February 7, 2005

Air Raid Sirens.

Filed under: Uncategorized — Jim @ 11:58 pm

This morning, I was treated to the sound of a car alarm, which is all too common in the neighborhood. It was one of those multi-sound devices that electronically screeches, burps, beeps, whistles and honks, when someone even so much as passes gas within fifteen feet of the car in which it is installed.

Eventually, the owner of the car in which the honking and tooting alarm was installed surfaced to shut the infernal noisemaker off. To the rest of the neighborhood, including Yours Truly, this was nothing more than a minor annoyance. No one called the police, or, for that matter, did anything other than wonder how long it would take the car’s owner to shut the damned thing off.

This caused me to think back to when alarms actually meant something. More specifically, I got to thinking about air raid sirens.

When I was a little boy in the fifties, my town (and I believe all other towns in the area) had an air raid siren. It wasn’t one of those modern-day, electronic “whoooop-whoooopers” that one hears on police cars, fire engines and ambulances, but rather it was a mechanical device that, was operated by a continuous blast of air that was generated by a gasoline powered V8 engine.

It was the signature sound of the Cold War.

Back then, we were taught that the long, wailing sound of the air raid siren signaled an imminent air attack and that taking cover was our only option. We knew the difference between the long, plaintive wailing of the siren, which meant “take cover” and the shorter bursts that signaled “all clear.” They actually taught us this stuff at school.

I recall the air raid drills that were conducted in my grammar school, in which, at the a pre-appointed time, we were all shepherded into the bowels of the school building where we were led in song by one of the teachers, presumably to take our minds off the slaughter that would be taking place outside the school in the event of a real attack. The song of choice was always the then popular “He’s Got the Whole World in his Hands.” I have no doubt that leading public school children in that song today would be grounds for a teacher’s dismissal and would provide the basis for a suit by the ACLU. Back then, it seemed just fine.

Of course, all this was little more than well-intentioned baloney, but we were too young to know any better. The ugly fact was that we were close enough to New York City to be instantly incinerated in the event of a real air attack by the Soviet Union – the bad guys back then.

We were regularly reminded of the siren’s sound, as it was tested for one minute at noon on Saturdays, which was always a handy way to check the clocks in the house. Even then, I remember thinking that the best time for the Russians to attack would be at noon on Saturday, because no one would pay much attention to the siren, much like we ignore car alarms these days.

I don’t know whether any towns today even have an air raid siren and, as such, I wonder how many people have never heard the sound we knew so well and hoped that we would not hear during the frightening days of the Cuban Missile Crisis, by which time I was old enough to know that taking cover wouldn’t mean beans.

It sounded like this.

10 Comments

  1. Wow, does that bring back memories. They installed a siren about a half mile from our house when I was a kid, the area was slightly rural, but probably within the blast effect of NYC, and, with Earle Naval Amunition Depot about five miles away, Sandy Hook and Navesink, with their Nike/Bomarc missile emplacements being within spitting distance, it really made everyone nervous as hell. The best part was when they decided to test it out in the middle of the night without telling anyone.

    Yikes.

    Comment by gregor — February 8, 2005 @ 7:34 am

  2. Ah – it is obvious to me you don’t live in tornado country. They are still quite the norm out here in the wild and wooly midwest. We have one about half a mile from our house. Tested at 10am first Tuesday of every month…

    Except for about 6 months after 9/11. They figured because the timing of the attack was close to the time the sirens were usually tested, it might not be such a great idea to go setting them off while everyone was on edge. But we’ve been back on the normal schedule ever since…

    Although I’m quite sure they don’t stop classes for kids to practice bomb drills anymore or even tornado drills for that matter!

    Comment by Teresa — February 8, 2005 @ 10:03 am

  3. This all means something to you because Granny was the first female Air Raid Warden in the Ironbound in the 50’s and 60’s. It’s in your blood, Cuz….

    Comment by cousin gary — February 8, 2005 @ 12:27 pm

  4. Gary,

    I had forgotten completely about that. I’m sure that if Granny were to tell someone to take cover, they damned well better do it.

    Comment by Jim - Parkway Rest Stop — February 8, 2005 @ 1:37 pm

  5. Ahhh, yes. I remember them well. I remember crawling under our desks with our hands over our heads…like that’d protect us. Later, being rushed into what we called ‘the tunnel’. It was a….well, a tunnel between the older part of the school and the newer gymnasium.

    Being in the midwest, we do still have the tornado sirens that are tested the first Tuesday of every month…and, go off much more frequently in the spring…for the real tornadoes. heh

    Comment by Pammy — February 8, 2005 @ 5:41 pm

  6. Hey, anybody seen my car?

    I parked it in front of your house yesterday and now it’s gone.

    Comment by Dan — February 8, 2005 @ 5:49 pm

  7. Dan-

    Maybe you should have mounted an air raid siren on it.

    Comment by Jim - Parkway Rest Stop — February 8, 2005 @ 5:55 pm

  8. I remember the nuns leading their charges into an actual air raid shelter – it would have been early sixties by then. I don’t think we were singing, though.

    When I first moved to Red Lodge, MT – we had the noon whistle. Which had been an alarm & whistle for the shifts at the coal mines. Which have been closed since the 40’s for the most part. I think it’s only used for fire alarms now. It was great, every dog would start barking and howling at noon…

    I don’t miss car alarms, but it’s like you said – no one pays much attention to them anymore.

    Comment by moos — February 9, 2005 @ 4:54 pm

  9. This comment came in From Bathsheba, but I accidentally deleted it during a comment spam attack. Here it is:

    “We live in Birmingham, Alabama and they have installed 6 tornado sirens withen a 5 mile radius, we have the Federal 2000 and they test them every 1st weds at 10:00, they usauly dont test all of them at the same time but during 9/11 all of them sounded at the same time and it was soo loud.”

    Comment by Jim - Parkway Rest Stop — May 11, 2005 @ 9:10 am

  10. I was born in 1953 and I remember air raids (black outs ) Is that possible? I lived in Virginia
    thannks

    Comment by kay — November 7, 2005 @ 7:47 pm

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