The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

January, 1944 - The Commando - Page Three (Picture, top of columns 1 & 2) They've given blood for a year at the Ajax Blood Donor Clinic and they're still going strong. These sturdies were on hand when the clinic first opened, December 1st. Those who attended the anniversary clinic, shown above, are, back row, left to right: George Munns, Ed. Armstrong, Carl Houck, George Clark, Dr. Park, supervising doctor, Harold Colling, who had charge of the clinic in its early stages, Dick Pope, Cyril Morley and Roger Bird. Front row, left to right: Paul Kennedy, Frank Holroyd, Norman Hill, Mary Cushing, first secretary to the clinic, George Forbes, Jeff. Bailey and G. Ewing. They are helping supply blood plasma for wounded Canadian soldiers. The man pictured on right, top row, does not belong in the group. 1875 Blood Donations Handled At Year Old Ajax Donor Clinic (middle of columns 1 & 2) 690 Employees Now Giving Blood Regularly; More Donors Are Needed On Wednesday, December 1st, 1943, the Ajax Blood Donor Clinic became one year old. In that year 1875 donations of life-giving blood were donated by many employees of this plant. The clinics were first held in the plant hospital but when quarters became too confined, room was found in Women's Residence 721. Among those attending the anniversary clinic were several employees who gave blood when the clinic first opened and who have donated every nine weeks ever since. They include J. T. Bailey, Brooklyn, E. Armstrong, Frank Holroyd, R. C. Pope and H. M. Colling, all of Ajax, N. K. Hill, G. W. Clark, G. B. Forbes and G. S. Ewing, of Toronto, Carl Houck, Uxbridge, Roger Bird, Bow-manville, C. E. Morley, Pickering, P. W. Kennedy, Oshawa and George Munns, Whitby. Original donors at the Ajax clinic, but unable to attend the anniversary were G. LeVett, Green River, D. Campbell, J. T. Edwards, J. D. Kline and R. W. McAlpine, all of Ajax and W. C. Landry of Pickering. Norman Candler (picture) of Whitby, the guard in the box at the traffic lights. has donated his blood on eighteen occasions. His is the highest number of donations of blood on record at D. I. L. Frank Mundy of the Development Department has donated the next most number of times, thirteen. Neither of these men attended the opening of the Ajax clinic but have given regularly Miss Reta Sager(picture), Line No. 4, giving blood on the clinic's anniversary, was celebrating her first anniversary of work at this plant. She was giving her third donation. Miss Sager is a native of Prince Albert, Sask. More Donors Needed The local Blood Donor Clinic, like every other in Canada, can always use more donors. Canada has not enough serum in reserve and the lives of Canadian troops now more than ever going into battle, depend upon an adequate supply. At least 15,000 donations a week are needed to build up the essential reserve of serum. Ajax's share should not be difficult to attain from the large number of people who work here. It requires two donations of whole blood to make one bottle of serum and from three to five bottles of serum are necessary for one transfusion. Thus the donations from at least six people are needed for one transfusion. Men and women are eligible to become blood donors. No pain is experienced and the whole procedure, including the rest and refreshment and smoking period, takes only about forty-five minutes. Anyone who is anxious to give blood so that more of our wounded servicemen may live should contact Miss Jean Crichton in Residence 721, telephone 145. As a donor is called upon to donate only once every nine weeks, it may be realized just how many donors are needed. Sandwich Bar Features Cafeteria's Changes (bottom of columns 1 & 2) A decided improvement is being wrought daily in the appearance of the Women's Cafeteria by the band of workmen engaged on the project. The ceiling has been completely covered with gypsum board and is being painted an off shade of white. A particularly attractive shade of peach will cover the upper side wall, while the dado or lower side wall is to be brightened by a lovely Nile green color. For trimming around the windows and baseboards, a deep apple green paint is to be used. The kitchen is to be considerably enlarged and tile flooring is to be laid. The office will be moved to more suitable quarters and in its place a sandwich bar is to be installed. Two crash doors are being hung on the north side of the Cafeteria as an extra fire protection measure. It is felt that the Cafeteria will be one of the finest in Canada. The Men's Mess Hall is also undergoing some changes and it will be the Central Kitchen for Line cooking. With the installation of new equipment, much of the steam cooking will be eliminated. Asbestos sheeting is to cover the outside of the Central Kitchen. Remodelling of all the cafeterias on all the lines is also to begin shortly. Much credit is due those responsible for planning the many details of the undertaking and mention should go to the carpenters, painters, steam fitters, electricians and plumbers for carrying out the plans so expertly. TEN FEMALE EMPLOYEES HAVE JOB IMPROVEMENTS ACCEPTED AND ADOPTED (top of column 3 and middle of column 4)Training Department Urges Employees Study Jobs; Improvements Will Speed Victory From the many employees who have attended Job Method Training classes have come many and varied suggestions which have been accepted and applied to operations within this plant. In the last published list of accepted suggestions there appeared the names of three female employees. In the following list the girls have increased their numbers to ten, evidence enough that women war workers are taking an ever increasing interest in their work and in their desire to speed the victory. If, upon checking the details and finding that they serve no useful purpose and add no quality to the job, then it is good policy to eliminate the details. This is the basic thought behind job method improvement. Through the elimination of unnecessary details from any method it is possible to produce a greater quantity of quality products in less time, by making better use of the manpower, machines and material now available. Below is a further list of successful suggestors and the suggestions they made: Line No. 2 WINNIE WHIT-SIT, stamping and placing 5.5 charges on conveyor; BERT SPILS-BURY, steam jacketting spray guns on varnishing machine and steam reduction on varnishing and degreasing equipment; WILFRED SMALE, draining R. D. cement machine; LEIGH BRADLEY, handling formers in Room 204. Line No. 3 CARL MEAGHER, top shields on 3.7 shell filling; JOE SHEEHAN, painting and stencilling; A. GREENWOOD, unloading box cars in Building 310; GRACE RICHARDS, Luting Games; AL STATHAM, cleaning cartridge cases for stencil lettering; JIM MOORE, device for holding Gaines during luting operation; HAROLD POWELL, handling transit plugs; THOS. BELL, cleaning threads; MILDRED BARKER, processing Gaines. Line No. 4 GEO. CUY-LER, stencil shield for 6-pdr. boxes; ART. NORLUND, handling tinfoil; A. BERTRAND, gauging No. 15 primers; E. SMITH, changes to No. 71 container; JEAN MARK, trucking primers. Cap and Det. MILDRED BARR, tray to clean varnish brushes; WINNIE SCHAAN, remodelling table to eliminate carrying moulds and funnels; CHRISTINE BROWN, remodelling 2.5 filling table; IRENE ELLIOTT, varnishing dets. with machine; HELEN O'CONNOR, remodelling 1.7 finishing table. Pellet and Tracer MARGARET SHAUGHNESSY, set-up for wrapping 3 dram pellets. Any employee who makes a suggestion for job improvement which is accepted and put into use may be sure that he or she is doing a part, no matter how small, in bringing this war to a successful conclusion, quicker. Suggestions will be accepted from any employee of this company. Possible Serious Explosion Averted By Safety-Minded Man (headline across column 3 & 4, article top of column 4) Transportation's J. H. Wright Displays Cool-ness And Quick Thinking J. H. Wright of the Transportation Department, displaying a safety-conscious mind and with no thought for his own personal safety, drove his burning truck away from the magazine area near the lake and thereby averted a possible serious explosion. He was approaching Magazine Number 2261, when the hose connection to the heater broke, spraying alcohol over the engine. Fire broke out immediately. With the motor blazing furiously, and only fifty feet from the magazines, he quickly turned and drove to a point of safety about a quarter of a mile away. It was only then that he jumped from the vehicle and stood watching as it burned to complete destruction. Had Mr. Wright allowed the truck to remain in the magazine area, there is little doubt but that an explosion would have occurred, which may have resulted in the loss of many lives. Mr. Wright deserves commendation for his quick thinking. A native of Toronto where he lives on Kingsmount Road, Mr. Wright has been working here since May, 1942. The company hires trucks from Mr. Wright and he is employed as a driver of one of them. The truck lost in the blaze was covered by insurance. (Picture, bottom of columns 3 & 4) The Pellet and Tracer Christmas party held December 22nd in the cafeteria, proved quite a success. It was a turkey dinner with all the trimmings that the gang enjoyed and afterwards the girls exchanged gifts. These pictures show the banqueters busily engaged in the happy pastime of eating. A picture of the head table at this party is on the front page. LET’S GET AQUAINTED (column 5) Pretty Eleanor O'Sullivan, who works on the stock ledger and food costing at Coles office, was two years here the day this picture was taken. Eleanor is from Agincourt and has 2 brothers and 2 sisters. So well does she like her work that she would not change it for any other job. Meet Jack B. Glover, senior overlooker on Line No. 1. Inspector Glover began working on the Pellet Line in September, 1941. One of the veterans of the village, he moved from Newcastle to Ajax in October, 1942. A hound for hunting and fishing, Jack has plenty of trophies to prove that he takes his hobby seriously. From Newfoundland came Margaret P. Huxter a few weeks ago. Her home town is Springdale, on the seacoast near the great airport. Marg. has two sisters and seven brothers, one of whom works in our Design Department. At present Marg. is one of the many working on the new passes. A steamfitter and a good one, is Percy MacDonald of Orillia. Percy began working here for Carter-Halls in April, 1941. Since then he has never missed any time or been late, which is indeed a record of which he may be proud. Undoubtedly Percy is prouder of his three children.