We stood on the slippery floors and watched the kerosene dripping from the light fixtures. As Materi scrambled to carry the family’s clothes, linens, utensils, and food to safety, the team doused the home with a solution of kerosene and DDT.
Fortunately, Materi had packed just the thing to address the problem: a grenade-shaped canister containing the new insecticide DDT, which she sprayed on high shelves, in dark corners, and under furniture and cabinets.Ī few days later the Materis received a visit from the army’s DDT detail: a lieutenant and a dozen men wearing white jumpsuits with large spray packs strapped to their backs. The couple and their new baby moved into a white stucco house with a red tile roof-and scores of nooks and crannies for insects to hide in. At the tail end of World War II, Irma Materi left Seattle for Korea to join her husband, Joe, an army colonel.
0 kommentar(er)
