Blackouts in WWII

Headlamps were masked to reduce the field of light. People weren’t really supposed to be out unless they had good reason, so less traffic on the road.

While this article doesn’t address ambulances specifically, it is interesting.

My grandmother was a blackout warden, in Brooklyn.

George Bailey was one, too, in Bedford Falls.

Well, yes, WWII was problematic for a lot people, in many ways.

Would they still identify as black today?

Midway during the war it was discovered that sable, when spritzed with a light coating of a honey and lemon, made for excellent deflective properties, so many people were able to carry on normal evening activities if covered this way from head to toe.

Cars, homes and businesses, too, encased in sable treated as such, could render whole towns completely undetectable. This is where the term "sable-wise" came from. Eventually, however, a shortage of lemons forced people to substitute the lemon juice with lime juice which, unfortunately, soon proved disastrous to the air quality and the whole scheme was scrapped. Referring someone as a "limey" was the the ultimate insult at the time and and meant to disparage someone as sneakey, hypersexual and dull.

I really don't know why they don't teach this is schools any more.

The top half of headlights were blacked out. I saw it in another war.

We had partial black-outs called 'brown-outs'.

There were very few ambulances in the old days, when you got sick you died. And even if you got to the hospital, they couldn't do nothing for you.

George) Gracie, you can't drive there. The government wants us to stop all unnecessary driving.

Gracie) But my new hat is on sale at the May Company.

George) That not what they mean, necessary driving is for things like the man of the house going to work.

Gracie) We're not going to use any gasoline are we George?

What r5??

Did I get that wrong R10? Is it oranges and mink? I'm so embarrassed.

" Blackouts" is racist.

R3 you win!

Terrifying times. There are here again in a different way but no less dangerous.

The victory tower in Berlin was never bombed because it wasn’t near any targets, but also, the pilots used it to get their bearings. This was also true of various churches and other large or tall structures in WWII. They weren’t deliberately saved.

The old photos of the ruins in Europe hurts. Such beauty laid to waste. Architecture built with loving detail didn't stand a chance.

True, R16. They are still rebuilding East Berlin. Constitution cranes are everywhere, still.

So few history books treat the plight of trans persons during WWII.

A woman known to our family was a nurse during WWII in England.

At night, in the blackout, she would bicycle to work along the Great North Road.

She could see the squadrons of German bombers flying directly overhead.

A vivid image that I can easily imagine.

Damn, r19, that dumb bitched pedaled her ass that route for a lil ole candy striper job? Sounds like the worst of times right there!

It was her finest hour, R20!

The film "Mrs. Miniver" has a terrifying scene of two women trying to drive home in nighttime blackout conditions. They creep along a country road at 5-10 MPH, trying desperately to see the road without headlights and not drive into a ditch, as an air raid gets going and bombs and bullets spray around them randomly. Their lives are in peril but they still can't speed up because headlights might draw bombs or bullets...

During the London blackout, people died on the street because they fell over hazards they couldn't see without streetlights, or were hit by cars driving without headlights. It must have been a terrifying time.

There is literally a novel written by Sarah Waters about a lesbian ambulance driver during WWII called The Night Watch where they talk about how they lessened the light coming from the headlights during the blackouts. Who'd a thunk it?

R11 You are correct. This is why sable was so much more expensive than mink during the war years. My grandmother told me that in the midwest lemons were much more scarce than on the coasts. She said they would use a vinegar/honey/duck fat mixture with much the same effect. Her family could only afford one sable hat which was shared between them, When ever the bombers came overhead her father told her to simply freeze in place until after they passed. The entire family survived the war! We are so blessed.

People were so hardy and brave back then. Can you imagine if we had a war like that today in America?

especially considering how anti-fur we've become

Any more stories?

George Bailey fights the Battle of Bedford Falls.