The Great Depression
#6303657
08/16/18 09:15 PM
08/16/18 09:15 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 21,539 Sandhills Nebraska
Gary Benson
OP
trapper
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OP
trapper
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 21,539
Sandhills Nebraska
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Both of my parents were children in the Depression. My Dad is 92 today and his most vivid memory was 85 years ago..there was a bad drought in 1933. The cows had no water or grass to eat so they were shot and buried in trenches. Dad can still hear the cows bawling, 85 years later. Water wells were hand-dug then, so probly no deeper than 30' or so. Tough times. Mom was in high school before she made it 30 miles to the big town.
Life ain't supposed to be easy.
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Re: The Great Depression
[Re: Gary Benson]
#6303660
08/16/18 09:23 PM
08/16/18 09:23 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 10,476 Philippines, s.e. asia,ohio
west river rogue
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 10,476
Philippines, s.e. asia,ohio
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Both of my parents were children in the Depression. My Dad is 92 today and his most vivid memory was 85 years ago..there was a bad drought in 1933. The cows had no water or grass to eat so they were shot and buried in trenches. Dad can still hear the cows bawling, 85 years later. Water wells were hand-dug then, so probly no deeper than 30' or so. Tough times. Mom was in high school before she made it 30 miles to the big town. heard that about cows before....awful thing!!
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Re: The Great Depression
[Re: Gary Benson]
#6303675
08/16/18 09:36 PM
08/16/18 09:36 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 11,005 Oregon
beaverpeeler
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 11,005
Oregon
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My dad rode the rails during the depression. Visited every state. Picked potatoes in Aroostook county Maine for a penny a barrel. I am lucky that I have a book that he wrote documenting his travels and adventures during those times. (Portions of the book were republished in a Reader's Digest article some years back).
Just before he died in 1998 (age of 88) I asked him what had been the best portion of his life. He answered that it was those years on the road where he didn't know where is next meal would come from but that he was living free and hadn't a care in the world.
Mom on the other hand had a bit more sorrowful story of those years. Her dad had just sold the herd and went down to the bank in Mitchell S.D. and deposited the check. Next day the bank didn't open and he lost the whole year's money. They held on for another two years with help from relatives but eventually the bank foreclosed on the farm, and it and everything on it was auctioned off...including my mom's Indian pony which she loved. The only thing they were allowed to keep was their model A which they used to relocate out west.
Many many stories have been told around the dinner table of those years!
Last edited by beaverpeeler; 08/16/18 09:39 PM.
My fear of moving stairs is escalating!
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Re: The Great Depression
[Re: Gary Benson]
#6303750
08/16/18 11:13 PM
08/16/18 11:13 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 11,165 Central NC
traprjohn
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 11,165
Central NC
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The Greatest Generation! Dad was born in 1920. On Sunday, they had Jello for dessert and it was the bomb. His Dad was a coal miner in PA....died of black lung when Dad, the oldest child, was 19. Dad trapped from 1926-37 when he graduated HS as Salutatorian, beaten only by the neighbor girl he grew up with. Had an Aunt in Ravenna Ohio who offered him free room and board, so he could attend college at Kent State. He cleaned the rat cages of the Biology Dept and mowed lawns to pay his tuition. He was drafted in early '42 for WW2, but they let him finish and graduate before going in the Army. In homage to our German heritage, he had just learned German, so they sent him to Europe's Signal Corps to translate intercepted radio transmissions so we'd have an idea what the enemy was going to do before they did it. Stayed in, becoming an Industrial Liason, and when Korean War started so they had Dad learn Korean, sent him over to...…..you guessed it, intercept enemy radio transmissions...…...LOL......stayed in.....until Vietnam started, yep, they taught him Vietnamese, kept him on a ship mostly, since technology had advanced, did the same thing translating enemy radio transmissions. Retired in '76 when I was in 11th grade!!!! So much for skipping class and going to Johns house...lol. Dad was stationed in Arlington, VA. He was in Army Security Agency. ASA is only based there, so we did not move every few yrs like most military families. ASA's motto is In God We Trust, All Others, We Monitor. Lost Dad in '03 to Myeloproliferative Disorder...the year I started trapping. He was my best friend. Miss him so much. Here's his flag and WW2 and Korea service medals but not the Vietnam medals, he would be 97 now. It is because of him that I buy a soldiers' meal every chance I get.....its in my sig below!
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Re: The Great Depression
[Re: Gary Benson]
#6303776
08/16/18 11:44 PM
08/16/18 11:44 PM
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Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 3,580 N. Carolina
Scout1
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 3,580
N. Carolina
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My grandparents grew up during the depression. And you ever notice most elderly people that went through it never threw away nothing.
------------------------------------- DJT & MTG in 2024!
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Re: The Great Depression
[Re: Gary Benson]
#6303842
08/17/18 06:59 AM
08/17/18 06:59 AM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 21,539 Sandhills Nebraska
Gary Benson
OP
trapper
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OP
trapper
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 21,539
Sandhills Nebraska
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Dad joined the Army in 1944. Did basic training in Camp Fannon TX then was sent to Hawaii to clean up after Pearl Harbor. He was on the Bunker Hill on the way over (5 days) when the Japanese surrendered. I think he got paid $50 per month. He kept a dollar a day and sent the rest home to the farm. Still talks about Hawaii today. That was before it was an American tourist fancy place. The young girls were called Waheeneys. If a girl wore flowers on the right side of her head, she was single and available. He was discharged after two years as the war was over. Came home and bought 2 airplanes and a farm!
Life ain't supposed to be easy.
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Re: The Great Depression
[Re: Gary Benson]
#6303849
08/17/18 07:10 AM
08/17/18 07:10 AM
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Joined: May 2010
Posts: 2,738 Iowa
coydog2
trapper
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trapper
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 2,738
Iowa
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During that time my farther's farther had went to Canada for work for how it was at the time and my dad at times went with him.Also the one I sold my furs to years ago told me how it was then also during the labor movement also and the unions had started.Also drove truck at 14 years old ,from MA to VT to the line of Canada to get alcohol for the speak eases. If there was a way to make some money he found that way. He told me also that he would get more for his rats then what his dad made at the factory working in a weeks time.
Life member of DAV,NTA,NRA,ITA.Also member of FTA,CBA
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Re: The Great Depression
[Re: Gary Benson]
#6303855
08/17/18 07:23 AM
08/17/18 07:23 AM
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Joined: Dec 2017
Posts: 6,190 Kansas
Pawnee
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2017
Posts: 6,190
Kansas
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I had 9 great grandparents and grandparents alive until I was ten. I heard a lot of stories. Dust storms, grasshopper plagues, jackrabbit plagues, dust pneumonia, no money etc.. it and WWll had a profound impact on every aspect of their lives and the way they lived the rest of their lives. Tuff times for sure. Gramps my dads grandpa died in 1995 when I was 20. He still unplugged the microwave at night so the clock didn’t was electricity
Everything the left touches it destroys
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Re: The Great Depression
[Re: Gary Benson]
#6303863
08/17/18 07:30 AM
08/17/18 07:30 AM
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Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 10,308 MT
snowy
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2011
Posts: 10,308
MT
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My parents where born in 21 and 22 and they told of the hard times and very sad at that. Even though they the people suffered from those years they really never dwelled on those years. I grew up with people that lived those rough years like may here and I very heard any complain about it. The told their story and those years made those people the greatest generation that have lived.
Give me a fish, I will eat for a day. Teach me to fish, I will eat for a lifetime
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