I agree with BobbyR. I grew up in a close suburb of Detroit. I was 8 when Sputnik was launched. I remember seeing it fly over in the evening, also Echo. The elementry school had 3 different alarm bells. One was fire, another was tornado and the third was air raid. For tornado and air raid drills we went to the interior hallway and the girls sat on the floor facing the wall. The boys stood over them and leaned face first against the wall. I still have the dog tag I was issued. It looks just like the military version. It has my name, address, religion and my mothers name on it. We were supposed to wear them every day to school. I often wondered how, in the event of a attack, my mother, who lived 2 blocks from the school, would be able to survive and identify my charred remains. The next city over had a Nike anti-aircraft missile site. We could see the buildings that housed the personnel from the small amusement park across the street. Anyone who grew up in the Downriver Detroit area in the 50's will remember this. The Hudson's Department store near our house had one of those Civil Defense signs on it. Also the school. I also still have the Civil Defense booklet sent to our house on how to construct a bomb shelter in your own basement and how to stock it with food and other supplies. When the Cuban Missile Crisis broke out, we were glued to the TV, watching Walter Cronkite give us the details.
My wife and I toured the missile museum in Green Valley,AZ. The guide talked about after the keys were turned and the missiles were launched, how the crew would have time to think about their families on the outside. MAD sure summed up the times.
