Wilderness Wally's Americana
FROM NEW ZEALAND - Originator of the 'Birthday Season'

 
Currently in Auckland: NZDT

Tuesday, 19th of March 2024


 

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A Special Generation '38-'46

The One percent group born between 1930 & 1946
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Some interesting statistics......

The 1% Age Group
This special group was born between 1930 & 1946 = 16 years.

In 2023, the age range is between 77 & 93
Are you, or do you know, someone "still here?"

Interesting Facts For You . . . .
You are the smallest group of children born since the early 1900s.

You are the last generation, climbing out of the depression, who can remember the winds of war and the impact of a world at war that rattled the structure of our daily lives for years.
You are the last to remember ration books for everything from gas to sugar to shoes to stoves.
You saved tin foil and poured fried meat fat into tin cans.

You saw cars up on blocks because tires weren't available.

You can remember milk being delivered to your house early in the morning and placed in the "milk box" on the porch; the Good Humor ice cream truck coming through the neighborhood.

You are the last to see the gold stars in the front windows of grieving neighbors whose sons died in the War.

You saw the 'boys' home from the war, building the little houses that they were so happy with.
You are the last generation who spent childhood without television; instead, you 'imagined' what you heard on the radio and you read library books.

With no TV until the 1950s, you spent your childhood "playing outside" There was no Little League. Many kids walked to school.
There was no city playground for kids. You organized neighborhood baseball and football games on vacant lots. You rode your bike everywhere.

The lack of television in your early years meant that you had little real understanding of what the world was like.

On Saturday mornings and afternoons, the movies gave you newsreels sandwiched in between westerns and cartoons.
Telephones were one to a house, often shared (party lines), and hung on the wall in the kitchen (no cares about privacy).

Computers were called calculators; they were hand-cranked.

Typewriters were driven by pounding fingers, throwing the carriage, and changing the ribbon.
'INTERNET' and 'GOOGLE' were words that did not exist.

Newspapers and magazines were written for adults and the news was broadcast on your radio in the evening. Kids read comic books.
The Government gave returning Veterans the means to get an education and spurred colleges to grow.

Loans fanned a housing boom
Pent-up demand, coupled with new installment payment plans opened many factories for work.
New highways would bring jobs and mobility.
The veterans joined civic clubs and became active in politics.

The radio network expanded from 3 stations to thousands.

Your parents were suddenly free from the confines of the depression and the war, and they threw themselves into exploring opportunities they had never imagined.

You weren't neglected, but you weren't today's all-consuming family focus.

They were glad you played by yourselves until the streetlights came on.

They were busy discovering the postwar world.
You entered a world of overflowing plenty and opportunity; a world where you were welcomed, enjoyed yourselves and felt secure in your future although the depression and poverty were deeply remembered.

Polio was still a crippler.
You came of age in the '50s and '60s.

You are the last generation to experience an interlude when there were no threats to our homeland.

The Second World War was over, and the cold war, terrorism, global warming, and perpetual economic insecurity had yet to haunt life with unease.

Only your generation can remember both a time of great war and a time when our world was secure and full of bright promise and plenty.

You grew up at the best possible time, a time when the world was getting better...
You are "The Last Ones."

More than 99 % of you are either retired or deceased, and you feel privileged to have "lived in the best of times!"

Amen! It's great being part of the 1%. A Special Group

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