Preparedness by Rita Slade

As I think back in my life, a lesson from my parents comes to me. The way they prepared for situations in their marriage. I was three years old when World War 2 started for the British Isles. Between three and nine it was a big part of my life, being aware of destruction and devastation. My parents had to be prepared, had to have a plan, to protect their families to the best of their ability.

Each night as the sirens would sound, preparedness went into effect. My parents would gather their children from the bedroom upstairs. The questions from my father was, "do we have the policies and gas masks?" From the top drawer of my great grandmother's chest my mother would get the policies.Daddy would have the gas masks and off we would go to the bomb shelter in the backyard, a small, dark, damp, dirt floor, with a galvanized roof. My mother, while preparing, was dry heaving from nerves. These trips to the bomb shelter sometimes took place three to four times a night. Throughout of my life, my brother and I, when preparing for a trip or an outing with our families, would jokingly say, "Do you have your policies and your gas masks?"

I recently found out, the reading for , "Do you have your policies?" Was necessary for identification required to have in case of death. Preparing for disaster and death, my parents and many other families survived World War 2.