Marty is the same age as me and he retired this month. When I first met him, he showed me a yellowed copy of the New York Post. The date at the top was Feb. 3, 1947, and the story Marty shared was about his dad, Irving and his Uncle Morty, both oilmen.
One of the biggest snowstorms in New York City history had walloped the area and to make things worse, the oil bargemen were on strike. New York City’s Mayor O’Dwyer was beseeching the Department of the Navy to release some of its oil reserves for public use. He instituted a priority system so no oil company could favor one customer over another. He commanded police, firefighters and other city employees to ride along on the fuel oil trucks to ensure the rules were being obeyed.