J D Poulson : Wichita Falls : 1960s

When I was a kid growing up in Wichita Falls, I remember everywhere I went I'd see those cool yellow-and-black signs pointing the way to another "Fallout Shelter".

I'd always ask my Mom or Dad, what does that sign mean? They would always say not to worry about it and would quickly change the subject. That just served to arouse my curiosity even more.

When we went to a church, hospital, school or downtown, I'd see those signs everywhere and was dying to know what was in the mysterious "Fallout Shelter". I've been told that there was a time, before I went to school, when all of the grown-ups went into full panic mode and feared that the time to go to the dreaded "Fallout Shelter" was near.

My older sister was in first or second grade and the year was 1962, I think in October. She would bring home a different letter every day from school advising about the revised emergency plan. This was in response to the Cuban Missile Crisis. It seemed Fidel Castro had let the Russians put some nuclear missiles down in Cuba just a short distance away from the USA until President Kennedy told Fidel to get rid of the missiles or else we would give him some of ours.

A bright, checked tablecloth brings a bit of home to this well-presented Fallout Shelter.

Those were some tense times but Castro backed down and removed the missiles. Who knows how close we really came to getting a close look inside those "Fallout Shelter"?

I never did get to go inside one but I did get to go in a "Storm Cellar", or "Tornado Shelter" as some called them. I guess you could go so far as to say "Bomb Shelter" as well. I lived right in the middle of "Tornado Alley" and about one in ten houses in Wichita Falls had one.

The kids that had one in their backyard were held in high esteem, that's for sure. They were great places to play though often declared off limits by the kids' parents. That didn't matter, kids went into them every chance they could.

I don't remember ever riding out a bad storm in one. I do remember going out and watching a tornado when I was five years old. My wife grew up in East Texas and she remembers getting up in the middle of the night and going in her pyjamas to ride out a storm in someone's storm cellar. What fun that must have been to a child. Probably real scary and real exciting all at the same time.

It's been years since I've seen a sign pointing the way to a "Fallout Shelter". I don't think they exist anymore. The old Department of Civil Defense has been replaced by the Department of Homeland Security. I guess there is always going to be a threat of some kind.

Given the way things played out down at the Super Dome after Hurricane Katrina, I don't think we can count on the government, or anyone for that matter, should a real disaster strike. That was a localized regional event. Can you imagine the chaos if a real disaster struck the entire nation at one time?

Looking back, I think that the more things change, the more things remain the same. I think that's because times and circumstances change but people never really do. I do know one thing: I was right about all of the cool things that I just knew had to be "hidden" inside those "Fallout Shelters" so many years ago. If I'd been able to sneak into one, I could have found barrels of drinking water, medical supplies, cases of survival crackers, cases of toilet paper, and real geiger-counters, among other cool stuff.

Go over to the Civil Defense Museum website and see it for yourself. If only I could go back in time over four decades and sneak into a "Fallout Shelter". Just think of all the fun I'd have had.

What are your memories of this era? Do you remember fallout shelters? Did your family or neighbors build a fallout shelter? What about the Civil Defense drills and Duck-and-Cover training at schools. What effect did the nuclear era and Cold War have on you and your family? Share your thoughts, memories and photos with us by filling in this form.