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A WWII POW story I never knew....wow!
Monopoly - I did not know this!
(You'll never look at the game the same way again!) Starting in 1941, an increasing number of British Airmen found themselves as the involuntary guests of the Third Reich, and the Crown was casting about for ways and means to facilitate their escape... Now obviously, one of the most helpful aids to that end is a useful and accurate map, one showing not only where stuff was, but also showing the locations of 'safe houses' where a POW on-the-lam could go for food and shelter. Paper maps had some real drawbacks -- they make a lot of noise when you open and fold them, they wear out rapidly, and if they get wet, they turn into mush. Someone in MI-5 (similar to America 's OSS ) got the idea of printing escape maps on silk. It's durable, can be scrunched-up into tiny wads, and unfolded as many times as needed, and makes no noise whatsoever. At that time, there was only one manufacturer in Great Britain that had perfected the technology of printing on silk, and that was John Waddington, Ltd. When approached by the government, the firm was only too happy to do its bit for the war effort. By pure coincidence, Waddington was also the U.K. Licensee for the popular American board game, Monopoly. As it happened, 'games and pastimes' was a category of item qualified for insertion into 'CARE packages', dispatched by the International Red Cross to prisoners of war. Under the strictest of secrecy, in a securely guarded and inaccessible old workshop on the grounds of Waddington's, a group of sworn-to-secrecy employees began mass-producing escape maps, keyed to each region of Germany or Italy where Allied POW camps were regional system). When processed, these maps could be folded into such tiny dots that they would actually fit inside a Monopoly playing piece. As long as they were at it, the clever workmen at Waddington's also managed to add: 1. A playing token, containing a small magnetic compass 2. A two-part metal file that could easily be screwed together 3. Useful amounts of genuine high-denomination German, Italian, and French currency, hidden within the piles of Monopoly money! British and American air crews were advised, before taking off on their first mission, how to identify a 'rigged' Monopoly set -- by means of a tiny red dot, one cleverly rigged to look like an ordinary printing glitch, located in the corner of the Free Parking square. Of the estimated 35,000 Allied POWS who successfully escaped, an estimated one-third were aided in their flight by the rigged Monopoly sets.. Everyone who did so was sworn to secrecy indefinitely, since the British Government might want to use this highly successful ruse in still another, future war. The story wasn't declassified until 2007, when the surviving craftsmen from Waddington's, as well as the firm itself, were finally honored in a public ceremony. It's always nice when you can play that 'Get Out of Jail' Free' card! I realize most of you are (probably) too young to have any personal connection to WWII (Dec. '41 to Aug. '45), but this is still interesting. |
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Why isn't Bank/Financial Executive and Federal politician in there? They make lots more money than any of those jobs.
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Moment of Death:
1) The heart stops 2) The skin gets tight and grey in colour 3) All the muscles relax 4) The bladder and bowels empty 5) The body?s temperature will typically drop 1.5 degrees F. per hour unless outside environment is a factor. The liver is the organ that stays warmest the longest, and this temperature is used to establish time of death if the body is found within that time frame. After 30 minutes: 6) The skin gets purple and waxy 7) The lips, finger- and toe nails fade to a pale color or turn white as the blood leaves 8) Blood pools at the lowest parts of the body leaving a dark purple-black stain called lividity 9) The hands and feet turn blue 10) The eyes start to sink into the skull After 4 hours: 11) Rigor mortis starts to set in 12) The purpling of the skin and pooling of blood continue 13) Rigor Mortis begins to tighten the muscles for about another 24 hours, then will reverse and the body will return to a limp state. After 12 hours: 14) The body is in full rigor mortis. After 24 hours: 15) The body is now the temperature of the surrounding environment 16) In males, the semen dies 17) The head and neck are now a greenish-blue color 18) The greenish-blue color continues to spread to the rest of the body 19) There is the strong smell of rotting meat 20) The face of the person is essentially no longer recognizable After 3 days: 21) The gases in the body tissues form large blisters on the skin 22) The whole body begins to bloat and swell grotesquely. This process is speeded up if victim is in a hot environment, or in water 23) Fluids leak from the mouth, nose, eyes, ears, rectum and urinary opening After 3 weeks: 24) The skin, hair, and nails are so loose they can be easily pulled off the corpse 25) The skin cracks and bursts open in many places because of the pressure of Internal gases and the breakdown of the skin itself 26) Decomposition will continue until body is nothing but skeletal remains, which can take as little as a month in hot climates and two months in cold climates. The teeth are often the only thing left, years and centuries later, because tooth enamel is the strongest substance in the body. The jawbone is the densest, so that usually will also remain |
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