Editor’s note: This is the 53rd of a series about growing up in Marysville during the late 1930s and the 1940s written by Bill Boyd. Each article is a snapshot of the people, businesses and activities during that era as seen through the eyes of a young boy.
Boyd was born in Marysville in 1932, graduated from Marysville High School in 1950, and lived the greater part of his life here.
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Blackout In Marysville
1944 was an exciting time to be a 12-year-old boy in Marysville. There was a war going on in Europe and another one in the Pacific. Small communities like ours (as I recall we had about 3,000 residents at the time) were doing everything they could to help the war effort, and kids played a substantial part in this. There were scrap metal drives and paper drives that youngsters participated in. And they could save up their nickels and dimes and buy defense stamps for 25 cents each. You could lick the stamps and paste them in a little book. When the book was full (worth $18.75), you could trade it in for a $25 war bond.
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(Those wishing to contact Bill Boyd can email him at bill@davidwboyd.com)