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By A. Thornton Bishop, Chairman, Planning BoardThe Sunday Sun, April 28, 1946 |
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Teaneck Goes All-out for War
The Council Chamber was dark on Sunday evening, December 7, 1941, when the radio flashed to a shocked nation that it was engaged in a major war. Seven pictures which hang on the Chamber walls may have been in the thoughts of certain Teaneck people, but it is doubtful many paused long enough in their anxiety to accord them even a silent salute as they pondered the immensity of the job before them - preparations necessary to carry on the unfinished fight in which these gallant townsfolk had given their lives.
The names of Basil L. Smith, Captain Stephen T. Schoonmaker, William A. Burgess, Walter Caldroney, Herbert S. Smith, Hubert Roch and Edwin Welch, dead heroes of the first World War, were to be Joined too soon by 78 more. The total enrollment of men and women who entered the armed forces from Teaneck during the second World War is impossible to determine. The approximate figure is 2,700. Records of inductions at the selective Service Board No.6 include selectees from communities adjacent to Teaneck, and do not include voluntary enlistments prior to military induction. Many men, whose families reside in Teaneck, entered service from distant places, and the constant ebb and flow of residents to and from the Township would make any attempt to obtain an accurate count, as of any particular date, unfeasible.
Civilian Defense Units
The number is large, and while these young people distinguished themselves in various branches of the Country's defense, an equally large number enlisted in the Civilian Defense Corps to provide the utmost In protection for the community against threatened air attack and the disruption of public service by nefarious schemers.
Operating as a central staff, the Teaneck Defense Council consisted of a representative of each of the various branches of the Civilian Defense organization. These included the Air-Raid Wardens, of which there were 1,626 enrolled; the Auxiliary Police, with 346; the Auxiliary Firemen, with forty-two; Rescue and Road Work Units of the Department of Public Works, with 172 men and thirty-five trucks; and the Teaneck Branch Volunteer Workers of the American Red Cross consisting of approximately 1,200 in all, which included the Motor Corps, the Medical Services, Blood Donor Service, the Disaster Committee, and a Committee to plan for the entertainment at camps and hospitals.
Beehive of Activity
The Township became a beehive of activity as the different branches plunged enthusiastically into periods of intensive training. Throughout the weeks, lights burned late in every school building to accommodate classes learning to apply a tourniquet, or how to bind up an arm in splints. Forty specialists kept abreast of the Government's experiments in chemical warfare, and residents possessing television sets opened their homes to groups of air-raid wardens which made available the special courses on fighting incendiary bombs offered by the New York Police Department. Drills were arranged to test the degree of alertness in the various district organizations, and incidents that assimilated emergencies were staged to provide the wardens with "experience,"
A Real Emergency
On a Sunday morning in May 1942, the wardens were given their chance to operate in a real emergency. Two student pilots in Army training planes picked the air above Teaneck for a game of tag. After a brief exhibition of chasing one another, one plane forgot to duck, and the other plowed into it. As the two fliers parachuted to safety, one plane dove into a garage near the corner of Queen Anne Road and Cherry Lane and the other picked the center of Dartmouth Street in which to bury its nose.
Teaneck people must live right because there was potential tragedy in those incidents but no one was hurt. The Dartmouth Street visitor caught fire, scorched shrubbery and sent a shower of 50-calibre machine gun bullets into Dr. Macaulay's house on the comer, chipping the slate roof, some of the stone work, and breaking glass. Bullets lodged in partition walls of the rooms facing the street. Divine Providence must have intervened, because the family was at breakfast at the time in a room to the rear of the building. The wardens formed lines to hold in check a quickly gathering crowd, and assisted the fire and police squads in their work. Order prevailed and hours of training proved fruitful.
Activities Fall Off
As the period of anxiety shortened and the tension of fear abated, the activities of the Civilian Defense Corps lessened although a full mobilization of its personnel was retained. Thoughts were directed toward the time when the victorious services would be sailing home, and postwar planning became top item in Teaneck's conversation. No limits tempered the suggestions as to what the community should do with, and for, the home-coming veterans. Civilian committees organized for social and industrial rehabilitation of war- scarred heroes only to be informed that the functions of the Selective Service Boards would be thrown in reverse, and all ex-servicemen would be "processed" through its official channels. Civilian volunteer agencies folded immediately and much of the present confusion and lack of cooperation stems from the public's decision to stand aside since the Government had taken all problems concerning the veteran into its hands.
This situation has caused a disintegration of the wartime spirit that awakened communities into a sound resolve to be self reliant. It is a challenge second only to the alertness for war itself. Cooperation or every individual was sought urgently by Federal bureaus when there was doubt that the military situation would improve in time to stave off a national disaster. When war ended, self reliance of home communities was no longer solicited by the Washington manipulators, as this spirit in peacetime might threaten the very existence of the bureaus. So the veteran became the Government's problem and his welfare was made the pass key for every political hack.
The veterans has a justifiable gripe, When he went away he could buy about anything he needed for the price he could pay. While he was away, the workers in war plants collected earnings many times more than they had ever earned before, and went on strike to force the country in the midst of war to satisfy their every whim. Money in circulation increased to such an amount that the world the veteran fought to preserve was marked up beyond his reach; He comes home to find himself outbid by the essential workers in war plants, and an object of political exploitation.
War Not Over Here
For Teaneck as well as the rest of America the war is not over. There is still a war cost to be borne. It is the difference between the level of prices the veteran knew before he went away, and now. Adjustments must be made to help restore the balance. Unhampered production of many articles will reduce much of this difference in a short time but there are still things for which the veteran cannot wait, and one is housing.
Teaneck cannot solve this problem alone, but it can help, and in two ways. Fundamentally, it is a national problem, and only through the Representatives in Congress can the citizen help break the bottlenecks in Federal administration so that materials needed for the construction of homes will be forthcoming. From the local standpoint, judgment based on present conditions must supplant the fear of establishing questionable precedents. As a long range objective, it is desirable to maintain the character of established communities, and regulations that have helped to sustain values should not be removed in a complete reversal of policy. Rather, each application for a change in use of dwellings or style of development should be considered on its own merits from the viewpoint of how it will affect adjacent property values. Temporary housing, such as that proposed for three areas in sections zoned for one-family homes, is limited to two years and will not affect the character of the community beyond that time.
Regrets Action on Housing
It Is regrettable that the application to erect two-story multiple dwelling apartments on River Road was denied. The character of these homes would have fitted more compatibly into the section from an architectural standpoint than any one-family dwellings built under the present conditions. A house for $8,000 today cannot compare with a house which $8,000 provided six years ago. These apartments would have housed 75 families of veterans.
The present inflation in real estate is because of scarcity. Federal subsidies, scattered throughout various markets have not alleviated shortages, and shortages have nourished black markets so that price levels for available goods have not been controlled. A free flow of materials is the only way scarcity can be eliminated. With increased production, prices will decline to levels based on honest operations. The veterans won their war abroad, but the home front hasn't measured quite up to their standard of achievement. Teaneck citizens made many personal sacrifices while the shooting was going on, and they should remain all-out for war until the adjustments have been made that will restore to the veteran the world he fought to save.
