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Page Two - The Commando - January 1944 STAFF HOUSE RESIDENTS HOSTS TO ABOUT 250 AT NEW YEARS EVE PARTY (top of column 1) Dancing To Toronto Band And Buffet Supper Features Very Successful Affair The Piccadilly Club was responsible for one of the finest parties yet held at the Staff House, when, on New Years Eve the residents were hosts to over two hundred people who were bent on "dancing out the old and shouting in the new." It certainly was an outstanding event. Dancing, and there was lots of it done, to Ray Jeff and his orchestra, from Toronto, continued to 4 a.m. A turkey lunch, buffet style, was served about 1 o'clock. Entertainment for the evening consisted of a young singer of French songs and also present were a couple of tap dancers. Son Of Mrs. H. Bridgewater Meets Brother of J. Harker At Prisoner-Of-War Camp (middle of column 1) Stalig B8 is somewhere in Germany. It's a camp where many of our boys are being held as prison-ers-of-war. One day during a conversation there with a fellow prisoner, W. O. Cedric Bridgewater of the R.A.F. happened to mention the name Ajax to Herbert Harker of the R.C.A.F. They discovered that they had a common interest here for Ced-ric's mother, Mrs. Helga Bridgewater, is a housekeeper at Residence 721 and Herbert's brother is J. Harker, who works in the time office. Mrs. Bridgewater's son was a wireless air gunner on a bomber which came down in the North Sea in July, 1942. Along with two other members of the crew he was in the water for some 10 hours before being picked up. Although letters from her son are infrequent, Mrs. Bridgewater received one a short time ago in which was enclosed a picture of Cedric and some of his companions. The picture revealed that Frank England, who is a step-son of W. J. Smith, one of the guards here, is also a prisoner-of-war at the same camp. Guard Smith has 6 sons, 2 sons-in-law and 2 grandsons in the Armed Forces. A soldier of long standing himself, Mr. Smith joined the Grenadiers in 1891. He saw service in South Africa, the first World War and this present war until an old injury to his arm earned him his honorable discharge. Decorated By "Hello" Girls (bottom of column 1) Small but Christmassy is the tree shown above, which occupied a corner of the switchboard room. Missing out on most of the holiday activities through being shut off by themselves, the telephone girls celebrated in their own way with the tree and an exchange of presents. (Pictures, top of columns 2, 3 & 4) New Years Eve funsters were many at Recreation Centre and the Staff House on December 31st evening. Both affairs were very successful if one may judge from the above pictures which show nearly everyone in a happy mood. "Scotty" McAlpine and Wilf Card, who took in the Staff House party, are ready to "serve the drinks," upper left, while at the right we picture Ken Burrows and Dunc. Campbell, also at the Staff House, partaking of food with two women, whom we hope are their respective wives. The lower left picture must represent a lull in the activities at the Staff House, while at the right there seem to be quite a few of those at the Hall waiting for the cameraman's "watch the birdie." The inset picture is of Tommy Cinnamon, of base fiddle fame in Ragnar Steen's orchestra, giving out with some hot crooning. Collections For Uvarovka Fund Equal Dollar-A-Person Objective (middle of column 2, headline runs across the middle of columns 2 & 3) Plant Campaign For $5000.00 Closes Jan. 15th; Donations Accepted After This Date All employees of this plant have not as yet been canvassed to make a donation to the fund which will help provide medical and other supplies to the stricken people of Uvarovka, the Russian village which has been adopted by Ajax. However, from those already canvassed the dollar-per-man quota, as set, has almost been maintained. The committee feels that although the campaign is officially closed on January 15th, any employee who has not been canvassed and who feels that he or she would like to support this worthy cause, should come forward voluntarily to make their donations to formen, supervisors or any union steward. In adopting the Village of Uvarovka it should be remembered that the adoption is not a temporary gesture, but one that will continue for the duration. In addition to cash, the committee will also be asking for new and used clothing and drug and medical supplies or anything that is felt would be of help in the hehabili-tation of the Russian village. SAFE LIGHT FOR SHELL INSPECTION (bottom of column 2) The light-piping properties of "Lucite," originally employed for throat lights and surgical instruments, have been utilized in the development of a new portable light used to inspect the inside casings of shells at Canadian war plants. A low-voltage lamp is mounted inside a special non-sparking handle attached to a solid rod of "Lucite." The transparent plastic rod does not conduct heat readily and therefore does not generate dangerous temperatures in areas where high explosives are stored; it gives concentrated, shadowless illumination, is light in weight and virtually unbreakable. USE THE TELEPHONE? (Middle of column 3) BE SURE OF THE NUMBER before you call. If you're not quite sure, look in the directory. You may save time and avoid a "wrong" number LOST AND FOUND Two Automobile Keys Gold Plated Locket and Chain Third Victory Loan Bond Three Automobile Keys One Pair Spectacles Lady's Gold Finger Ring Locket and Chain Postal Note Three Automobile Keys As the above articles have not been claimed in a year's time, if they are not claimed ten days after publication of this notice, they will be returned to the finders. Lady's Diamond Ring Clover Leaf Novelty Pin Gentleman's Pocket Watch(Westclox) Victory Bond Coupon Maple Leaf Novelty Bracelet Two Yale Keys on Ring Gentleman's Wrist Watch Two Automobile Keys Gold Locket Plain Wedding Ring Silver Identification Bracelet Small Masonic Emblem String of Pearls Any of the articles listed here may be claimed upon identification from Staff Sgt. D. McMillan, Guard Room, Gatehouse Building. Armanent Quality As Important As Quantity by Lieut. Col. H. Read, R.A. (middle of column 4 and bottom of column 5) What is not generally realized is that the mighty engines of war such as battleships, submarines, tanks, fighter and bomber aeroplanes, which catch the public imagination, do not themselves injure or destroy enemy property or personnel. They are only mobile gun, torpedo tube, bomb or small arms platforms. We can take this reasoning a stage further back; the guns, torpedo tubes and small arms cannot themselves kill the enemy. It is the torpedo, shell bomb and bullet fired from them which alone makes contact with the enemy and injures or destroys him or his property. The importance of reliable and efficient ammunition cannot, viewed from this angle, be exaggerated. Of course, the quality of the ship, tank or aeroplane and the guns carried by them must also be the best, but the point to be stressed here is that however excellent they all are, they are virtually useless unless th ammunition is also above reproach. Consider the vast train of effort needed to bring a piece of ammunition into contact with its target the provision and transport of the raw materials; the manufacture and filling of the ammunition itself; its transport to the theatre of war; the provision of the warship, tank or plane and the weapons carried in them needed to fire it; and lastly, the training of the fighting men who used it and their sacrifice in action. Clearly then, the whole national war effort is really nothing more or less than arranging for the contact be-tween our ammunition and the enemy. If, at the very climax there is a failure, all has been wasted. Think of the hunting and sinking of the Bismarck. Here the far-flung operation of sea power resulted in vital damage to her steering gear by a fleet air arm torpedo. This enabled the great ship to be caught and destroyed at leisure. But supposing the fuze of that aerial torpedo had failed, there was no opportunity to repeat the blow and the Bismarck would have escaped to prey with disastrous results on our Atlantic shipping. It is not too much to say that millions of tons of shipping depended on the correct functioning of one single fuze. Imagine troops lying in ambush for a German Mk. VI Tank. They might be armed with the infantry projector or an anti-tank gun. Once they disclose their position by opening fire, their lives are in peril; if their first shots are ineffective, they themselves may be destroyed by the tank for which they laid. It would have been better for those men not to have had any ammunition at all, rather than "duds." They would at least have remained concealed and lived to fight another day. Any attempt to regard quality as the sole concern of inspection must result in a vast waste of manufacturing effort and the piling up of immense inspection staffs. The better way is for production to be as zealous for quality as they are for quantity. It has been said that time spent on reconnaissance is seldom wasted and it is no less true that time spent on inspection is never wasted. On the contrary, it will be repaid a thousandfold and more. LOCAL KINSMEN CLUB RECEIVES CHARTER AT HUGE DINNER MEETING (top of column 5) Dignitaries From Several Ontario Centres Help Launch Association's Largest Charter Club On Tuesday evening, January 11th, the Kinsmen Club of Ajax, sponsored by the Whitby Club, was officially accepted into the brotherhood of Kin, at a huge dinner meeting in the Genosha Hotel, Oshawa. Many were the high officers who were present from such places as Toronto, Whitby, Oshawa, Cobourg, Peterboro and Hanover. Many members of these clubs were also present to welcome the most unique, as well as the largest charter club in the Dominion of Canada. Ajax club is unique in that the National Executive, in granting its charter, fully realizes that the club may disband in the not too distant future. With eighty-two charter members it automatically becomes the largest club in this respect. Doug Crews, of the Toronto downtown club, installed the directors and the executive, and Jerry Knechtel officially presented the charter to President R. W. (Scottie) McAlpine. Greetings were heard from the following visitors, founder Hal Rogers, Cliff Gartshore, Banty Bantick, Bob McGillis, Rich Richards and Mr. M. J. Watson and Mr. A. Russell. Miss Zena Cheevers, versatile young Toronto dancer and Miss Patricia Bailey, talented Toronto singer, supplied the entertainment of the evening. One hundred and fifty-seven Kinsmen from many points sat down for dinner. These employees of Ajax who form the membership of the new club are as follows: D. R. Agar, W. N. T. Ashton, J. R. Atkinson, W. G. Baillie, A. M. Baine, A. J. Barry, D. Beatty, H. C. Berndt, A. L. Bertrand, J. Blackwell, W. R. Brace, R. Brooks, J. Brown, D. Campbell, W. Card, P. Clement, E. H. Cousens, W. Carmichael, R. N. Cole, H. M. Colling, T. W. M. Davis, J. R. Fidler, J. Glover, C. Graham, J. R. Halls, H. H. Harrison, G. Hart, J. Hef-fernan, P. B. Holgate, T. Humphrey, H. N. Hunter, S. Huxter, L. Irwin, K. Johnston, Rev. A. W. Jones, R. H. Junker, R. King, J. D. Kline, F. Lar-kins, G. Leduc, J. Lynch, A. W. Lord, M. R. Loucks, R. Martin, E. W. Montgomery, J. C. S. Moore, F. Mundy, T. McCormack, D. W. MacKenzie, R. W. McAlpine, A. McCartney, R. Mc Knight, R. R. McLennan, W. C. New-land, G. E. Osborne, J. D. Peterson, J. J. Perold, R. C. Pope, H. C. Priest, R. D. Rahmer, R. Ramsden, C. H. Robinson, A. LeB. Ross, L. Shewan, D. B. Smith, G. Smith, J. H. Smith, K. Smith, E. Smythe, D. D. Stewart, R. G. Stirling, A. C. Thompson, W. E. Todd, A. Tovey, E. G. Walterhouse, E. V. Walker, H. Wallace, J. Webb, W. Webster, C. A. Wheaton, W. H. Whinfield, R. A. Young.