When we moved to Virginia in 1960 my dad bought a house. The home was a small brick house located on a street at the rear of the subdivision. Behind the development was
a valley and creek. Power lines ran along the valley floor. On the far side was a wooded ridge. No one could build long the valley. It was in a secure spot in a suburb of Washington D.C. The home had a small kitchen and an open L shaped space for the dining room and living room. Large picture windows gave a commanding view of the valley.
The top level had three bedrooms and one and a half bath and wooden floors.
Stairs led down to a recreation room with fireplace another bedroom and half bath. Behind the recreation room was a basement that ran the full length of the house and was built into the hillside. The basement walls were concrete block. At the far end there was space for a washer and dryer and deep sink. There was a small window above the sink which was just above ground level outside and had a window well. At the far end was space for a refrigerator.
It never dawned on me why my father chose this house until I was an adult and understood better the plights he had endured during WWII and the current security measures being taken at the time. President Eisenhower had allocated funds to the CIA in order to overthrow Castro's empire in Cuba. The newly elected President Kennedy also endorsed the plan. The Bay of Pigs invasion was being orchestrated and my father was stationed at the Pentagon. Although the mission failed to overthrow Castro we were in a very vulnerable position for an attack on US soil by missiles aimed at the Capitol and various military installations like the Pentagon.
I was in the fourth grade. At school we had routine bombing raid drills. These were conducted similar to fire drills but instead of going outside and away from the building we ducked under our desks or were taken into the interior hallway and instructed to crouch down and put our arms crossed over our heads.
Daddy secured our basement. I always attributed his overstocking of food and supplies to the fact that he had been a starving POW in Japan during WWII. Well I suppose that was true in part. The other reason was because of this real threat to our freedom.
In any unfinished basement there are wall studs. Between these studs he drilled holes
and threaded flat wire between them. He had the perfect shelves to line with canned goods. We had everything from canned meat, hash, stew, soup, beans, corn, hominy, peas, beets, peaches etc.
At the end where the washer and dryer were he had several metal lockers lockers. In them he stored dry goods like powdered milk infant formula in large cans. Cases of C-rations were also stacked there. On the opposite end we had two refrigerators that held all perishables.
There were more lockers full of various survival supplies from first aide to linens.
We had cots and blankets, too. In the center on both sides of a narrow isle he stored everything else like his work bench and tools and footlockers of various other belongings
and clothing. It was full to the brim with anything one would need to survive a full attack! Elsewhere he stored firearms that could outfit a brigade.
People including myself shook their heads at the sight of our basement. Why would we need all that "junk?" We lived in the mightiest nation on earth.
We enjoyed freedom and democracy that he had fought hard for.
The USA was churning out cars and homes as fast as people would buy them. Supermarkets were full of every product you could imagine. Kids had toys and nice clothes on their backs.
The economy was booming.
One would describe him as being paranoid in a way. But none of them had tried to survive on a spoonful of rice a day and walked the Bataan Death March like he did. None suffered malaria and dysentery like he had. He knew what needed to be done and he did it. He took nothing for granted.
When you look back at the big picture and realize the atrocities he endured as a POW you come to know and understand why he would be this way. How could he have ever survived had it not been for being prepared? How could he have ignored what was happening in the world? How would that directly impact his family?
The basement was going to help us survive. We would be prepared. Did we end up needing it? No. But I sure am grateful that my dad had us protected against all odds.
Cathy Windham
3/23/13
Walking in his memory at the Bataan Memorial Death March in Chesapeake, VA
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