We are prone to take our beloved hobby for granted. What would you do if suddenly an executive order was issued to cease ham radio activities immediately? That did happen during WWII.
An article from an August 1995 QST covers what transpired. While it may have seemed to have happened suddenly, there were signs as early as 1939 when Germany invaded Poland. Other countries pulled the Big Switch in 1939 like the UK, France, Belgium and Portugal long before the US. As the article suggests rules were in place prior to Pearl Harbor regarding countries where communication by US Hams were forbidden. [A possible precedent for shutting off communications with Russian hams for the incursion into the Ukraine.]
Interesting tidbits were presented like the 1st female operator in the Signal Corp was a YL ham with a 9 call. The number of US hams in 1940 was less than 10% of our current ham population so in reality it was peanuts somewhere in the neighborhood of 50,000 hams. Many of these hams instantly became radio operators in the various armed services.
Amateur radio equipment manufacturers suddenly found themselves with contracts to produce radios for the armed forces. It was a heyday for Hallicrafters, National and Hammarlund. Actually, most of these companies were already building military radios for foreign countries under the lend lease program prior to 1941.
So thank your lucky stars that you are not shut down and can't use your $6K appliance box.
BTW that was just 84 years ago when that happened and possibly one or two current hams in the US personally experienced that shuttering of ham radio in the US.
Copilot suggests this answer:
🎯 Realistic estimate:
Someone licensed in 1940 would be at least 100 years old today.
While there are centenarian hams still active, they are extremely rare.
The number of such individuals is likely fewer than 10 nationwide, and possibly zero, depending on survival and activity.
Them that know can make things go. I guess we shouldn't talk about ham radio on a blog as the FCC might hatch a scheme where you have to buy a $5000 Gold Card to stay on the air. A ham friend with a particularly dry sense of humor suggested a name... A Trump Card.
73's
Pete N6QW