Gas, Gas, Gas

DESCRIPTION: "Gas, gas gas is in the air, boys, Gas bombs of every size and shape," so get your gas equipment on. "My eyes grow dim, I cannot see... I have no anti-dim with me." Once their gear is on, they have nothing to fear
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1967 (Ward-Jackson/Lucas-AirmansSongBook); supposedly written 1941
KEYWORDS: technology derivative
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ward-Jackson/Lucas-AirmansSongBook, p. 172, "Gas, Gas, Gas" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Quartermaster Corps (The Quartermaster Store)" (tune)
NOTES [142 words]: Poison gas was not used in combat in World War II (with a few exceptions in which "civilized" countries attacked "uncivilized" ones, plus of course the gas chambers in Germany), but there was always the fear it would be. So the troops prepared.
There were antidotes for some sorts of gas used in this period, but that's not what "anti-dim" was. It was a material that was rubbed onto the eyepieces of gas masks which prevented condensation; failure to use it would render the masked soldier effectively blind. You can still find canisters of the stuff on eBay and the like. It had to be applied each time the mask was used, and it could only be applied before the mask was put on, so the soldier in this song who waited to put on the anti-dim would in fact have been killed (or had to wear the mask and go blind) had it been a real gas emergency. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: WJL172

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