HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Huron Expositor, 1941-07-11, Page 3r1,
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for some, other offence, •
sedrsThen and Now: •
'To an old solidier .''�. 0 hard #Pews
many a night -in bAbtt:en Came In
1916,, sleeping on hard) boards; those'
beds seemed unreal, • Tihey streteib.ed
in endless rows iw every direction,
like the young stalks in a, elre of
corn—and eaih one had• springs and
a mattress. , But, my guide,'. Flight -
Lieutenant R. L. Purley, -Wing Adju-
tant, pointed out that there were also
white sheets and pillow cases. 'Some
of the boys who come in have never
used them before and keep them care -
'fully folded up under the mattresses
e11 the time.
I sat in the Adjutant's office while
tee 'explained to me just what they'd()
with the raw recruits at the Manning
Depot to make ,them into creditable
Aircraftman in four weeks or. so—
drilis, inoculations, lectures and the
like. • A knock at the door interrupted
the talk and a telegram was delivered.
It was from •a wife with a foreign-
s.ounding name, living out on the
prairies somewhere. She wanted to
know where her husband was: she
had not heard' from him for six or
seven weeks. Neither had the. Man-
ning Depot. 'He had far overstayed a
'leave. But there are few like that.
The majority are keen to learn and
get ahead. If not, they are soon
weeded out. Once or twice, two dif-
ferent "wives" have enquired about
-the same man.
But, as' I said, these are the excep-
tions. 'The young man, comes to the
Manning Depot in civilian clothes with
the most exciting weeks of his life
lying ahead., A few are, probably
homesick at first, though the Adjutant
said he had no complaints along that
line—and few about anything else in
the camp. The noun gets his uniform
and his kit. I saw two men in'brand-
new uniforms going out that after-
noon and a proud looking pair they
were. •
In the first week, there are lectures
in service methods and the first d'r'ills.
After that Domes guard duty. for the
future ail crews, with lectures, drill
and physical training. Then the com-
ing pilots and gunners go out to var-
ious schools on. guard duty till there
erre vacancies at the Initial Training
S'c'hools. The men of the ground crews'
stay three or four weeks, then go on
to various, trade schools.
Feeding the Five Thousand
heech time was past befofe I went
to the Manning Depot. When I saw
the room, 1 was sorry. I would
have lilted a meal there, but there
might hay been complications. I was
with two officers and th^re. was a sign
on the door saying that officers were
strictly foibiddep to eat in the men's
mess. The officers solemnly affirmed
it was because the men got bette:-
meals. so some officers had formed
the habit of slipping •away from their
own mess and eating with the men. I
nske;l some of the men about it anri
they just sallied, but they said the
food really was good. I think maybe
the officers told. the simple truth. I
Raw their mess, too, and• although it
bad white table cloths, it didn't look
• any more attractive.
Nowhere does one get the.,impres-
sion of :size at the Manning Depot so
much as ,in the; men's dini g' hall,
Row after row of long tables stretch
across the width of the Coliseum, A
skylight makes the room bright and
•a great eagle emblem overs one
wall- The tables were being set for
supper and the waiters were carrying
in.big bowls of Canadian apples, one
more.surprise for an old 'soldier.
The kitchen completely fascinated
me. This is p a •mecharilzed war, as
everybody knows, but even the cooks
ntust be skilled' mechanics. There were
huge motor -driven food mixers, with
monel metal bowls large enough to
mash a bushel and a half oe potatoes
at a time. Another' machine peels
them. Half a bag is dumped in a big
hopper, a switch turned on and a
stream of water from a. hose directed
4uto .the machine. It whirls around and
the peelings are taken off by coarse
disks of sandpaper and washed away
down the drain. Tihere isn't any waste
because of unskilled •peelers. Instead
of hundreds of unfortunates doing
kitchen patrol,- half -a -dozen men were
,digging out the deep. eyes..
There seemed bo bewonders every-
where around that kitchen. I' went
•into a big refrigerator. room where
the ineat.was stored and into 'another
'Where deep pans of jelly cooled on
the shelves. The meat stock for to-
morrow's soup boiled in grealt colonel
snetal vessels and tempted the appe-
tite. Fresh bread and cakes lined
the shelves of the big pantries. •
Plenty of Recreation
33esidie the dining room is the re-
creation room, with' easy chairs and
reproduotiofis of paintings of Can-
ada's air heroes of the last- war on
the walls. There is a radio, the gift
NOW DOWN HERE
A sergeant explains the structure of an engine block in an Army
Mobile Machine Shop to a prospective recruit. Canada's new active
army has much to interest and attract young men who are fond of
machinery. To prove it, 'a convoy containing; mobile machine shops
and other mechanical' units is now on+ tour in Eastern Canada.
of some ,friend, and writing desks
here and there, most, of them in use
that- afternoon.
The theatre is
in the north corner
of the Coliseum, and it has a fullsize
stage, • the letters "R.C.A.F." on the
curtain,' and thousands of. seals.. An
electric ,organ provides • the music.
'Current moving pictures are shown
there -several tines a week.
The arena where the horses per-
formed during Winter Fair week is
used for' games. At first it was left
with the tanbark on the floor till an
epidemic of colds cast suspicion
the tanbark. Now there's a new as-
phalt floor in the ring and the colds
have ceased. Several different games
were in progress there .that. after-
noon.
The day begins at Manning Depot
at six o'clock, with physical training.
for half an hour before breakfast- At
8.30 there is the first parade, with
drill till 11.30. An hour and a quarter
is allowed for lunch, followed by more
drill from 1.15 to 4.30. Supper is over
by six o'clock; 'Tire evenings are free,
except for some lectures given by
college instructors on mathematics
to brush up the future air crew mere-
bers who will need their trigonometry
and algebra again.
A month at Manning Pool and
the future pilot or gunner is ready to
go. to the Initial Tra n ng School,
which is one of the most fascinating
branches of the Royal Canadian Air
Force. -^
Otte pad kills flies all daytnd et/cry'
day for 2 of 3' weeirs. 3 pads 3n eaeh
packet. No spraying, • rio stlekitiess,
Ido ' bad odor. Ask- your ' bel eggistt,
Grocery or General Store.
10 CENTS' PER. I ACI.. f
Av'
*tits 't"Moat
°ICYil3 `iRtXY:S itsy tt101t t+A> I Cb , 1 d111taa, bad
NEXT WEEK tea Initial Training
School.
CKNX — WIlNGHAM
920 KOs. 326 Metres
WEEKLY PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
Friday, July '11-8.05 a.m., Break-
fast 'Club. 11.15, "Cecil & Sally"; 7.15
p:m., • "Eb & Zeb" ;. 8.30, Gulley -Jump-
ers.
Saturday, July 12-8 a.m., Scott
Reid; 9.30, Kiddies' Studio Party;
6.30 p.m., Kincardine Sport Interview;,
8, Barn . Dance.
Sunday, July 13-11 a.m., United
Church; 12.30 p.m., Scott Reid; 1-15,
Gene Autry; 7, Presbyterian Church.
Monday, July ,14-11.15 am., "Cecil
& ,Sally"; 6.15 p.m„ Scott •Reid; 8,
Songs by Sarah; 8.30, Ranch Boys.
Tuesday, July 15-7.45 a.m., Hymn
Time; 10.30, Church of the Air; 8 p.m.
Captains of Industry; 8.30, Piano
,Ramblings.
Wednesday
am'blings-
Wednesday, July 16th' — 9.30 a.
Wednesday, July 16 9.30 a.m.,
Wade Lane's Folks; 12.30 p.m., War
Savings Club; . 8, Sewers Brothers ;
8.3'0, 'Clark Johnson-
-
Thursday, July 17-7.45 a.m., Iiymn
Time; 11, Piano Ramblings; 12.30 p.m.
War Savings Club.
• •
Must Address
Mail Correctly
service, in^ full; and the name •of .the
Post Office where the soldier's unit. is
located.
Mailfor delivery overseas should
bear the Regimental Number, Rani:
and Name of soldier, name . and de-
tails of unit (i.e., Company or Section,
Squadron, Battery, Holding Unit, etc.)
Name, of Regiment or branch of the
service in full—and the words "Cana-
dian Army Overseas," but no place -
name should be given:.
All letters should be fully 'prepaid,
and a return address should be given
in the upper left-hand corner,
Miniatures
Minute
Captain Eric Sydney .Brand asked
to come to Ottawa. It's the only post
he has ever asked for. He is Direc-
tor of Naval Intelligence and Trade
in the • Department of - National De-
fence, a post usually filled by an "offi-
cer of the Royal Navy "lent" to the
Canadian Navy in the same way that+
R.C.N. officers are often loaned tol
the R.N. In peacetime, it's one of the
The incomplete addressing orf mail
intended -for soldiers at training cen-
tres in Canadele the cause of numer-
ous delays in , delivery, Honourable
William P. Mulock, K:C., Postmaster
General, to obviate this situation,
again requests the full co-operation of
the public in writing out in full the
correct and complete address on tel
military mail.
It is essential that the Post Office
place -name should always be inehided
in
tbe addresses of mail posted to sol-
diers still. in Canada because their
mail is handled by the civil post of-
fices and net by tlhe Army -.Postal Ser-
vice. The- ofniission of the "name of
piece where the soldier is located"
has resulted in many sueh letters and
parcels' being forwarded to the Base
Post Office, where it is found that tbe
Tlnits .named in the address 'are still
in Canada. The resultant delay thus
caused, and the 'extra work thrown
Upon the Canadian Postal Corps in lo-
cating the addressees of this mail
would be entirely eliminated iter -the
rules of correct addre'ss'ing are ob-
served. '
Mail for delivery in Camden, should
be addressed with the usual eompiote
particulars; Regtiinen'tall Num li"e r,
Rank .and Naive, Natie and details of
Unite (i, ee,:Coinerafiy or Seation, Sgtta.
don, t atter% ttoldJng17rlit,, ele,) and
name of iieg'htellt' or breed: of the
• CAPTAIN E. S. BRAND, R.N.
Director of Naval Intelligence, '•
Department of National Defence
for Naval Affairs.
Ge deem through igeafertlr.. to Kg-
Inondv'ille to tbeetitf tannery and,theu
turn to your left until you roue' to
the first center, and there .go right ne-
til you 'come to are oltWashitered brio'%
and tile yard- That's the place that
folks call Sproatsville,,,pays the Strat-
ford 13eacon-Heraid'•in,.a recent issue,
lt'a not really a place, but the Sproats
have been living in that district for
the past seventy years, hence t he
name.
It Was seventy years ago that John
Sproat purchased between five and
six hundred acres of land from the
Canada Land Coz>;upany and then pro-
ceeded to make by hand the bricks
necessary for his first home. His son,
James Sproat, carried on His. work
and today's jovial Bill Sproat is work-
ing away at the family trade of brick
and tile making.
The office goes with Bill Sproat.
There's a roomy, old-fashioned deek
with plenty of letters and papers, a
sheet -metal heater that must certain-
ly radiate good ,cheer on days when
the winter wind is 'howling, and a
goodly supply of fishing tackle and
guns on a rack on the wall. There's
something about , that office that
makes you instinctively know that Bill
Sproat is a well -liked man in his
community. He'a plain end country -
going, away that Yolks agpreciate.
"My grandfather was. the first black-
smith in Egmondville," he told the
Beacon -Herald, "back in . the days
when folks used ,to trade eggs and
produce for shoes for thehorses."
Bill Sproat knows many interesting
anecdotes about, the old days. For in-
stance, in relating how whisky used
to sell for twenty-five cents a gallon
at the Egmondville distillery he re-
called how the farmers would club to-
gether to get a fifth of a .gallon of
whisky, for five cents. The handiest
thing to use for • the whisky,. was, one
of his grandmother's milk pails. The
men would never drink all the whisky
with the result that by nightfall there
would be almost a panful left. Whisky
wasn't as important as milk in those
days, and so the wihisky would' be
thrown out. Dishes were too scarce
to be left around filled with such a
mixture as whisky.
Recalling bow a man would have a
bee to bring brick for his home, - Bill
Sproat said, "I've seen us load thirty-
seven wagons with brick in one morn -
14g The iisaal 'plan wig for t'he brlelr i
to br' loaded in the ert►rehre and' then,
everybody' would go ,to the Olouite tar,
their flip.ner while the horses w4ll�id
be ;ed. After dinner there was. usual,
1•y enough talent to provide a prograrrl:,
and the farzaer who washaving the;
bee would provide, the, retreeler eats.
There ,were soree''great 'old times."
The making of brick Ehes almost
passe out of the bands of -the small
opera rs but they still make the ma-
jority f the tile that is used. , The
manufa tering prooess -has changed
very little. A special type of tile clay
is brought to the yard, and then plac-
ed in a machine where it is moisten-
ed, and then run through a machine
that grinds it and shoves it through
dies. The tile are cut to the proper
length and then placed in the drying
sheds.
After the tile go through the drying
sheds they are put in the kilns where
they are . gradually heated'. The top
temperature in the kilns is about 2.-
e -00
2.e00 degrees. After about five days
and nights the clay fuses.. The kilns
are fired with coal and the men have
to keep a day and night vigil to make
certain that there is no overheating
or underheating. A • whole kiln can
be lost quite easily by carelessness.
At the Sproat yard they run be-
tween fifteen thousand and twenty-
seven thousand tile . per kiln, and be-
tween 18 and 25 kilns in a season.
There ' are many other points to be
considered. Limestone in, tile clay
can •cause a lot of trouble.
"Like every business it has its wor-
ries," stated Bill Sproat, "But you
have to take them as they come."
aircraft carried "Pegasus." During
this commission the, ship spent some
time in Turkish waters, taking part
in the "Cban'ak Crisis" of 1923. in
1927 he was first lieutenant on the
cruiser "Delhi": when it went at high
speed to reinforce the China Station
while trouble was brewing. Later he
navigated the battle' Cruiser "Renown"
and the battleship "Barnham," flag-
ship of Admiral Drax.
In1929 Brand became a Younger
Brother of Trinity House, London, and
was promoted to Commander, which
in those days only happened to be one
out of every three and 'a half lieuten-
ants. ' Followed a series of respons-
ible posts, instructor at the Tactical
School and then at. Naval Staff Col-
lege. He took a "week -end trip" to
China as executive officer of the "Vin-,
dictive" carrying out and bringing
home reliefs from. the China Station.
then joined the "Nelson" as Staff Of-
ficer (Operations) to the C.M.C: of the
Home Fleet, first Sir John Kelly and
later the Earl of Cork and Orrery: He
served as Eeecutive Officer of'th'e air-
craft carrier "Courageous," with a
ship's company of 1,400, including Air
Force, Navy and all, with 48 planes
aboard and a 'thousand troubles a day.
In 1935 came the Abyssinian crisis,
and Brand sat off Alexandria while
Messrs. Eden and Baldwin dealt with
the situation. Continually since the
last upheaval, the Royal Navy has
gone through the motions of entering
a war that never came off, which per-
haps accounts for its amazing per-
formance when war actually came.
Brand was "attached officer" at the
Royal Air Force Staff College, and lat-
er commanded the instructional ex-
periment sloop "Saltburn." Then came
the critical years of 1937 and 1938
when be went to Rosyth as Chief Staff
Officer to the C.O. Coast of Scotland,
concerned 'with the problem of Scot-
tish Coast Defence. As Director of
Naval Intelligence and Trade in Ot-
tawa today, Captain. Brand has an im-
portant post in. a department that has
expanded manyfold with ever increas-
ing wartime a•2tivity.
purpler plums of the service, but hard-
ly hadeC'aptain Brand settled down in
his Ottawa office in July, 1939, when
war broke out and it became a num-
ber one hornet's nest.
September, 1915, saw Brand a sub-
lieutenant at 19 abroad a battleship
in the Home Fleet, 6atrolling the
North Sea. Early the next year he
was sent up to Glasgow to "stand be"
during its completion and on its com-
missioning to join the "Valiant." In
the "Valiant" he was at Jutland on
May 31, 1916, ire the first and only
battle of its kind in history. With the
enormous number of ships engaged in
this unique- action, only one airplane
was • involved—a British reconnais-
sance plane. As recognition of ser-
vices at Jutland that fall, three yearn
after ,be went to tea as a midshipman,
Brand was promoted to lieutenant,
went to the Flagship of the Grand
Fleet, with Admiral Jellicoe as Com,
mender in Chief.
It is a thrilling proposition then,
when you are officer of the watch,
leading the whole fleet at sea. With
the Admiralof the Fleet along, you
have virtually Headquarters of the
Navy aboard, which adds interest, ev-
en though only captains mess in the
Admiral's cabin.. _-It was a great anti-
climax when in 1917 the Iron Duke
ceased to be fleet flagship and retreat-
ed to the end of the line.
In November,'018, 18, Brand was. sent
to take a gunnery 'course at Ports-
mouth and the following February to
teach gunnery on the tralniiig ship
"Cumberland." His next assignment
was gunnery lieutenant in the "Cas-
tor" on a cleanup job in the Baltic;
following the war, calling art 'Danzig,
Latvia and Esthonfa.
About this time Brand, deciding his
real interest lay i.n navigating and
handling ships, appliedto qualify es x.
navigating offieer and was given his
tsppo)1tm1lity. He qualified, went. to the
Mediterraneaan. as notioatoit' of the old
IuIjt
el e fy this h, r
e• ople'.44 the yeount
8,51io' wP # of bazt�l',
pelet
Of the quota ioi Y 1.
at the c,menteneepnen[t
palgs,:.For Huron rolln-ty
urea _mark Another wax job weB. ton'
All thziough. tj, :p drive. t11e enynt vii ..,
listed eniong the first seven; inns el;:;�
panties( in Ontario., The final total is
:1.2,2Q4' over that ,published42m, last
week's .Signal;Star. • P•ractically; half
of this $6,000 came from Stephezu;
township, ..ivhere there bas been an',
influx of summer visitors---Goderit i
Signal -Star.
r --
Progress at
Radio School
Construction oPelee mew Radio Tech
nicians .School ' at .Clinton is going on
"full speed ahead," governed only by
the arrival., of building material and.
labor available. Carpenters and paint-
ers are still in demand. Some farmers
who have been employed on the rob
have been released teisrporarily to help
with the haying. In an isolated case
or two the .hay, so far, has been left
uncut, just as some crops were left
standing in the fields of North Huron
last fall when Fort Albert airport was
being built. Already nearly 20 build
ings of an estimated •one hundred and
twenty:four have been completed, or
nearly so. Some have been painted:
Differing from other aerodromes, all
sleeping barracks are one and a -half
•e ories, sided and roofed with fire-
pfoof asphalt shingles. The laying of
a six-inch water main from the wells
that supply; • Cl'lnton, ,over
of 'approximately two ,,A591
under. way. A Hydeo gnu
building 'a transforinei' 'state,
the property and a highOroltag
neer felice" as being conefeneeed
closing the 'buildings which are
house the technical equipment, Mel',!
of which is necessarily Of a secreteine,
tur'e. At present there are about 450
men at work at the :new air •school. -and
scores of Clinton homes are nereatemee,'
porary boarding houses. A ;hotlsl•lent"
been obliged to add' an extra dining -
room. In short, thereisa mild•.bodWe
in progress in Clinton andvicinity,
with an extra $15,000 to $20;000 pee
week in circulation.—Goderich Signal -
Shia
CUT COARSR FOR THE FIRE
FINE FOR CIGARETTES
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•••
CANADIAN INDUSTRY
AN EMPIRE BULWARK
Neve in the history of human conflict has industrial
capacity, skill and production efficiency counted for
so much as it does in the present national emergency.
Fortunate indeed are we,_therefore, that Can-
ada's comparatively young but virile industrial
set-up had been developed to its present high
efficiency, otherwise we could not have made the
contribution expected of us and so vital to the
successof our cause. Management and men of
industry, quick to respond to the call of Empire,
mobilized its forces with remarkable adaptability,
swinging rapidly into production of much needed
mechanized units,munitionsand equipment of all kinds.
Rounding out our national activities in a more
balanced economy, Canadian industry has in ad-
dition to serving well the home market, developed
a substantial and profitable export business. The
industrial areas, too, provide ready and profitable
markets for our own agricultural products. But
great as may be its peace -time contribution to the
weal of Canada, Canadian industry rises to new
attainments in the contribution being made in
producing the requirements of mechanized warfare.
Massey -Harris is proud of The part it has been
permitted to play in the development of Canada
so far and 'in the defence of its dearly treasured
traditions and of democracy hi general.
M A S S E Y -H A R R I S C,O
BU1LDER5 6F GOOD ,FARM
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JNO. F. DALY
Ford. Dealer
40
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