charles tabb Loc: Richmond VA.

Even many of those too young to be in this special group should find this history interesting. I feel lucky to be still here. 🤪

It’s great being part of the 1% Special Group!

This special group was born between 1930 & 1946 = 16 years.

In 2021, the age range is between 75 & 91.

Are you "still here?" Or do you know someone in the 1%?

Interesting Facts For You To Know

You are the smallest group of children born since the early 1900’s.

You are the last generation, climbing out of the depression, who can
remember the winds of war and the impact of a world at war which
rattled the structure of our daily lives for years.

You are the last to remember ration books for everything from gas to
sugar to shoes to stoves.

You saved tin foil and poured fried meat fat into tin cans.

You saw cars up on blocks because tires weren't available.

You can remember milk being delivered to your house early in the
morning and placed in the "milk box" on the porch.

You are the last to see the gold stars in the front windows of
grieving neighbors whose sons died in the War.

You saw the 'boys' home from the war, build their little houses.

You are the last generation who spent childhood without television;
instead, you “imagined” what you heard on the radio.

With no TV until the 1950's, you spent your childhood "playing
outside" There was no Little League.

There was no city playground for kids.

The lack of television in your early years meant that you had little
real understanding of what the world was really like.

On Saturday mornings and afternoons, the movies gave you newsreels
sandwiched in between westerns and cartoons.

Telephones were one to a house, often shared (party lines), and hung
on the wall in the kitchen (no cares about privacy).

Computers were called calculators; they were hand cranked.

Typewriters were driven by pounding fingers, throwing the carriage and
changing the ribbon.

INTERNET' and 'GOOGLE' were words which did not exist.

Newspapers and magazines were written for adults and the news was
broadcast on your radio in the evening.

As you grew up, the country was exploding with growth.

The Government gave returning Veterans the means to get an education
and spurred colleges to grow.

G.I. Loans fanned a housing boom.

Pent up demand coupled with new installment payment plans opened many
factories for work.

New highways would bring jobs and mobility.

The Veterans joined civic clubs and became active in politics.

The radio network expanded from 3 stations to thousands.

Your parents were suddenly free from the confines of the depression
and the war, and they threw themselves into exploring opportunities
they had never imagined.

You weren't neglected, but you weren't today's all-consuming family focus.

They were glad you played with friends by yourselves until the street
lights came on.

They were busy discovering the post war world.

You entered a world of overflowing plenty and opportunity; a world
where you were welcomed, enjoyed yourselves and felt secure in your
future although the depression poverty was deeply remembered.

Polio was still a crippler.

You came of age in the 50's and 60's.

You are the last generation to experience an interlude when there were
no threats to our homeland.

The second world war was over and the cold war, terrorism, global
warming, and perpetual economic insecurity had yet to haunt life with
unease.

Only your generation can remember both a time of great war, and a time
when our world was secure and full of bright promise and plenty.

You grew up at the best possible time, a time when the world was
getting better...

You are "The Last Ones."

More than 99 % of you are either retired or deceased, and you feel
privileged to have "lived in the best of times!"

Amen!

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

My Mother-in-law was born in 1933. Our other parents were older born 1922-25 and already dead. I guess you are referring to the last of the "Greatest Generation."

Earnest Botello Loc: Hockley, Texas

Amen to that, Charles.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Yes, I can check most of those boxes.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

I'm 9 years too young to be part of this particular 1%... however I remember a lot of those things (other than the WWII stuff... but we had Korea, Vietnam, etc.)

rlv567 Loc: Baguio City, Philippines

I guess, then, that I am of the 1/10% - I'm January, 1928 (before "The Last Ones").

Loren - in Beautiful Baguio City

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

Amen!

Popeye Loc: LifIno

Count me in.

Bull Schmidt

I REMEMBER GETTING MY BUTT PADDLES FOR LICKING THE RATION STAMPS AND STICKING THEM ON THE REFRIGERATOR. THINK I MIGHT HAVE BEEN 3 AT THE TIME. I WAS BORN 1940

hrblaine

I'm 91 and yes, you are spot on. I'm most of those things. I took advantage of educational opportunities and have a BA MA from a large public university in the Big 10 and a JD from an Ivy League school. I was a college professor for 30 years at my Big 10 alma mater, now retired and living in northern Michiscum (to give you a hint concerning my alma mater). Harry

tramsey Loc: Texas

My wife, brother and i all belong to this group. I started reading the list to her and started giggling and said, "I remember all of that!"
Some are not so good memories

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Oct 8, 1945 - right near the end of your time frame.

Almost all the local elected officials were World War I or World War II vets and in my small town many of the others were teachers (college=respect and people voted for them). So were the vast majority of state and national government elected and civil service people so they knew what war was and didn't treat it as just another way to deal with other countries. Those people you sent out to maybe die and the ones they maybe killed were people, not just statistics. But they believed that if after all else failed you had to go to war, you went to WAR. A Soviet marshal said of the US something like "You can insult and abuse them for a long time and they will do almost anything to avoid war. Then when they have had all they will take and get mad they will bomb you back to the stone age, overrun the rubble with massive mechanized armies but afterwards rebuild your country better than it was and hand out their own food and candy to the children."
And almost all of my and my friends younger uncles went in the military during Korea and the start of the Cold War. Then Vietnam came along - I was Regular Army, not a draftee and the unit I spent almost my whole time with the average GI was about 4-5 years older than most who went to Vietnam and overwhelmingly regular Regular Army with WW II and Korean Veterans for senior NCOs and officers above O-3 (HQ unit, our company was almost 1/4 officers and another 1/4 senior NCOs. Contrary to what most believe about 2/3 of all who served in Vietnam were enlistees, not draftees.

I read a lot and even when TV did come along I still read and still do to this day. But now that I am retired it is fiction, westerns, crime/detective, SciFi, techno thrillers and fantasy with a bit of non-fiction thrown in. Esp stuff about history or Nat Geo type things.

When I was working (history/geography/government teacher at Jr and Sr High) it was mostly non-fiction to research for lesson plans. I didn't like the stuff put out by the text book publishers because they were either so simple they were an insult to my students or so advanced they would have strained college students. So I wrote my own lesson plans, study guides for students, quizzes and tests. I also went through each new text book the school district bought and made notes of the mistakes and included telling my students about them as part of my lessons. When I told the students about the mistakes I also told them to answer the annual standardized tests according to the mistakes or their scores would suffer but to use the correct information in class.

I saw the coming of the tide of "revised history" writing and knew the difference which many younger people don't. By the time I retired even many of the new, younger teachers didn't know the difference.

dancers Loc: melbourne.victoria, australia

count me in!!!

NMGal Loc: NE NM

I am in that group.

flyboy61 Loc: The Great American Desert

September 1939...and I'm still here!