If you’ve ever worked or been anywhere where accidents can happen (which of course is anywhere us fallible humans are!) chances are you’ve seen signs: “Safety is no accident!” Or, “Stay alert, don’t get hurt!” or some other slogan reminding you that a minute of distraction could lead to a lifetime of pain – or worse. The National Safety Council (a nonprofit symbolized by a green cross that was founded in 1913, and chartered by Congress in 1953) has designated June for National Safety Month as an annual observance to help keep each other safe, in the workplace, home or anyplace. The designation of June to highlight safety happened in 1996, but special campaigns at other times of the year had already been run for decades earlier, including, and perhaps especially, toward the end of and just after WWII.
In its March 29, 1946 issue, The Plain Dealing Progress ran an article announcing a special fund-raising and awareness campaign for May that year “to enlist all in a “war on accidents” under the banner of the “Green Cross for Safety”. This drive that for the first time in the council’s history appealed directly to the general public for funds, because of “the appalling rise in traffic deaths since end of the war. The Green Cross will serve as the emblem of safety in the home, on the farm, in the factory and in the school, as well as on the teeming streets and highways of the nation.” said the NSC’s president Ned Dearborn.
This increase in accidents was after, Mr. Dearborn pointed out, already during the war, deaths and injuries from accidents on the home front exceeded battle casualties among the American military forces. He stated that in 1945 alone 96,000 Americans including 20,000 children lost their lives through all types of accidents. And at least 10,300,000 persons were injured accidentally.
Some of these home front incidents of course, were affected by wartime deprivations. A dwindling availability of farm labor due to Americans fighting in the war, meant that fewer, and less experienced, farm workers were doing the vital, yet often dangerous work of growing and harvesting food, and raw materials, such as rubber used in tires, and production workers and facilities for newer vehicles or replacement parts, being needed for wartime equipment needs rather than civilian automotive use meant more older, or less-maintained vehicles were on American roads.
The following June, just before the first Fourth of July in peacetime (following the surrender of Japan) an editorial from the National Safety Council was published in the “Bossier Banner-Progress,” on June 20, 1946, entitled, “Be Alive on the Fifth.” The column warned that historically, the Fourth of July has also been a tragic day when hundreds of citizens have died of careless accidents and that if a recent trend held, that year could be the worst:
“Peace brought an end to the killing only on the battlefield. Since V-J Day (Victory in Japan Day, September 2, 1945) the accident toll has skyrocketed to near record highs, up 44 percent in traffic alone. Why? Plenty of gas, more leisure, release from restraint and restrictions. No wartime patriotic urge. A long-deferred desire to blow off stream with a little fun and relaxation. Add to that worn-out cars and tires, deteriorated highways, a carefree sprit that too often becomes a careless spirt, and you have a dark prospect for this Fourth of July and the entire vacation season. The tragic and ironic part of it is that so many Americans, after sacrificing and risking so much to preservice life and freedom, will lose it irrevocably and needlessly during a moment of carelessness.”
The editorial concluded, “It has been a long time since America enjoyed a real summer holiday and vacation season. Everyone deserves that relaxation. So have fun on the Fourth. But be alive on the Fifth!”
Incidentally, this seems like a good time to brag on the employees of the Bossier Parish Police Jury and members of the BPPJ and say that Jason Hazelton, Safety Services Consultant with the Louisiana Workers' Compensation Corporation (LWCC), recently awarded a plaque to Glenn Benton, Police Jury President, for being one of the 70 safest workplaces in the state in 2024! Workers from each BPPJ department, including Bossier Parish Libraries, were present to receive the award on May 21, 2025.
If you have any information, stories, or photos about the home front in Bossier Parish during WWII, or about past campaigns to keep Bossier citizens safe and healthy, we would love to add them to our History Center’s research collection. Contact us at 318-746-7717 or email history-center@bossierlibrary.org or visit us at 2206 Beckett St., Bossier City. We are now open: M-Th 9-8, Fri 9-6, and Sat 9-5. For other intriguing facts, photos, and videos, be sure to follow us @BPLHistoryCenter on FB, @bplhistorycenter on TikTok, and check out our blog http://bpl-hc.blogspot.com/.
Images:
- Postwar advertisement for Firestone Tires and the company’s solution for worn tires until new tires become available. The Planters Press, Bossier City, Louisiana, Jan 17, 1946.
- Members of the Bossier Parish Police Jury and staff from all BPPJ departments receive a plaque from Jason Hazelton, Safety Services Consultant with the Louisiana Workers' Compensation Corporation (LWCC), for being one of the 70 safest workplaces in Louisiana in 2024. May 21, 2025. BPPJ photo.
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