Atom Bomb Safety Commercials 1950's

When you see a bright flash of light duck into the nearest doorway, hide behind the sofa, crouch under your desk at school or get into the hallway! These and other such steps to take under an atom bomb attack have been in my brain since the 1950's.

Our government had public service announcements on atom bomb attacks on television in the 1950's and 60's. I'm not sure if anyone believed that these tactics would work. As a child in school in addition to fire drills, we had atom bomb drills.

A practice siren would go off and then the atom bomb drill would begin. I close my eyes and can see a scared second grader hiding under her desk at school. I practiced at home hiding behind the sofa.

On television around 10 years after the atomic bomb attack on Japan, a show featured some of the survivors. They had horrible burns and were covered with scarves and some shown only from behind a screen.

As the years have passed many studies have been made on the atomic bomb survivors. Radiation has many horrible long term affects including cancers and birth defects.

Of course then we built air raid shelters and at home bomb shelters. As if they would have helped any of us.

I must say the world is crazy when war is still waged and the risk of the bomb remains possible.