U. S. Office of Civil DefenseRezensionen

An interesting piece of propaganda produced in the United States shortly after Pearl Harbor. It was designed to make everyone feel part of the war effort, so that even if you couldn't enlist you could do something that would contribute.

Published immediately after the U.S. declared war and entered World War II, this clearly relies heavily on the experiences of the British during the London blitz. It is pretty ad hoc and more gives ideas about how to go about rescue efforts in a general way, rather than laying out specific techniques. The post-War booklet from the Federal Civil Defense Administration, Rescue Techniques and Operations (Training Manual 14-1) is much more detailed.

An organizational chart of the Civilian War Service.

While it may not be obvious to the average reader, many civilian defense handbooks from World War II are interesting reading for anyone who wants to prepare for a natural disaster. These booklets were written for civilians, and the kinds of damage they deal with is usually very similar to that of tornadoes or earthquakes. This one includes a list of tools needed to move debris. Although the debris removal techniques assume that casualties have already been recovered, the tools are the same as those you would need to help dig people out of rubble.

Even though the continental United States was not bombed during World War II, there was still a need to prepare the civilian population for the possibility. This is part of a series of handbooks designed to do that. For this one, they got Milton Caniff, the author of the Steve Canyon cartoon series, to do the illustrations.

This was put out by the Office of Civilian Defense in December 1941, just after the United States declared war on the Axis powers, thus getting into World War II. This is a typical first aid manual of the time. There is nothing special in it about preparing for possible bombings or invasion.

Just glad I kept this copy. Hard to believe the way we used to live -- with the threat of nuclear destruction hanging over our heads.