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Show Don't Sell Civil Defense Short If we should be attacked, civil defense is our best chance for recovery and survival practically our only hope of averting a national Pearl Harbor that might plunge the nation into war. Our total defense depends on two strong arms: one, a powerful military force designed to defend these shores and strike back at any aggressor who dares to attack us; the other, a strong non-military, or civil defense which in the event of an attack, however massive, would marshal all of our remaining resources and direct them to the tremendous tasks of survival, recovery and eventual victory. An effective civil defense demands full cooperation of every unit of government and the complete support of every American. All governments federal, state and local must be ready for any emergency with tested plans of action to achieve survival and recovery. And every American must know what to do to save himself and his family in the event of an attack. Recent observance of Civil Defense Day offered an appro- priate opportunity to take inventory of our non-military defense. And the inventory might well have begun with the individual with you in your own home right now. Suppose an alert was sounded this Sunday before the roast was out of the oven. Would you recognize the warning signals and know what they mean? Are you familiar with your community's com-munity's plan for emergency action ? Could you and your family survive within the confines of your home for two weeks without assistance of any kind from neighbors or local authorities? Do you have available enough food and water? Do you have a first aid kit and do you know how to use it? Does your home provide proper shelter against radioactive fallout which could drift for hundreds of miles from the point of a nuclear explosion? Do you have a battery radio' over which to receive civil defense life-saving information? Unless you can answer "yes" to each of these questions, your home is not properly prepared for a civil defense emergency. You should take immediate action to make it ready for such an emergency. Your local civil defense office will tell you the simple steps to take now that may mean the difference between life or death in the event of a severe storm or enemy attack. oOo |