Bruce Tressler: A Lifetime Amidst Industrialization and War

In January of 1939, a man was born by the name of Bruce Tressler in Connersville, Indiana. His parents came from Cincinnati on his father’s side and his mother came from Shelby county, Indiana. At the time, Connersville was a very big industrial town. Connersville was also known as Little Detroit in the 1920s because there were factories in Connersville that made cars. Then when war came upon the United States, all of the factories turned to something in the war production. Bruce’s early years were remembered with sights of war and victory and news of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. During that time, rationing was a big memory for the time period. Meat and butter were highly rationed in Bruce’s childhood. Growing up in this tie proved to be on of the best experiences for Bruce. He was always outside and acting like a kid should. Him and his friends used their imaginations a lot as was the trend at the time. After the war was over, Bruce attended grade school at Maplewood School. His junior high school and high school days were largely influenced by the great economic boom of the 50s.

During that time, the people of Connersville were not worried about other races. Bruce, like most others, grew up with black people and were friends with them. His parents at that time worked long hours through the night, which made Bruce on his own for a large amount of time and made his very self-sufficient. In his high school days, Bruce’s teachers that were male gained their knowledge from going to college with their GI bill. The stories he heard from his veteran teachers influenced him to consider a future somewhere in the service. But one thing affected Bruce more than anything from that time,