Category Archives: History

When You’re SERIOUS About Christmas Cards

LIFE: Our Finest Hour

Actually, this woman was a draft service worker during WWII. Men 18-65 and were required to register and keep the card on them at all times. Men age 18-45 were subject to military service. From 1940 until 1947 – when the wartime selective service act expired – over 10,000,000 men were inducted.

(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA.

This cartoon in the Saturday Evening Post depicted a draft board scraping the bottom of the barrel.

Mischa Richter; February 19, 1944

Gas Envy

1935 Texaco ad

In 1932, Texaco introduced Fire Chief gasoline to the nation, a “super-octane” motor fuel touted, as you can see above, as “surpassing specifications” for  emergency vehicles. Ed Wynn promoted it on his NBC radio program called the Texaco Fire Chief.

Amazon

A Very Good Find In A Very Tough Year

Life: Our Finest Hour

During WWII, the not-yet-vanquished German army occupied the north of France, including the port of Cherbourg, which they heavily fortified against seaborne assault. As the only deep water port in the region, it was particularly desirable, so American troops encircled the city in June of 1944 in the Battle of Cherbourg, and handed the Germans their asses five days later, when they surrendered. The fighting left the city in a compromised state. However, in only a month, cargo ships known as Liberty Ships began to arrive, and it became the busiest port in the entire world, with twice the traffic of New York, until the war ended. It has since merged with an adjacent city to become Cherbourg-Octeville.* In this image, we see American soldiers in Cherbourg who appear to have stumbled upon some German wine stores. I’ll drink to that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*per wikipedia

 

Christmas Day 1943 On Guadalcanal

Life: Our Finest Hour

Christmas Day didn’t feel very wintry to these WWII soldiers in the South Pacific. Santa braved the 90 degrees to dispense Red Cross gifts to Army and Marine hospitals and bring some holiday cheer to those missing their families back home.

Zach Galifianakis To Star In Grizzly Adams Reboot

Nat Geo 2/86

No, no, just kidding. Actually, that’s animal trainer Doug Sues sitting on the back of famous screen star, Bart the Bear, then a young 10-year-old weighing 1300 lbs. Bart lived to age 23, passing in the year 2000, from a battle with cancer. No telling how many times he kissed Doug right in the puss.

 

Ike Dresses All The Rage For The Holidays

by Carl Mydans

Before IKE meant “I know, eh?” which sounds soooooo Canadian, Ike meant Dwight Eisenhower, as in the former president. All the boys in his family were called Ike; he was “Little Ike” as the youngest. And who could have imagined one day women would be sitting on a hardwood floor, clapping for him, wearing his nickname all over their flouncy dresses?