Monday, July 7, 2014

The Girls of Atomic City


4.0 out of 5 stars Second World War atmosphere, feelings, life, its all here.July 7, 2014
By 
madlyn fafard (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II (Paperback)
If you always wanted to learn about the Second World War, this is a good start. Told from a number of voices, it touches on segregation, the plight of women who had little exposure to opportunity even if they went to college, the struggle of the working families to put food on the table, whether black or white. How few women got the chance to go to college. How drudging work could be and how much fun dancing and bowling were to lighten the load of the working folks. All of the culture of the time, rises up as families and individuals face the opportunity for a new job in an unknown place , doing something they knew nothing about, working in secrecy , in difficult living conditions, and making the best of it. The whispering and meanness of people, who guessed at secrets, when they did not know what was going on, even in war time, the stand offish attitude toward others....people were less open, less able to comprehend what others might be doing, the struggle for survival was still too close to home.. Its not far from my mind, as I recall the dads and moms in my neighborhood, and I know that my dad made $25.00 a week, supporting a family of 4. Bread was around 5 cents a loaf then..

This story filled in the part about the Germans for me, as the scientists they confined in England, admitted they were no where near the development of the bomb in Germany. Maybe no other country could have done what we did, because the cost of building the bomb was STUPENDOUS, for that day and age....the size of the plants, and the product that was emitted, are all shocking, so little for such effort, who else but the United States, would be able to produce this feat, just as we did with the production of war goods and supplies for our men. The picture of the time is just a start, if you are interested in the 2nd World Was as I am , one of the books I really enjoyed was on how our country mobilized.Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II This book is perfect to follow The Girls of Atomic City.

Sunday, July 6, 2014

The Midnight Special More 1978 - 15 - Peter Allen - I Go To Rio

there is something about this song, that has great potential, waiting for it to break out again?

Glenn Miller and the Army Air Force Band - Over There

Just look at the hits this plane had!  In the day when there was no air conditioning or heat in a plane, the pilots wore heavy leather jackets, lined with fleece...precision bombing?  What was that...just let the whole load go, we are over target...

the song is from the first world war, but popular in the second world war , too.  What purpose?  What gain?

How can we overcome those who want to wage war?  Can you truly subjugate the world?

Gomer Sings With Hippys

Gomer Pyle was before Forrest Gump....and he had a wonderful voice

THE EDDIE DUCHIN STORY

 a good movie to watch tonight, filled with piano music

K-Rations: "Food for Fighters" circa 1943 US Office of War Information W...

Once in a while I seem to remember, ( or maybe more than once in awhile, we got films like this at the Saturday matinee, during the war.    Now watching this, I think this must have given birth to the idea of fast food...as we know it today.....???

Claire Mahoney Lavin, (for my class mates)

Going back to high school days ...many of you will remember Claire Mahony Lavin,who died this past week.  She will be remembered for giving to the community as a Selectwoman, a successful real estate broker, mother of 5 children, a provider and dual parent, because she lost her husband Joe Lavin, at a young age.  Claire was a remarkable woman, she always did the best she could and that was what made her special..

The Girls of Atomic City, my newest read...quote about dictators

Laura, the wife of Enrico Fermi was Jewish, they joined the exodus and eventually wound up in the United States with the International team of scientists that were to work on the Atomic bomb.  From the book , page 79, "These scientists-Hungarians , Italians, Germans-knew the power and speed with which a dictatorial state could mobilize ,Universities, Military Research.  Back in their war-ravaged homelands, these entities, each with their own expertise and power, were under a single direction, guided and controlled by one hand."

"A dictator decrees,"  she later wrote, "a president asks Congress for permission to organize."