Sunday, October 06, 2013

Ever wondered what was in a Red cross POW parcel in WW2?




The International Red cross aimed at distributing each POW with one Red Cross parcel each week. It might be Canadian, British, American, New Zealand or the equivalent in Argentine bulk. A few came from Brazil. In the early days some supplies came from Turkey. They consisted of stew, meat roll, Spam, vegetables, tea, coffee, cocoa, sugar, margarine, butter, biscuits, prunes, raisins, chocolate bars and soap; salt and Pepper, sweets, rolled oats, cheese, sometimes cigarettes. No one parcel could possibly contain all the items noted above. They varied between countries. For instance, Spam was in the Canadian parcel and not in the British. Vegetables were in the British and not in any others. New Zealand's had a very large tin of magnificent cheese, while the Canadian parcel had only small one. Canadian milk chocolate was at a premium as was New Zealand butter. The Scottish Red Cross parcels were the Only ones to contain rolled oats (and very good it was as an escaping ration, too)

Saturday, October 05, 2013

Picture taken in Toronto, July 1941



The four-engine Consolidated Liberator of the RCAF is a bomber to be manufactured on license in the Fort Worth plant of Canadian Car & Foundry Company. This type is being delivered to England from the San Diego plant and some are being used to fly ferry pilots back across the Atlantic. It is powered by four twin-row 1,200 h.p. Pratt & Whitney engines. Top speed is over 300 m.p.h and range is more than 3,000 miles