Tonight's talk: The first use of a walkie talkie by our fellow Davras

As our designated speaker had to cancel, fellow member Davras kindly stepped in and gave us a fascinating talk about the first use of a mobile " walkie-talkie" in WWII Europe. This occurred in the little village of Ulrum in the North of Holland (in the province of Groningen actually) during the last months of 1944, when an allied secret agent passed information on German troop movements and the like to allied aircraft passing overhead.

Davras, an electronics engineer with radio as his speciality, centred his presentation on the American engineer Al Gross who during the war was working on radio transmission in the new field of upper VHF range. Mr Gross was approached by the OSS, the predecessor of the CIA, to help them in getting battlefield information to hq's quicker than anybody else.

Davras met Mr Gross during a conference in Virginia in 1998 where Al Gross ceremonially donated his archives to Virginia Tech. The two spent several hours together and Davras invited Al Gross to visit the Netherlands. Unfortunately, Mr Gross passed away before he could make the trip. Davras himself gave a presentation on the secret history of Ulrum to staff members of the municipality (" gemeente de Marne") and local journalists in July 2003.

Davras' presentation was accompanied by a fascinating series of slides, including historic photographs and cartoons which led to a lively question and answer session.
Parting thought: the only reward to virtue is a virtue, the only way to have a friend is to be one.

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