Copyright © 2001 John F. Oyler
October 8, 2001
October, 1945
Post war life was slowly returning to normal in October, 1945. Big news was
the fact that Ford would soon be delivering their first new cars since the
beginning of World War II. During the War their slogan was "There's a Ford
in your future and a Ford in the Past, you've got a Ford in the Present and
you better make it last!" It was a thrill for us to go down to E A Motor and
see the new model.
Twice that month we went into Pittsburgh to see war-related exhibits. One
weekend we toured LST 512 and saw a Kamikaze bomb, cannons (75 mm, 105 mm,
and 155 mm), a Sherman tank, and amphibious Ducks. Another time we saw
several PT boats and an LCS.
A special show at the County Airport gave us the chance to see close-up a
Hellcat, a Corsair, a C47, and a Dauntless, as well as two Cubs, a Stinson,
one TWA, a Grumman amphibian, a Lockheed Hudson, and a two seat trainer. The
diarist, who was an aviation enthusiast at the time, reported "Wow!"
My Scout Camp friend Ted Fredley had come from Waynesburg for the weekend
and enjoyed the visit to the airport as much as I did. He and I also were
able to take in a football game at Pitt Stadium. Michigan State beat Pitt 12
to 7. Jimmy Joe Robinson scored Pitt's touchdown.
Although we were now fourteen years old and ninth graders, Halloween still
was important to us. Many evenings in October we went out making mischief.
Our favorite victim was a man named Sam Schultz who lived on Chartiers
Street. For some reason he believed that it was his right to defend his home
against Halloweeners. There was a rumor that he actually brandished a
hatchet while chasing mischief makers. One evening he caught Paul Rankin.
This was particularly embarrassing since Rankins lived just a few houses
away from Mr. Schultz. My diary failed to record the consequences of this
event.
We saw two movies that month. Fred MacMurray in "Captain Eddie" was rated
"good". I have no recollection of that film. John Wayne and "Back to
Bataan " was more memorable.
BHS' football team was shut out twice, 13 to 0 by Canonsburg and 14 to 0 by
Snowden. In between, however, they routed Snowden 14 to 6 with Biff Villani
and Almo Pruner scoring touchdowns. This effort warranted a "Yippee" in my
diary.
We ninth graders were finding High School to be a little bit more
challenging than Junior High had been. In Latin we were conjugating verbs
and studying second declension nouns. We read numerous classics in
Literature -- "Freshman Fullback", "A Lady Cat Takes a Journey", "Saving the
Rice Crop", and "The Heyday of the Blood". In General Science we studied air
pressure, water purification, and pumps. I was disappointed to earn only a
B+ in General Science for the first six weeks. In Civics I gave a report on
establishing an Air Force separate from the Army Air Corps.
One Saturday we drove to Somerset for their 150th anniversary. My diary
reports the town was "full of antiques". Our (1940) Ford suffered a broken
fan belt during the trip. In the spirit of "you better make it last" we
obtained a replacement and got home safely.
Most Saturdays I went into the city to the Downtown YMCA, riding 'into town"
on the train with my father. At that time he worked Saturday mornings. At
the 'Y" we shot pool, played ping pong, played games in gym, and went
swimming, That Fall our swimming project was "the Mississippi Swim". Our
group was trying to swim enough laps to equal the distance from Pittsburgh
to New Orleans by river. The twenty two laps I swam the first week got us
just about to the West End Bridge. I also enjoyed participating in the Stamp
Club at the "Y". Mr. Gibbs, the Club Sponsor, also wrote column on stamps in
one of the Sunday newspapers.
The month passed quickly and the first frost, on the 15th, reminded us that
winter was well on the way.