Starting in 1941, an increasing number of British Airmen found themselves as the involuntary guests of the Third Reich, and the Crown was casting about for ways and means to facilitate their escape…

Now obviously, one of the most helpful aids to that end is a useful and accurate map, one showing
not only where stuff was, but also showing the locations of ‘safe houses’ where a POW on-the-lam could go for food and shelter.

Paper maps had some real drawbacks — they make a lot of noise when you open and fold them, they wear out rapidly, and if they get wet, they turn into mush.

Someone in MI-5 (similar to America ‘s OSS ) got the idea of printing escape maps on silk. It’s durable, can be scrunched-up into tiny wads, and unfolded as many times as needed, and makes no noise whatsoever.

At that time, there was only one manufacturer in Great Britain that had perfected the technology of printing on silk, and that was John Waddington, Ltd. When approached by the government, the firm was only too happy to do its bit for the war effort.

By pure coincidence, Waddington was also the U.K. Licensee for the popular American board game, Monopoly. As it happened, ‘games and pastimes’ was a category of item qualified for insertion into ‘CARE packages’, dispatched by the International Red Cross to prisoners of war.

Under the strictest of secrecy, in a securely guarded and inaccessible old workshop on the grounds of Waddington’s, a group of sworn-to-secrecy employees began mass-producing escape maps, keyed to each region of Germany or Italy where Allied POW camps were regional system). When processed, these maps could be folded into such tiny dots that they would actually fit inside a Monopoly playing piece.

As long as they were at it, the clever workmen at Waddington’s also managed to add:
1. A playing token, containing a small magnetic compass
2. A two-part metal file that could easily be screwed together
3. Useful amounts of genuine high-denomination German, Italian, and French currency, hidden within the piles of Monopoly money!

British and American air crews were advised, before taking off on their first mission, how to identify a ‘rigged’ Monopoly set — by means of a tiny red dot, one cleverly rigged to look like an ordinary printing glitch, located in the corner of the Free Parking square.

Of the estimated 35,000 Allied POWS who successfully escaped, an estimated one-third were aided in their flight by the rigged Monopoly sets.. Everyone who did so was sworn to secrecy indefinitely, since the British Government might want to use this highly successful ruse in still another, future war.

The story wasn’t declassified until 2007, when the surviving craftsmen from Waddington’s, as well as the firm itself, were finally honored in a public ceremony.

It’s always nice when you can play that ‘Get Out of Jail’ Free’ card!

I was on medication for depression and anxiety for a few years. I thought it helped. I guess at times it did. Lately I’ve been feeling down again. I’ve been unmedicated for a year now. My sister has told me that I was not fun to be around when I was medicated. But now I am. But really I’m at work and some of my old issues are creeping up on me. Hearing a certain group of people laugh or stop talking and look at me like I’m interrupting something important when I walk by. I can’t help but think they are laughing at me. I don’t know if that is a mental thing or a fat girl thing. But it makes me feel like I want to cry when I sit back down at my desk. I’ve felt like crying a lot this week. Maybe it’s just the week. Maybe it’s pms. Except with PCOS I don’t really get pms.

Agent P will be blessed on Sunday. Her blessing gown is beautiful. I am excited to see family and have them visit us. Grandma and Grandpa Duncan will not be here though. They let us know last week that Grandpa just isn’t well enough to make the drive out here. I cried. I miss him so much. There is so much I want to talk to him about. I want to hear more of his story and get as much as I can from him before he his gone. I know he is ready to move on and do the work he needs to do. But I’m not ready for him to go. I don’t think I’ll ever be ready for him to go.

Aimee talked to Mom yesterday. Mom asked Aimee if we would be willing to help her come out to visit if she stopped smoking. The only two things I have ever wanted from my mom is to be close and to stop smoking. I know as well as anyone that it’s hard to swallow pride and ask for help. But when it’s time to make changes then there is no stopping those changes from happening. I don’t know if it’s safe to get my hopes up. But they kind of are.

Conference was last weekend. I didn’t watch it. I’ve never watched it. I did however download the entire 2 days on my ipod and have been listening to it. I’m so grateful for my brother in law and his example. I’m so grateful to live in a house with a Priesthood holder. I feel so blessed that Matt and Aimee have included me into their family. There are times when I feel so alone. But then I think of them and their beautiful babies and I know that I will never be alone.

I guess I am just a ball of mixed emotions and feelings this week. Only 2 more hours and I can leave work and relax and enjoy the beautiful spring weather this weekend.