@ChrisTheTireWhisperer YOU 
are the one that opened Pandora’s box
And it predictably didn’t go the way YOU anticipated
And now YOU say an open forum is not the place to discuss such things
Good job 
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I worked for a building contractor the summer after 14th street in DC burned. One of the first things I did was haul stuff to a People’s Drug Store on 14th street. The building was still standing, but the interior was burned out. Lots of buildings were burned in a several block stretch of 14th street.
Well she should have relaxed. Normally NGs and reserves were not issued live ammo, and yeah I know all about Kent state. We only had live ammo once a year at the range. I have to remind our pastor to stick to talking about Martin Luther, he is not old enough to talk about Martin Luther king jr. we all have our stories. In thec1800s it was the folk# from Norway versus the English. Then the Germans, then the Jewish. Just never ends if you judge people by their heritage instead of individually.
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Boy, that time period sure was the golden days of timing belt/water pump replacement. We used to fight for 60K services, remember?
Not sure that I’d be fighting for the oil pump drive belts inside the pan these days…
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Well, I guess you could say that this wasn’t a normal situation, as those NG troops DID have, and did use, live ammunition. The cops were riding around with shotguns, but that wasn’t of much use when rooftop snipers were firing on the cops and the National Guard guys.
There was a LOT of gunfire exchanged between the NG troops and snipers stationed in windows and on rooftops, and the follow-up report on the riots stated that at least 12,000 shots were fired over the 5 days that the riots lasted . Some shots were fired by rioters, and some were fired by NG troops, and most of the shots were fired by the Newark cops. The NG guys were definitely armed with live ammo.
The Governor even showed-up, and the State Troopers made him don a military helmet. Somehow, the image of him riding in the back of a Fleetwood limo while wearing a military helmet was just a bit… odd… but there were pics at the time of Governor Hughes crouched behind the limo as the NG troops exchanged fire with civilians.
Step #1: OP creates problematic post, filled with inaccuracies
Step #2: Forum members react–with facts
Step #3: OP is surprised when people actually know more about the era than the OP who posted those inaccurate assumptions
Step#4: OP tries to shut-down the forum members who are more knowledgeable on the topic under discussion.
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Well the police cars pictured are 1964 and 1965 models. My experience is from 1970 to 1976. Without looking up Kent state, it is possible the policy was changed by th3 time I came on board. In fact on over night guard duty, we not only were not issued ammo, we were not issued weapons. Instead we were given sticks because too many troops were beaten up and the M16s stolen from us. We didn’t have phones then either so it was either fight or flight. Of course once an hour we’d b3 checked on to see if we were bloody and still alive. Sorry for digressing but being out in the motor pool wilderness at 3 am with a stick for protection left memories.
Even prior to being sent to SEA I had a total of about four hours live fire with an M16. In SEA I also carried a S&W 38, at that time didn’t know anything about firing one.
I don’t mean to act dumb but I have no idea what brown bread eating person refers to? Maybe this was a west coast thing. No idea.
I’ll just add, when criticizing folks for talking about the good old days, the term is sort of a trigger and I really think it should be discontinued. Looking over the las5 60 years or so, there are things we thought were better and things that were worse. Using a trigger term though just eliminates any legitimate discussion on the subject. We all have umpteen examples either way depending on the part of the world or country you came from.
It meant (I assume) that white people ate white bread, and in this case I think it alluded to the brown bread in Grandma’s grocery bag matching the color of her skin. Someone on the bus told her to take her brown-bread eating “self” back to her country.
Now if in all her years Grandma had ever learned to drive a car she wouldn’t have been on the bus to hear that comment…
After Grandpa died either my mom, my uncle, or I would have to drive her to go shopping, doctor, etc. And she never lost that depression-era mindset…going to 3 different grocery stores because of the coupons…
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One of my grandmothers had to learn to drive in her 40s or 50s. Her husband got traumatized serving in WW2 and never talked about it, except to say all his buddies had died. After the war, he never drove again. Whatever happened, he never said what it was. Anyways, she was never a very good driver, and we all speculated it was because she learned to drive so much later than most people. Towards the end, we had to take away the keys to the car, which really bummed her out
None of my relatives that grew up during that time every lost that mindset, either, and instilled it on succeeding generations. Not so much coupon-clipping, but never letting any food go to waste and living well within your means.
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You know, funny thing. I had one grandmother and one grandfather that didn’t drive. I guess Grandpa Vic was so awful at driving that grandma said nope and he lived to be 90 without ever having a license.
At Thanksgiving my son and I were tending the charcoal in the grill and I told him about Grandpa Karl. As soon as the food was done, he would use tongs to put the hot briquettes in a clay pot with an airtight lid to smother the fire. After we ate he would sprinkle some water over the little charcoal nuggets and put them back in the bag to use next week. Starting the grill was always a challenge as he poured out these little charcoal pebbles to coax them into firing one more time.
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Fondest memories. My grandma lived with us. On pay day we’d either walk th3 Mile to town or take the bus for a dime. Have a coke and coffee at the restaurant or sometimes a whirl whip cone at the drug store. Think I was about 8. Lived to be 99 and was there when she died. Put flowers out every year. She knew everyone but I would not have appreciated her being insulted.
She did a lot of the cooking in our house. One time she was on the back porch mixing up a wash pan full of borst or whatever it was. Blood all the way up her arms mixing it. Someone came to the back door, saw all the blood, screamed and ran away. Thought there had been a m u r d e r or something.
Eastern Europeans, I’d guess.
Awww! I have many ‘Gramma’ memories also. With attitudes like what your’s experienced in that bus ride, it’s no wonder extra-terrestrials probably have zero intention of designating this planet a rest stop!
In fact there’s a song Bill Withers did, about ‘grandma’s hands’ decades ago. The beat was lifted later by a rap group for the song “No Diggity”.
Well, now that we got to grandmas, someone, in this case me, had to post it.
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No the good old days were timing chains that lasted 200k miles or better.
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So today, correct? Timing chains and/or sprockets (many plastic) often failed on old V8s long before 200k. Of course, the engine was probably rebuilt before then because of worn rings, valves, etc. and the timing chain replaced.
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It might have been blood pudding (also known as black pudding), I had friends whose older parents or grandparents made it. I remember is had to be fresh pig’s blood and mixed in with diced pork fat, barley, and all sorts of “Secret” spices.
Then depending on where the family came (UK, Germany, Poland, etc…)from it might have been cooled and cut up like “Jello squares” or stuffed into casings.
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I’m 55, both parent drove up until we/I took the keys away, neither of dads parent ever drove, too poor, never could afford a car, both passed in their 80’s IIRC he passed mid 90’s, she made it to 2004, both were always dirt poor and never had much…
Now moms dad drove and was an electrical mechanical engineer (low ranking I guess) but he passed before I was born, grandma never drove, too poor but lived to be 100 yo, died in 2002… She still lived in the little 6 room house with the bathroom on the back porch that was only 4 rooms most of moms childhood, the bathroom was added after she was grown, so yeah mom and dad worked hard and made a life for them selves, but dad could squeeze a nickel so tight it would make the buffalo burp, and mom was a coupon clipper… Mom is almost 90…
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