Chinese Checkers

It was December 1940 when Merchant Seamen of the SS Empire Industry, in port for ten days, came into the Red Triangle Room of the YMCA in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. They held all the canteen ladies speechless with their stories and accent and when the radio operator played the piano, everyone stopped to listen and from then on, whenever he came in, a shout went up for him to play. The girls and women became so attached to these boys and men that the Sunday night committee packed Christmas boxes for thirty-five of them and collected hundreds of magazines. The day before they sailed Mae O’Brien, the hostess of the canteen, was asked to pay a visit to the ship. She took with her a game of Chinese Checkers as a gift for the ships company. The following morning the freighter left Yarmouth for Halifax where it waited for a convoy to cross the Atlantic. Mae O’Brien received four letters from ‘the boys’ while they waited in Halifax. It would be six months later in June of 1941, when she received a post card: “Dear Mrs. O’Brien: You will see from the address overleaf where the crew of the vessel who visited your club about the middle of December last, are now domiciled. I thought I would let you know and also thank you for all the kindness shown us while in your port, especially for the Christmas and New Year parcels we received, which we often think of now with longing ...” The note was written May 4th, 1941, from a German prisoner of war camp. The Empire Industry had been torpedoed on the crossing to Glasgow. A second card was to arrive from asking for a game of Chinese Checkers. Mae O’Brien sent a parcel including the requested game to these British prisoners of war. Read the full story at: http://www.wartimeheritage.com/storyarchive2/storyempireindustry.htm