Handbook for Air Wardens, Part One
Office of Civil Defense
City of New York
Police Emergency Division
AS AN AIR WARDEN assigned to post duty, you are a mainstay of thc entire Civil Defense organization of New York City.
If an enemy of the United States should attack this city, the manner in which our Civil Defense Organization functions would determine in large measure whether the attack was effective or futile. If we do our job efficiently, courageously and resourcefully, we will be able to absorb the blow, recover and carryon as a vital source of our country's strength.
You who are on post duty have the responsibility not only to perform well in an emergency but to prepare all the residents of your posts to face that emergency with equal efficiency. A major part of your job is to help the 8,000,000 men, women and children of our city to learn how to take care of themselves in the face of the gravest threat to our lives.
Knowing your job thoroughly will help you to do it well should the blow fall. Our Police Emergency Division, of which the Air Warden Service is the foremost volunteer element, provides much important instruction for you in its training classes. But classroom instruction alone can never be a thorough training. You will also have to study on your own and practice what you learn until you are proficient in your job. Homework is irksome. But in this job it is urgent.
This manual is your textbook. Keep it handy and learn its contents thoroughly. We have prepared it to help you master your job in Civil Defense. The information it contains will help you save your life, or your neighbor's, or your city. New York has entrusted you with a major assignment in its defense. I know you will fulfill it diligently.
Arthur W. Wallander
Director, Office of Civil Defense
City of New York
TO ALL AIR WARDENS
WHEN YOU ENLISTED in the Air Warden Service you embarked on one of the greatest cooperative enterprises which has ever bound together the people of New York City and their Police Department.
Your Police Department has a tremendous responsibility in the Civil Defense effort in which we are now engaged. It cannot succeed without your wholehearted assistance as thoroughly trained volunteers.
We know it is no easy task for you to acquire the training which you will need if you are to function efficiently and safely in the extreme crises which may arise from an attack on our city.
To help you in this undertaking we have prepared, under the auspices of the City's Office of Civil Defense, this manual of instruction as a handy guide to your duties. It will help you to master the lessons which our training section has made available to you.
I would like to join your neighbors in the City of New York in thanking you for your service to your community and your country in the troubled times which now confront us.
George P. Monoghan
Police Commissioner
City of New York