My dad, Boardie Forbes, was an advebture loving dude. More so if it involved taking “the boys” to see some nifty new technological thingy. So about 1953 or 54, Dad is gone on a construction job for three weeks of the month. Comes home on a Friday night and says “Boys. we’re going camping in the mountains out in the desert this weekend, way north of Yermo.” Being no fool even at five or six, I knew there was miles and miles of nothing but hot desert in Yermo (near the nevada border and the infamous phone at the end of the world). So, off we go for a “boys camping adventure.” Dad woke us up at about 3:00 AM desert time and points to the desert in te distance.. “See all those cars?” Wait two hours and see what happens.
We impatiently wait and Dad says, “well it’s time!” now look through your fingers.
30 seconds later, the sun rose right over where those cars light had been. And the cloud got big, bigger and went way up. AndI could see my finger bones through my hands.”
Dad says “Well boys I guess that’s the end of the little town I built for the Department of Energy.”
I have no idea what the hell he was thinking, but seeing a live nuke shot stayed in my mind a long time. And even I knew that “duck and cover” was just a ploy to make life easier for maintenance people to scrap up little fried greasy balls of gristle on school room floors after the bombs fell.
I hated air raid siren practices. I knew damn well what would happen to us 29 miles from downtown LA.
My dad, Boardie Forbes, was an advebture loving dude. More so if it involved taking “the boys” to see some nifty new technological thingy. So about 1953 or 54, Dad is gone on a construction job for three weeks of the month. Comes home on a Friday night and says “Boys. we’re going camping in the mountains out in the desert this weekend, way north of Yermo.” Being no fool even at five or six, I knew there was miles and miles of nothing but hot desert in Yermo (near the nevada border and the infamous phone at the end of the world). So, off we go for a “boys camping adventure.” Dad woke us up at about 3:00 AM desert time and points to the desert in te distance.. “See all those cars?” Wait two hours and see what happens.
We impatiently wait and Dad says, “well it’s time!” now look through your fingers.
30 seconds later, the sun rose right over where those cars light had been. And the cloud got big, bigger and went way up. AndI could see my finger bones through my hands.”
Dad says “Well boys I guess that’s the end of the little town I built for the Department of Energy.”
I have no idea what the hell he was thinking, but seeing a live nuke shot stayed in my mind a long time. And even I knew that “duck and cover” was just a ploy to make life easier for maintenance people to scrap up little fried greasy balls of gristle on school room floors after the bombs fell.
I hated air raid siren practices. I knew damn well what would happen to us 29 miles from downtown LA.
Good post on the sirens, buddy.
Jim