is, but that doesn't make the matter itself new.

This is among the reasons it is usually quite advantageous to all concerned that youngsters grow up in close contact with grandparents and other permanent characters somewhat older than their parents, who -- let's face it -- often have quite a bit of growing up to do themselves. I was approaching middle age myself before I came to understand just how much my development was influenced by my grandfather.

 

[BlueTrain]

We lived with my grandmother (my mother's mother) until my mother died and my father remarried. All my other grandparents had died before I was born. To some extent I believe what you say is true. In the neighborhood where I lived, there were not only families with children, both younger and older than myself, there were also elderly people, all women, wives usually outliving their husbands. I think that is relatively unusual in suburban neighborhoods but that's just a guess. Even though I grew up in a small town in West Virginia and later living out in the country, I knew immigrants, either from Italy or the Middle East (Yes, the Middle East--in the 1950s). I also grew up close to some of my relatives, all on my mother's side. My father left the area where he was born and grew up. I did the same thing and so did my son.

I joke about how people where I'm from build a house behind their parents house. Then I move here (Northern Virginia) and end up marrying someone whose parents did that, too. My wife's parents built a house directly behind her grandmother's house, which is still in the family and has been since before the Civil War, when it was owned by Samuel Cooper, adjutant general of the US Army and later the Confederate Army (same boss but Cooper was from New York).

During the Western Movement, however, many young people moved away from leaving the old folks behind, just like my father did. Only he went North, same as they do in Mexico.

I think that xenophobia is a politically motivated thing. Politicians tell people to be afraid of people who are from somewhere else (doesn't have to be from another country), go to a different church, are of a different color or any of those things. It feeds on a natural suspicion of anyone who is the least bit different, even those who are better educated, although that isn't usually thought of as xenophobia. But for most people, it's simply the last-one-in syndrome.

 

[LizzieMaine]

"We have more provincialism and bigotry and superstition and prejudice per square mile than almost any other nation."
-- Bill Mauldin, "Back Home," 1947.

 

[Fading Fast]

My grandmother, who passed away when I was ten (and was very sick for the last year of her life and not, sadly, able to engage) has had a huge influence on me as she had lived a tough, complex life with much failure and success. She had no interest in fads, but wasn't at all rooted in the past as she got change, but saw some truths - good and bad - as eternal. She and my Dad were defined by the tooth and claw of the Depression which left them always stripping the veneer off of everything to see what really was at work.

It is from her and my Dad (very similar to his Mom in outlook) that I believe I began to develop a value system based on those truths, truths about human nature, business, religion, government. I've gone on to add and subtract based on my life experiences, but with great respect to what they taught me. At times, some of my thoughts, values, beliefs (of which, many, again go back to my grandmother) align with what is accepted and sometimes they don't, but mine don't change much and while I'll keep quiet (I'm exhausted from all the rancor), I won't agree just to get along - and that was my grandmother as well.

I'm told by parents that they all teach their kids to think independently, to not worry about being popular, to not "jump off the bridge because your friends do;" in that regard in my life, I congratulate my grandmother and father.

That said, my grandfather (on my mom's side and my only other grandparent still alive when I was born) was a nice, gentle man completely shattered by his WWI experiences. With all the respect he deserves, which means a lot, I did not learn anything from him as he never said anything of any significance to me. My point is not to in anyway diminish him, but to point out that the grandparent lottery is like everything else in life - you never know what you will draw. But, yes, if you get one who influences your life in a positive, edifying way, you're lucky and if families don't value that today, it's their loss.

 

[Harp]

And I cannot find the words to describe to those that have
never experienced:
What it feels like when some one is shooting at you to end
your life. On a daily basis.

So you will pardon me, if I seem to be overly optimistic and
grateful to enjoy life so much no matter what problems I may
have in the future.

And the stars at night awaken the Sun, and still alive to relish dawn.

 

[BlueTrain]

While I don't have a person experience to illustrate this, I have heard that siblings can turn out to be just the opposite of one another while giving exactly the same reason for the way they were. They had the same father but one wanted to be just like him and the other wanted to be anything but. It's the old nature versus nurture idea.

 

[2jakes]

"We have more provincialism and bigotry and superstition and prejudice per square mile than almost any other nation."
-- Bill Mauldin, "Back Home," 1947.

During my stay with Uncle Sam, I had the best of both worlds.
The barracks were made of tin with vents on the bottom. Tiny insects of all kinds slept nearby at night.
On one end of the barracks, I could hear Mr. Hank Williams moaning about some "cheating heart!"
While on the other end, Mr. James Brown was wailing about saying it loud...
"'I'm black & I'm proud!".

Me and my pal from New Mexico were in the center, trying to sleep with one eye opened.
--2jakes, Guam, 1969.

 

[LizzieMaine]

My point is not to in anyway diminish him, but to point out that the grandparent lottery is like everything else in life - you never know what you will draw. But, yes, if you get one who influences your life in a positive, edifying way, you're lucky and if families don't value that today, it's their loss.

My grandfather was not the kind of man to deliver "inspirational speeches" of any kind, but I nevertheless found him inspirational. He led a very hard, rough life with no material success in it -- but he was by far the most compassionate man I've ever known. He didn't judge other people, he didn't help only those people who he felt "deserved it," he helped anyone who ever asked him for help, whether it was staking them to a tank of gas when they were broke or filling their oil tank in the winter when he knew full well they'd never pay for it. His point of view was that you were obligated to help those who needed help, and he lived that every day of his life. He died broke, but a turn-away crowd came to his funeral.

He also refused to take life seriously. He had a crude, vulgar sense of humor that he delighted in expressing, without any sense of social pretense. He refused at any time to pretend to be anything other than what he actually was -- and I always admired that of him, and conversely, I've always been just a bit suspicious of anyone who has the habit of delivering "inspirational" homilies.

 

[tonyb]

I was acquainted with a fellow who delivered fuel oil to homes and commercial vessels -- fishing boats, mostly. It was intimated to me that he kept delivering oil to the homes of folks incapable of paying for it. It was also intimated to me that if anyone were to shine a light on his generosity, that person might expect this fine soul to personally shoot said blabbermouth.