Saltus Grammar School - Yearbook (Hamilton, Bermuda)

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31 controlled. Thence he proceeded to the Base Airdrome to do eight jumps before qualifying: these included two jumps from a balloon basket at five hundred feet, and the rest from aircraft. In these planes the jumping was directed by red and green traffic lights; five men sat to the fore of the exit, and five aft, and at the green light number one would jump, being followed as quickly as possible by the rest. Arms and supplies would be dropped in cylinders attached to parachutes connected up to number hve, so that they would fall in mid-section to be readily accessible. Fatal casualties sometimes occurred, said the lecturer, and one in sixty hurt him- self; but according to the statisticians it was less dangerous than motor despatch-riding. Of course, the statisticians must be right, but personally, though he had seen statisticians on motor-cycles, he had no recollection of one jumping out of a plane. Major Whitelock gave a graphic account of adventures with Paratroops in the North African campaign. They landed in Algiers and were to be ready for a mission within forty-eight hours. The first mission took them 350 miles towards Tunis, where they were dropped in order to contact the enemy and to radio back an account of his quality, strength and dispositions, to hold a bridge- head, and to rouse the French against the Germans. Their descent was unmolested, but a vicious wind of twenty-five miles an hour caused havoc and confusion for a time with their supplies. They first contacted a French colonel; he proved friendly, and gave them the use that night of twelve peculiar charabancs fuelled by charbon blocks and piloted by Arabs. These brought them to their first objective, a town where they met another French colonel who was living in great style and offered them roast turkey and choice Tunisian wines from his ample board until he found that • they were not Germans but British, and then he became less agree- able. He was still fearful of what the Germans might do to him; but under persuasion he became more amenable, and told them of the location of 1,500 Germans in a nearby town. So, a strong contingent was sent in charabancs, but these ran out of gas halfway there, and the march had to be continued laboriously on foot with full impedimenta. Three miles from their objective there was still no sign of Germans, but a plentiful supply of poultry in a nearby farm attracted them for the night. Next morning he was in the midst of shaving when the rattle of a Sten gun gave warning of the approach of six of the biggest of German tanks, which simply ignored them and their Sten guns and swept on. They contacted their colonel by radio to warn him of the approaching tanks, and from him received instructions to lay an ambush for their return, to be expected shortly. Part of the contingent concealed itself at a strategic point, and the rest deployed under cover with guns etcetera. Just as they had received another message from their colonel to the effect that he had seen no tanks the sentry gave

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30 a fresh interest, enabling us to keep in touch with the outside world. It has also pressed home the fact that only by constant observation of form, texture, light, shade, and colour combined with hard work can we hope to improve. The Headmaster set aside a room for Art at the beginning of the Autumn Term. Now we feel that we have a home and ample space in which to store our numerous belongings. In the Spring Term a class was formed to work under Mr. D, Kirkpatrick on Saturday mornings. The pictures bought in the U.S.A. are much appreciated; John Wyatt helped to paint the frames, over which Mr. Arthur Cooper so kindly gave advice. We have also had gifts of pictures from Miss Alexander and Miss Rose Gosling. Mr. Talbot has advised over lighting problems, and many kind friends have from time to time lent us objets d ' art. In the Royal Drawing Society ' s War-time Competition Thomas Vesey was awarded a Book Prize, and Maurice Terceira, Eldbn Trimingham and David Wingate received First Class Commendation. K. M. C. C. Major Whitelock ' s Lecture On Wednesday morning the boys of Saltus Grammar School were privileged to hear a talk by Major M. E. Whitelock, British Army Air Corps, now G.S.O. 2, Bermuda Command. Major Whitelock said that he would try to ' ' put over to his audience something of the spirit animating the British Paratroops in the hope that they could get some of it and apply it to their own work and to their future careers. The Paratroops (called the Red Devils from the maroon berets which they wore) formed part of an Airborne Division, or- ganised in three sections, — Parachutists, Air Glider Troops and the Glider Pilot Regiment. Having outlined the history of the use of British parachutists in the present war. Major Whitelock used this as a background in describing fheir training. The Para recruit must be a first-class shot; necessarily limited in the amount of ammunition he could carry, he must be able to fire accurately so that every shot would tell. He must be reasonably athletic, and especially he must know how to fall, an art learned in games such as rugby football. On reaching the training depot he would be delivered into the not- tender charge of a burly P.T. instructor for a period of ten days, during which he would make progressive jumps of four, eight, twelve and sixteen feet from a platform before doing trapeze work, by which he would learn para control, — how to turn in the right direc- tion and how to stop from swinging,, a dangerous tendency if not

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warning of their return. The first tank reached the first mine, but passed over unscathed; the second was less lucky, and blew up completely; number one then returned to see what had happened to number two, and it also blew up; numbers three and four were accounted for by the bombing party; numbers five and six stood and fought with everything they had, were overpowered and their survivors captured. Concluding his racy and witty address Major Whitelock said that he did not want to create a mistaken impression that war was all beer and skittles, or that it was entirely made up of roast turkey and Tunisian wine. The Paratroops had participated in some very grisly fights in North Africa and had suffered heavily, but it was most important in war to keep a sense of humour and a sense of proportion. . . . He takes to fighting as a game ... The Debating Society Of Parliament it has been said that there men pool their minds, they are burning, as it were, on an altar their individual reasons, in order to kindle the flame of a common reason which will give them a basis on which to act. It is in this meeting together in the spirit of compromise, fundamental to our democratic system, that the debating society gives valuable training to the future citizens of the British commonwealth, besides affording useful practice in the art of self-expression. Each member is encouraged to speak out his own point of view, while all are required to listen yith restraint to the opposing viewpoint. The activities of the past season have included : — 21st September, 1944. — General meeting for the election of officers. 28th September and 8th February.— Hat Debates. Each member was called upon for an impromptu speech on a subject ' ' drawn from the hat. Among the subjects were these: — Are written exams, the best test of ability? Is man descended from the ape? There is not enough homework set at Saltus. Should homework be abolished? Of music and medicine, which does the more good? How would you spend a million pounds? Saltus should provide cushions for the boys to sit on. Should Bermuda have an Income Tax?