Intuitive fred888: This is what a foldable WW2 TRenching shovel actually looks like that I split the top of my head open with at age 5

Wednesday, February 18, 2026

This is what a foldable WW2 TRenching shovel actually looks like that I split the top of my head open with at age 5

I used it like a pick with the edge up and down and came back to far and hit the top of my head and became a temporary blood fountain until my mother put butterfly bandages on my wound so I would heal which were used a lot instead of stitches on kids so they could not have to go to the hospital then because hospitals were much more expensive then and very few people including us had health insurance in 1953.

By the way if you think this is crazy I was given a .22 rifle at age 8 from my Grandmother from Texas in 1956 along with bullets and gun cleaning equipment to store in my bedroom closet to protect the family from people and varmints too which was completely normal then in the 1950s. Almost all my male friends between 8 and 10 years old had their own .22 rifles and bullets in their closets for target practice and hunting then too. It's a part of how the revolutionary war was one by the common people against the British Army it's at least a 400 year tradition in the U.S. to arm children to protect their families from people and varmints and anything else that might arise.

So, using a foldable WW2 shovel at 4 or 5 then was pretty normal too and riding a bike at 4 or 5 was also normal. However, I think we got injured a lot more then and mostly we survived these injuries like I did but not everyone. Also, there were no seatbelt laws so people and children and babies were always flying through the front windows of a car or truck during and accident then or worse and there were no air conditioners in cars except for really really rich people then. IN fact, I don't think I owned a car with Air Conditioning until 1976 when I was 28 years old because they just weren't that common then.

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