Do You Remember Polio?
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The author in 1954 at the Erlangen Military Dependents Elementary School in Germany. (Photo courtesy of Alex Fabros)
The swimming pool was located at Ferris Barracks, the American military base located in Erlangen. It was about a ten-minute ride on our maid's bicycle or an hour walking home with our gang of kids. Since I lived the furthest, I was on my own the last ten minutes.
Before summer vacation began, one of my friends disappeared from school. We were told that he was sick with polio. I never saw him again.
I was a Cub Scout, and our little den met once a week at our den mother's house, another ten-minute walk for me. Some of our activities included swimming. For the first few weeks of summer, we spent at least one day at the pool with the other kids from school. And then it all stopped. Our den mother's son contracted polio, and she could no longer be our den mother. Someone else took over.
The son of our new den mother was not interested in swimming, so that activity stopped. My German friends took me swimming in their pool and they were kind enough to protect me from some of the other German kids who made fun of their "chinesischer junge” (Chinese boy). They eventually accepted me when they discovered I always brought American candy bars with me to share with my friends. I soon had a lot of German friends. I enjoyed the hot summer swimming with them.
When I returned to school in the fall there were ten kids missing from my class. Did their dads transfer to another base, or did they return to the States, we asked our new teacher. “No,” she replied, “they all have polio.”
Polio?
Our maid used to take my younger siblings and me to the American movie theater at Ferris Barracks on Saturday mornings. Before the main feature, there was a newsreel of the important recent events around the world as well as two or three cartoons. I remember seeing kids and adults in iron lungs and crutches. That's when it dawned on me what polio was and what it could do.
There was no swimming in the spring of 1955. The swimming pool was closed down. I'm not sure why, but we were told that water sports could cause polio.
Eight of the boys and three of the girls in this photo got polio. We were all swimmers.. (Photo courtesy of Alex Fabros)
It was also strange that none of my German friends had polio or knew anyone who did. It only seemed to affect the American kids.
We moved to the American Housing area in Fuerth in January 1955. We lived in an apartment outside of William O' Darby Kaserne (Barracks). I soon joined another Cub Scout den. The American elementary school was across the street from our home, the theater only three blocks away. We had easy access to the American base next door for the small PX, cafeteria, and mini-commissary. There was also a minimart located next to the theater as well as a service station.
Our den mother encouraged us to participate in sports, which I enjoyed very much. One of our weekly activities was swimming, from late spring to early fall. We lost a couple more kids that summer of 1955 to polio.
In spring 1956, all of the kids at our school were told we were going to get the polio shot. I hated shots, and I still do. Back in those days, they used these large gauge needles to inject us. Plus, they only used an alcohol swab to disinfect the needle before they gave the shot to the next kid. I remember eventually getting three shots altogether.
“My generation feared polio. At the time, we didn’t have to do any social distancing. Had we known, many of us would never have learned how to swim.”
When I returned to school in the fall of 1956, I was glad to see that all of my classmates were there to join me in the fourth grade. It was the first time no one I knew had polio.
I've since learned that the poliovirus is caused by fecal matter that is ingested. Most people aren't willing to eat crap. Reflecting on who among my friends caught polio -- they were all kids who enjoyed swimming. Maybe, that's why the only kids I knew who got polio were the ones who were learning how to swim. I've since given up swimming in public swimming pools.
I'm not sure what happened but when we returned to the States we had to show that we had our polio shots. Our shot records from Germany were misplaced, and I had to take the three-shot series all over again. I've since learned what a valuable document that yellow book is as proof of all of the mandatory and recommended shots you've received. It also documents which shot you can't take because of allergies or adverse reactions you might have.
My generation feared polio. At the time, we didn't have to do any social distancing. Had we known, many of us would never have learned how to swim.
Now, in our old age, there's Covid-19. It's not polio where you end up using braces to help you walk. Instead, you die alone among strangers and you're buried with no one present to remember you.
So, what's this BS among the young that they're invincible and to hell with social-distancing?
Posted with permission from the author's Facebook page.
Alex S. Faberos, Jr.
Alex S. Fabros, Jr. is a retired Philippine American Military History professor.
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