[tomwed]

When I was 10 years old every night during summer vacation a siren would go off at 8pm in my home town. Children under the age of 16 had to go home. We had a curfew. Whenever there was a fire in town the siren would also go off. We had a volunteer fire department. As children we were told that if the siren remains at a high pitch that meant there was a nuclear war and we should seek shelter. At least once a day we would hold our breath until the siren’s pitch went down. When school was in session we practiced hiding under our desks just like they did in the instructional movie.

I didn’t realize how close we actually came to a nuclear war until I recently watched a PBS documentary.