Like Rich, I was too too young for WWII, but I am old enough to remember
how the war effort changed our nation. For example, the small Alabama
town I grew up in housed a HUGE hospital (wood barracks) that housed
recovering wounded soldiers during the war. We played there as a kid
when they were abandonded. And yes, it was amazing how the war touched
all of industrial America. It changed our family as well as dad went off
to war, and having gotten through the "big one" got recalled for Korea
as well. It seems nobody was exempt from doing "their part". My original
comment was based on my (mistaken?) impression that Liberty Ships were
WWI sailing vessels. They were made of poared concrete which was a quick
way to get a ship's hull built. I have seen one of these concrete ships,
apparently scuttled, off the CA. coast in Los Gatos. Not knowing much
(enough) anout the history of such ships I was told it was a "Liberty
Ship". A correction by any of you "old Geezers" is welcome ;-)
Ed
FastmetalBDF@aol.com wrote:
> Ed, in 1999, on a visit out to California to see Darrell, I was
> invited
> to the
> home / shop of an ex drag racer and present day gearhead to see his
> collection
> of old cars and rods . During our long gab session, I asked about the
> former
> Kaiser shipyards there in Richmond, as he had grown up in the hills
> that
> overlook the town, and was a boy during the WW II years . He said that
>
> he could clearly remember the steady parade of trains bringing steel,
> and
> all the huge amounts of material needed, to construct all those
> Liberty ships,
> which played such a large role in our final victory . The other thing
> that
> stood out in his mind was how he could see many, many, blue arcs from
> all of the welding there, every night of the year, as the construction
> was a
> round the clock, continuous operation for all of those years .
> This was just one of all the yards, factories, mills, and shops,
> large
> and small, that made America truly " The Arsenal of Democracy ."
> During those busy years, the United States produced approximately
>
> FIFTY PER CENT of all the military equipment on earth !!!
> I think that I read somewhere that the father of Bonneville and
> drag
> racing great Art Chrisman, and his brother, Lloyd ..... the senior
> Mr. Chrisman, was a welder in the shipyards in the Long Beach area
> during those years ..... these people helped to win the war as much
> as all of those in uniform ......
> Can we even imagine the thousands of tons of welding electrodes
> that got used in places like this during those years of constant work
> ?
> That is really burning some wire !!!
> Bruce,
> also thinking about all the flatheads that took those workers
> to and from the job back then ...... and a ( VERY ) few of them are
> STILL ALIVE and TICKING ..... or even KICKING A - - !!!
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