TRUE
According to
an article in a 1942 issue of the New
Yorker, Gabriel Heatter decided to move to his Freeport summer house permanently after
the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Later, Heatter and his wife
contacted the British Library of Information for advice on how to construct a
shelter in their cellar. The British Library suggested the bomb shelter use steel poles, steel mesh, bricks, concrete and plaster. Mrs. Heatter originally
wanted the shelter in their backyard but her husband felt this could cause his
neighbors to panic.
The Heatters
had prepared for the worst: Their home included water buckets, sandbags, fire
axes, stirrup pumps, fire-extinguishers, long-handled shovels, blackout curtains
and hose connections in all bathrooms.
The bomb shelter had beds, tables, chairs, a kitchen stove, food, and
sanitary facilities.
At least three
houses in Freeport have been identified as being owned by Gabriel Heatter. The one with the bomb shelter is not known.
Source: “Forearmed,”
The New Yorker. 24 October 1942, pg.
14.
