<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0" ><tr><td valign="top" style="font: inherit;">A different take on the Military - Industrial connection...<div> --Jenifer<br><blockquote style="border-left: 2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255); margin-left: 5px; padding-left: 5px;"><br>Original message---<div id="yiv543912655"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" style="font:inherit;"><div><blockquote style="border-left:2px solid rgb(16, 16, 255);margin-left:5px;padding-left:5px;"><div id="yiv543912655"><span style="font-family:comic sans ms, sans-serif;">Hey there history buffs.... <br>Here's a fun historical tidbit that an Ohio cousin emailed me. This story has been circulating on the web for awhile so perhaps you've have already seen it; but if you haven't -- enjoy. There's a link at the bottom for verification at Snopes, and one to abc coverage of it too.</span><br style="font-family:comic sans ms,
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<font class="Apple-style-span" face="'comic sans ms', sans-serif"></font><br><b>Monopoly - You'll never look at the game the same way again!</b><br><div><div><font size="4"><font face="Calibri, Verdana,
Helvetica, Arial"><span style="font-size:13pt;"><b></b></span></font></font><font color="#000000" face="Arial" size="2"><font style="background-color:transparent;" color="#000000" face="Arial" size="2"><blockquote>
<font style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" size="2"><span><font color="#000080"><font size="5"><font size="4"><b>When WW II
Allied airmen began risking their lives flying missions over occupied
Europe, the British War Office worked with British game manufacturer,
Waddingtons Ltd., to create a way to package escape aids into a game
that could be sent to POWs.</b></font></font></font></span></font><font style="color:rgb(0, 0, 153);" size="4"><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"> <b>Maps, files, compasses, and cash currency were hidden in Monopoly sets sent to WW II German prison camps to help prisoners of war escape. </b></span></font><b><font style="background-color:transparent;" color="#000000" face="Arial" size="2"><font color="#000000" face="Arial" size="2"><font style="background-color:transparent;" color="#000000" face="Arial" size="2"><font style="color:rgb(0, 0, 153);" size="4"><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></font></font></font><br>
<br></font></b><font><font color="#000000" face="Arial" size="2"><font style="background-color:transparent;" color="#000000" face="Arial" size="2"><font style="background-color:transparent;" color="#000000" face="Arial" size="2"><font color="#000000" face="Arial" size="2"><font style="background-color:transparent;" color="#000000" face="Arial" size="2"><font color="#000080"><font size="5"><font face="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica,
Arial"><span style="font-size:18pt;"><font style="color:rgb(0, 0, 153);" size="4"><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The information was
declassified in 2007, when surviving craftsmen from
Waddington's, as well as the firm
itself, were finally honored in a
public ceremony. Since then, many stories have circulated on the internet about the Monopoly game escape aids, some of them containing inaccurate facts, such as that the maps showed the location of safe houses, and that the games were delivered via the Red Cross.</span></font></span></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font><br>
<br><font color="#000000" face="Arial" size="2"><font style="background-color:transparent;" color="#000000" face="Arial" size="2"><font style="color:rgb(0, 0, 153);" size="4"><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Victor Watson, chairman of Waddington's said, "Monopoly boards were made containing maps </span></font><font color="#000000" face="Arial" size="2"><font style="background-color:transparent;" color="#000000" face="Arial" size="2"><font style="color:rgb(0, 0, 153);" size="4"><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">on one side, </span></font></font></font><font style="color:rgb(0, 0, 153);" size="4"><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">inserted
into depressions under the paper covering, and into the other side was
inserted a tiny compass and several fine quality files. The money
piles were real money, hidden by one piece of Monopoly money on the top
and bottom of the pack. We're not sure how many prisoners were able to
escape by this method, but the company likes to think a few did." </span></font></font></font><br><br><font color="#000000" face="Arial" size="2"><font style="background-color:transparent;" color="#000000" face="Arial" size="2"><font style="color:rgb(0, 0, 153);" size="4"><span style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">A
former archivist for John Waddington's stated, "The escape aids sent
to Nazi prison camps were always sent via private, often fictitious
organizations, like the 'Licensed Victuallers Prisoner Relief Fund.' No
escape aids were enclosed in Red Cross relief parcels, so that the Germans
would have no justification for stopping the much needed Red Cross parcels
from reaching the prisoners. Safe houses were not shown on the maps, as
it was a virtual certainty that some of the maps would fall into German
hands - the Germans were not fools when it came to tracking down
prisoner's ruses."<br><br></span></font></font></font><font color="#000000" face="Arial" size="2"><font style="background-color:transparent;" color="#000000" face="Arial" size="2"><font style="font-family:arial, helvetica, sans-serif;color:rgb(0, 0, 153);" size="4">Powell Davies, who was a 19-year-old flier when he was captured,
said the 'prisoner escape committees' would destroy the sets after removing
the escape aids, to keep the guards from finding out what was going on.<br><br></font></font></font><font color="#000000" face="Arial" size="2"><font style="background-color:transparent;" color="#000000" face="Arial" size="2"><font color="#000080"><font size="5"><font face="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica,
Arial"><span style="font-size:18pt;">Story verification:</span></font></font><font face="Calibri, Verdana, Helvetica,
Arial"><font size="2"><span style="font-size:10pt;"> </span></font></font></font><font size="2"><span style="font-size:10pt;"><font color="#000080"><font face="Calibri,
Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><a rel="nofollow" title="http://www.snopes.com/military/monopoly.asp" target="_blank" href="http://www.snopes.com/military/monopoly.asp">http://www.snopes.com/military/monopoly.asp</a></font></font><font face="Arial"> </font></span></font></font></font><br>
abc coverage of the story: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/monopolys-hidden-maps-wwii-pows-escape/story?id=8605905">http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/monopolys-hidden-maps-wwii-pows-escape/story?id=8605905</a><br>
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