FACTS about this decade-
  • Population 132,122,000
  • Unemployed in 1940 - 8,120,000
  • National Debt $43 Billion
  • Average Salary $1,299. Teacher's salary $1,441
  • Minimum Wage $.43 per hour
  • 55% of U.S. homes have indoor plumbing
  • Antarctica is discovered to be a continent
  • Life expectancy 68.2 female, 60.8 male
  • Auto deaths 34,500
  • Supreme Court decides blacks do have a right to vote
  • World War II changed the order of world power, the  United States and the USSR became super powers
  • Cold War begins.

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 1940

Feb.15th 1940- Miami Beach...Two years old.  July 2, adopted by Grace 
and Antonio Montero.
1751 NW 20th Street

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 1941

Feb.15th 1941- Miami .. Three years old 
Dec. 7th  1941- Miami ...                
1942

Feb.15th 1942- Key West...4 years old.       

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Father- Orlando Air Base
 March 18, 1943

 1943

Feb.15th 1943- Key West...5 years old.  

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My Uncle 1944 in the UK

 

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Feb. 20, 1944 
brother Tony and Richard
 (6 yrs old in key west Fla.)

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1944 Richard Key West 
(during the war)
Fleming Street 6 years old

 1944

Feb. 15th 1944- Key West...6 years old. I worked as a Shoeshine boy until 1949             

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1945 Richard 
20th Street in Miami

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1945 Richard 2nd  grade


1945

Feb. 15th  1945- Key West...7 years old
April 12th 1945- Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the longest serving president 
in American history, died of a cerebral hemorrhage at Warm Springs, Ga.,  three months into his fourth term. About three hours later, Vice President Harry Truman was sworn in as chief executive.           
Sept.1945, Key West...1st grade  Got my hair cut.  
Saw the movie State Fair, at the Capitol Theater            

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Left to right; 
My uncle Joe Fraga, 
My step -mother, Grace Fraga Montero, 
My Grandmother, Therese Fraga 
and my father, Chico Fraga
 
 

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1946 Richard and Grace Montero

 

 1946

Feb.15th  1946...8 years old. Moved from Key West to Miami, N.W. 17th Avenue and 20th Street.  Work street corner as Newsboy till 1949 in front of Allapattah Pharmacy          
1946 zippity do dah favorite song...    
Sept. 1946...Comstock Elementary, N.W. 18th Avenue and 24th Street      

Spent all of my free time at Musa Isle Seminole Village on the Miami 
River, N.W. 25th Avenue & 16th Street. Alligator wrestling and playing 
in the tropical gardens, with Bobby Tiger, Jimmy, and Billy.                     

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Teresa Fraga

 1947

Feb. 15th 1947- Miami...9 years old. Went to the Allapattah Baptist Church, N.W. 17th Avenue and 32nd Street. With the Bolen girls.
April 11th,1947, Jackie Robinson became the first black player in major league baseball, signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers. 
      


1948           

Feb. 15th 1948- Miami...10 years old.        

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1949 Richard elementary picture,
 6th grade

1949

Feb. 15,1949 Miami...11 years old. "I don't know who I am until I see what 
I can do." Newsboy Carrier till 1952.                
1949- got a telephone

Songs in 1949

  • RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER        
  • I CAN, DREAM CAN'T I? 
  • THAT LUCKY OLD SUN       
  • FAR AWAY PLACES
  • GHOST RIDERS IN THE SKY     
  • DEAR HEARTS AND GENTLE PEOPLE     
  • MULE TRAIN
  • FATS DOMINO- THE FAT MAN 1949     

The Allapattah gang !