Monday, September 07, 2009

World War Two Snippet D

Reasons for joining up during wartime mostly revolve around Patriotism/Peer Pressure.

Try this reason:

One of Mine Host's uncles was a "scheme-a-minute" type. Always had a (new) business deal/scheme on the boil. In the new economic climate that magically appeared after hostilities broke out he thrived, or imagined he did. He hocked himself & his widowed mother's legacy to the hilt, & started trading in various wartime commodities.

As with any of his schemes that acutally got off the ground (ie, if someone was imprudent enough to finance him) he went bust in spectacular fashion, owing every last penny he had borrowed.

His widowed mother faced a severe reduction in circumstances, and he also.

In a move that surprised all the family, without any warning, just days before the dreaded interview with the bank manager, he joined the army. His mother & sister went along in his stead, braced for the worst. However the bank manager was inexplicably quite pleasant, explaining that the bank would be taking no action & they had unlimited time to "sort out" the mess (with no bank pressure, sister slowly solved the financial woes). When it was clear that they were puzzled at this change of direction by the bank, the bank manager cheerfully explained:

Banks were prohibited from foreclosing on anyone who had joined the armed forces.

3 comments:

Kim Ong said...

The thing I love about blogging is having people comment on my blog and telling me more about a subject matter I'm not clear about, in this case you've mentioned Young & Jackson's "pub" and I didn't even know about Chloe! I just thought, "Okay, another artsy fartsy restaurant/pub with a naked woman's body, must be of some significance but not to the extent of it being the most famous painting in Oz." That was really good to know, thanks for sharing. I am living close to the city and yet still so much more to learn abt Melb CBD and I haven't even covered the suburbs yet. Looking at your blog makes me imagine you're in Geelong. I saw on TV how Geelong's like this old farm place with taverns, horses, wood.

Quite interesting how you love listening to your seniors' tales. Heritage is what builds us and someday your children would speak in this manner.

"Mine Host Jr. sees the light of which Mine Host shone upon him, telling him "My son, you have done well."

kimong.com

Kay said...

Nice to meet you, Steve! Thank you for your visit. You've added a different twist in comments to my blog.

I wonder if we have the same ban against foreclosing on people who join the military in the U.S.

Mine Host said...

Hi Kay, Kim. Thanks for calling in.

Kay, the prohibition on foreclosure was a wartime measure in WWII. It would be reasonable to expect that in WWII the U.S. protected wartime volunteers with a similar measure.

Kim: All I know about Geelong is how to spell it. I am from a long long long way away.
I know very little about that part of the world, except that Chloe is famous.

Email me & I'll reveal you my location, hehe.