My dad's contribution to WWII

I've been going through all of the stuff I brought home from my parent's home in Atlanta since we now are selling it and found these. My father was in British intelligence during the war. He started out in Churchill's underground bunker marking maps for the PM. Because he spoke fluent Chinese (he grew up there) he was reassigned to the Burma campaign, but Burma fell before he got there and went on to the HQ in Ceylon and later Chungking. Dad came up with this idea to make maps out of silk for British and American pilots and anyone infiltrating behind Japanese lines; he got discarded parachute silk and had all sorts of maps made up. They were light weight and almost indestructible.

Anyway, these are the only 2 I know of. My mother must have made the second one up into a little apron for the kitchen! What a great fucking idea that was! Anyway, I am thinking of contacting the Imperial War Museum in the UK to see if they would be interested in having the unaltered one as I doubt they want the kitchen apron to display. It's a cool family thing to have but what would I really do with it? And would my kids or my grand kids care? It is kind of neat to wonder how many were helped by having these maps.

Those are fantastic. I would keep them for the grankids, but I'm a hoarder and I love maps. You could send them to me.....

Just for the record, here is a picture of my dad when he was a lieutenant working for the PM. He ended up a major when he was discharged.

So cool. and i love the apron idea. waste not, want not....

Wow! Those really are nice. I guess if you left the one to a museum, you'd know it was going to be preserved. Who knows what the grandkids might do to it. :boxers:

Awesome stuff, Chris! Your dad is quite handsome, too. :love:

Dayum! I'd seen references to those maps in numerous WWII stories, and even in movies, but of course there was never any background on the origins. Thanks for letting us in on that.:thumb:

I'm sure the Smithsonian would be interested. Even the apron would make an interesting display, with a slant of how everyone after the war was recycling war materiels, or the confidence the enemy had been thoroughly eliminated as a future threat, unlike after WWI.

:idea:I wonder if your Mom used that apron when entertaining, to start conversations highlighting Dad's achievements? Your earlier descriptions of them made it sound like they were very supportive of each other.

that story is IOTD-worthy, really. Thanks for sharing it with us.

these are freaking awesome. So they are prototypes? they look a lot like final products to me.

I'd heard of the maps printed on silk too, and always thought it was a great idea. Your dad made a big contribution.

I've read a book (Official Secret, Christopher Clayton-Hutton) by a chap who worked for British intelligence during WWII.

He was given the job of providing escape and evasion aids for servicemen, and later, of trying to smuggle such items into PoW camps.

He also had maps printed on silk to give to RAF pilots, and later, had them printed on Mulbery-leaf paper because it is very strong and doesn't rustle if you are pat-searched.

His book describes heaps of other clever gagetry - compasses fitted into buttons, magnifying lenses disguised as the stopper in a bottle, stuff like that.

My favourites were these. When the Germans figured out that the Brits were hiding things in buttons, instead of dropping the idea, he simply reversed the thread of the screw, so that attempting to unscrew the button in the normal direction would simply tighten it. And secondly, they simply magnetised the razor blades being issued to soldiers. Swung from a piece of thread, the end with the capital letter of the maker's name would point north. Simple, subtle, almost free; I love it.

This link http://www.mapforum.com/04/escape.htm would probably take you to someone who would LOVE to have those maps.

Frankly, I think you could sell them for a lot of money - they are historical curiosities.

ZenGum;602702 wrote:

I've read a book (Official Secret, Christopher Clayton-Hutton) by a chap who worked for British intelligence during WWII.

He was given the job of providing escape and evasion aids for servicemen, and later, of trying to smuggle such items into PoW camps.

I think I read the same book. I was wondering if that is Chris's dad. Judging by his Cellar ID, he even has the same first name.

I don't think it is, Clayton-Hutton spent the entire war in Britain. Perhaps the idea leaked from one to the other, or quite possibly they both came up with the idea independently.

My grandpa was a B-17 pilot who flew out of Mendenhal for raids over Germany. I have one of those silk maps he called it an 'escape'map to be used if he was ever shot down.Really neat that you posted those.

The European Theater escape maps were printed more faintly, so as to resemble a rather grimy, used silk handkerchief to a casual search.

What a great first hand story! Thanks.

Regarding the value of military textiles, the last (known) Union Jack flag that was used at the battle of Trafalgar recently sold at auction ... for $700,000. These are nowhere near that, but might still be worth something.