It was one of those dramatic events in time of war. Civilians, threatened by an invasion by a remorseless and intractable enemy, desperately calling for military bombers to attack that enemy as it surged towards the defenseless town. In a raging storm a brave crew volunteers for the dangerous mission, with the fate of the city in their hands. Such brave acts were often required during the violence of the Second World War. Just not usually in Montana.
The appeal of one strange object, which achieved dizzying popularity in my lifetime, and today lives on mostly for nostalgia, is not so difficult to explain. All you need to do is turn one on and wait.
During the civil war, the manufacture of powder and explosives was often handled by the most vulnerable, young women and children, whose labor was needed when so many men had been sent off to war. On March 13, 1863, the confederacy experienced a munitions disaster, in the confederate capitol of Richmond.