Put the Plug in the Jug

Prohibition, in theory, outlawed the sale of liquor. The law was evaded by bootleggers who made bathtub gin and whiskey from homemade stills. I started drinking at the tail end of that era, around 1933, when I was thirteen or fourteen years old and living in Oregon. I joined the army in 1939, met a girl, and got married. The base pay at that time was $21 a month, hardly enough to support a family and a booze habit. My drinking continued to get worse and became more important than my marriage. My wife eventually kicked me out. I was given a hardship discharge, and I tramped around logging camps, usually lasting one or two paydays, before the booze won out again. This went on for nine or ten years.