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“Are these from olden times?” the boy’s eyes were round with wonder.
“Not so olden,” his mother sighed. “We have some in our bomb-shelter. Everyone was fitted with a gas mask during the Gulf War. We had to carry it everywhere. Even preschoolers like you.”
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Na'ama Yehuda 
Excellent job, Missy!
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Thank you … As someone who was obligated to and had such a mask, and had to carry it around, and put children into theirs in the middle of the night all while rapidly sealing a bomb shelter against chemical attack all under the blare of sirens and very little time to do so, I fully realize how ‘not history yet’ these are, let alone for some who are without such protections …).
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Oh man… that you lived it, makes this all the more poignant.
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xoxo
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😘😘
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I learned something new today. This reality never even breached my consciousness. Thank you for writing this.
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🙂 Thank you for the comment, Violet. This has been the reality of millions during the Gulf War and it is still the reality of some, and often with less resources and protections.
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I love history, and the gas masks of wars are vestiges of such insidious villainy and suffering. Nice flash!
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Alas they are not always vestiges …. and there are still places in the world where the risk of chemical attacks and the realities of its awfulness remain a very real-time risk. Nonetheless, yes, they are always a mirror of villainy and suffering. I hope one day they will not need to be used, and those of us who had to don them in the past under the whistles of warheads and screech of warning sirens will know that no one will ever need to, again.
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My Mum also has memories of wearing these, but her memories probably are what the boy would call olden times as her memories are from WW2
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Yeah, the memories I speak of are from the early1990s (1991) and millions still have the memories … and the gas masks (and the seal-able bomb shelter). The masks need to be updated/refurbished/checked every few years and the filters changed — alas this is an ongoing reality/risk, though the youngsters do not remember actually having to use those almost nightly as some of us do.
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We need to remember these things if only to avoid it again.
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Indeed!
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