1957 Polio

The mid 50s was the time of the polio epidemic in the United States.  We had just left Port Arthur, Texas, where my friend Doug had polio and was in a wheelchair.  His father was a doctor, but Doug didn't get vaccinated in time.

Polio didn't appear to be a concern in Europe, but my parents were so worried about it that they had my uncle Abbey send them polio vaccine.  He worked for Lederle, a division of American Cyanamide, who made the vaccine.  I remember it came by special messenger and apparently it cost a fortune to have it delivered from Boston to Normandy.  It had to be kept refrigerated and my sister and I were threatened with death if we even touched the container.

My friend Catherine's dad, Dr. Villeneuve, came over one night to administer the shots.  I wasn't thrilled but I certainly wasn't going to let him see me cry.  He knew how tough I was.  But my sister...  She took off when he was about to give her the shot and my mother had to chase her around the dining room table.  By the time she caught her, my sister was screaming bloody murder so Dr. Villeneuve didn't even try to be gentle.  I thought it was kind of funny.

1957 Mes Amis et Moi

Nous Trois
When I lived in Gravenchon (Normandy) in 1956 to 1959, I was in a gang.  There were three of us.  The other two were my best friends.  Philippe Horeard (Fifi) lived right across the street from me.  His parents were older and he had just one sister, Lily, who was a lot older than he was.  We were both around 9 and Lily was about 19 or so when I first met her.  I remember so well standing at that front door waiting for Fifi to come out while their dog was scratching at the door barking. 

The other member of the gang was Jacques Villeneuve.  His sister Catherine was my best (girl) friend.  Their dad was a doctor and was hardly ever home.  I don't remember much about their mother, but I used to go to their house a lot for dinner.  That's where I learned to drink a mixture of water and  red wine at dinner.  That's also where I ate horsemeat for the first (and last) time.  One day, Catherine's mother was having a bridge party.  Catherine and I found a dead mouse under the willow tree.  We were so excited we just burst into the living, the mouse dangling from my fingers.  I wasn't invited back for quite a long time after that. 

Fifi, Jacques, and I ran wild any time we weren't in school.  Back then, only a block or two away from our street, it was fields, streams, and woods.  There was one field that was fenced with cows and a bull and we once saw a mating in progress.  We were really embarrassed.

About the way it was in the 1950s.

The Woods
We would ride our bikes down the little dirt trails deep into the woods and stay there all day, just riding around and exploring.  The woods were really thick in some places, and there were rumors of wild pigs running loose.  We never believed that until the day we saw one.

Le Taureau

Once we found a pasture with a huge bull in it.  We dared each other to go run in front of it and get chased.  Of course, I was the one who did it.  I wasn't that scared at first  The bull just looked at me until I was halfway across the pasture.  Then he took off after me.  I barely made it through the fence and tore my shorts and my shirt, and lost one of my shoes.  That was hard to explain when I got home.

A la Recherche des Serpents

One day, we found an abandoned building, probably a small house or cottage.  The walls were almost gone, and there was debris everywhere.  It became our place.  We would take our lunches and stay there poking around all day looking for snakes (we never found any).

L'Arbre Parachute
There was what we called a parachute tree near the abandoned house.  That was our most exciting adventure.  We would climb up the tree and then climb onto the biggest branch.  The branch would bend down and we would jump off to the ground.  Usually, it was a drop of maybe six or eight feet or so, but there were always a lot of leaves and ferns to cushion our fall.  We usually came home covered with bruises and scratches.  ("Tree parachuting actually became a sport in the early 2000s.  We did it in the 1950s).


L'Accident
One day it was raining when it was Jacques' turn to jump off the branch.  He climbed up onto the branch but then somehow he slipped and fell.  He didn't have the chance to go further out on the branch and have it bend towards the ground.  He fell with a big thud and then a scream.  

He was in terrible pain and it was obvious he had broken his arm.  We put him on his bike and then I took one handlebar, Fifi took the other, and somehow we managed to guide him on his bike through the woods.  Sometimes the trail was too narrow or rough for all three bikes and one of us would have to walk alongside Jacques' bike and steer it.  Meanwhile he was on the bike cradling his arm and bawling his eyes out, saying his dad was going to kill him.  


Eventually we got him home and he made us stay while he told his dad what had happened.  The next day, he had a cast.  Apparently he broke his arm in two places.  He was pretty brave, all things considered.

Needless to say, the woods were off limits after that, not that it ever stopped us.  I would come home every day covered in dirt and mud, with scratches and bruises,   My mother was at her wits end about what to do.  My dad, on the other hand, told her to just leave me alone.  He was pretty proud of me I think. 

Gravenchon the way it looked in 2016 according to Google.
It is much much bigger and the woods and fields are all gone.

1955 Port Arthur

My mother hated Port Arthur.  I liked it okay.  I got to spend a lot of time outside, at least when we first moved there.  

Then the polio epidemic hit, and it hit that area hard.  Everyone was paranoid.  In fact, our next door neighbor was a doctor and he had a son named Doug.  Doug wore braces on his legs and used crutches because he had polio. I remember my parents talking about how awful it was for a doctor’s son to have it. What is it they say? The doctor’s son is the last to get the shot? It was so true in this case. I remember they also had a Boxer like our dog Velvet. I was never allowed to talk to Doug and I felt so sorry for him.  Sometimes I would sneak a conversation over the fence.  It was very sad, and I wasn't allowed to play outside anymore either.  

We followed the progress of the Salk vaccine thanks to my Uncle Abbey who worked for a drug company.    When it was finally approved, it was like a miracle.  It was like we had been set free.

Interestingly, when we went to Normandy not long after that, we took some vaccine with us because it wasn't yet available in Europe.  It stayed in the refrigerator until we were due for our immunizations.

"April 12th had almost become a national holiday: people observed moments of silence, rang bells, honked horns, blew factory whistles, fired salutes, kept their red lights red in brief periods of tribute, took the rest of the day off, closed their schools or convoked fervid assemblies therein, drank toasts, hugged children, attended church, smiled at strangers, and forgave enemies."