Those Were the Days

I was forty years old before I realized that I used to live in a ghetto. That is, if you could call the East side of Indianapolis a ghetto back in 1940.

My parents were poor, but not very poor. My father was a buyer in mens' clothing in a department store. I think he made about $20.00 a week. My mom stayed home and took care of me - which took a lot of taking care of.

On December 7, 1941 (a Sunday) my parents and I went to a movie and saw a picture called "The Little Dictator" with Charlie Chaplin. After the movie we walked back home and went past my sister's house. My brother-in-law was glued to the radio listening to a news broadcast. We said, "what's up?" He said, "The Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, boy, are we in for it now!" He was right, of course. I was too young to go into the Army, and my father was too old. My brother-in-law was the right age, but he never was drafted. Must have been 4F or something.

I had a paper route on the East side of town and we picked up the papers at a "paper drop", which was a gas station on New York St. In those days, you did not pump your own gas, the station attendant did it for you. He also checked your oil and cleaned your windshield. Gasoline at that time was like fifty cents a gallon. What a bargain! While we waited for the papers to come, we bought an 8 ounce bottle of Coke out of the machine (ten cents), and a handful of salted peanuts (one cent). Then, we poured the peanuts into the Coke and drank and ate at the same time. Delicious!

Mom decided That I needed a bicycle for my paper route, so we walked up to the Western Auto store on Washington St. and we bought a red and white Schwinn with whitewall tires for $25.00. Mom made me promise that I would pay her back the $25.00 out of my paper money, which I did.

Man, I thought I was in Heaven! I had a new bike and a steady job. After that, my mom only saw me when I was eating or sleeping. I was on that bike all the time I was awake. My buddies and I went all over town (and even out of town) on our bicycles. I think I tore that bike down and rebuilt it four times, and repainted the frame three times. By the time I got rid of it, it didn't look like the one Mom bought at all. That's how I became interested in mechanics which helped me later in life.

Later, I became employed at a Kroger store in East Indianapolis. I started out as a stock boy, and graduated to waiting on customers. This store was not a supermarket like today, the help actually waited on customers and filled their orders from a list. This was during WWII (1944), and certain things were rationed. Three things I remember that were rationed were sugar, mayonnaise and cigarettes. I didn't care for sugar or mayonnaise, but cigarettes interested me because people were lining up before the store opened on Saturday to buy them. We usually received two or three crates on Friday. Each customer was allowed only one carton, but we were sold out before noon on Saturday! I thought, wow, they must be good! So I started smoking at age 14. I would regret this much later after my heart bypass operation at age 41!

At age 18 I graduated from high school and joined the Navy to avoid being drafted into the Army. By this time, WWII was over but the draft was still going on. I stayed in the Navy for one year and was discharged into the active reserves. Little did I know that another war would come along called the Korean Police Action, so back in I went for another two years. This time I served in the Sea-bees as a cook and baker. After discharge, from the Navy I went to college and studied to be a Mechanical Engineer. I also got married and had four kids.

Although my family didn't have any property and no car, we got along fairly well. And I will always remember "the good old days" in Indianapolis.