soc.history.war.world-war-ii

On Mar 27, 2:47 pm, "William Black"
wrote:

> You can still buy petrol stoves in the UK.
>
> Come to think of it Coleman still make a stove that works on unleaded...

I don't want to veer too far off-topic, but this conversation reminds
me how safety has changed so much since the war years thanks to
experience and technology.

For instance, if jeeps and vehicles had seat belts, I wonder how
soldiers' lives would've been saved from accidents. From what I've
read of General Patton's accident, he would've been saved by a seat
belt. It would take another 20 years after the war for seatbelts to
become common (they were offered in the 1950s but to no takers).

Back then asbestos was seen as the good "magic mineral", something
that protected people and property due to its heat insulation
capability and fire resistance. Shipyard workers threw it on working
in closed quarters; no one knew then it was so dangerous. Undoubtedly
there were other industrial processes and chemicals that were not
known then to be dangerous.

Smoking was very popular in the war years. Getting cigarettes to the
troops was an important priority.

Radios and telephones were important in the war, but did not have the
best reliability, particularly in combat conditions. Getting a
critical message "back to HQ" often meant that a soldier had to run
back and hopefully make it, leaving the others short-handed and at
risk until the message was delivered. Obviously it was utterly
impossible back then for each soldier to have his own walkie-talkie
(though I don't know the ratio of radiomen to other infantry). Today
every soldier has can have a satellite phone on which he can call home
during breaks.

Today we have bullet resistant body armour and helmets which didn't
exist back then. (Did any kind of "bullet proof vest" exist back in
the war years and if so, was it ever utilized? if they existed they
were probably very heavy.)

Of course, as experience was gained during the war industrial and
combat procedures were improved to be safer and new products
developed. The MASH field hospital and flexibility of the helicopter
were utilized in Korea. Some things weren't learned until many years
later.