Keeble McFarlane

We are all, no doubt, familiar with the Old Testament story about the strong man Samson meeting a lion by the wayside during his travels. He used his super-strength to rip the animal apart, and dump its carcass by the wayside. Passing the same way a while later, something caught his eye as he neared the carcass. A swarm of bees had taken up residence in the remains of the natural hunter, and Samson raided the hive. His comment, "Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness", has been a metaphor for the phenomenon of extracting beneficial things from even the most evil of circumstances.

Isaiah made a prophecy - as yet unfulfilled - that "They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more". It was more like a plea than a prediction, but ironically, has come true with a sharp twist. One of life's bizarre paradoxes is that something as sinister as war, with its widespread devastation, degradation, destruction and dehumanisation, can produce constructive, convenient and even comforting conditions for human beings.
Almost all aspects of our life produce evidence of this. Take, for instance, that old standby of the Jamaican diet - canned corned beef, or "bully beef", as we prefer to call it. It was a staple of the soldiers' diet during the First World War, being portable, needing no special storage requirements, and requiring little or no preparation. Its counterpart in the Second World War was Spam, a trade name for canned spiced ham. Factories in the United States churned out millions of tins of the stuff, which went out to all theatres of that conflict. It is credited with keeping alive whole armies of Soviet soldiers battling Hitler's forces under the most appalling conditions.
Consider, too, the walkie-talkie, which also came into widespread use during that war, and which is now regarded as absolutely indispensable for the modern soldier, as well as anyone who has to work in the field away from home base. Nowadays, the gadget of choice for people who take to the sea in small boats, or who trek in wild places far away from civilisation is GPS, or Global Positioning System. It's based on a network of satellites, each orbiting at around 36,000 kilometres above the surface and synchronised with the Earth's rotation, and therefore remaining over the same spot on the ground. A portable receiver picks up signals from three or four satellites, and its built-in computer does some rapid geometric calculations to figure out the user's position to within a few metres. It was originally set up to provide the US military with a quick and accurate way of finding positions. Eventually, the authorities allowed civilians to use the system, except that their receivers aren't allowed to be as pin-point accurate as the military ones.

The medical field is full of examples of this transfer of concepts, materials and technology to civilian use. The system of collecting, processing, storing and dispensing of blood was perfected during the Spanish civil war of the late 1930s.

Many foreigners had rushed to the republican side during that short but brutal conflict, and they formed themselves into international brigades. One group organised a blood transfusion service for the wounded fighters, and the lessons learned there were applied in the big worldwide conflict which followed. After that, hospitals and national health systems quickly adopted it and today blood transfusions are ubiquitous.

When the American forces were pushing their way through the string of islands in the western Pacific that the Japanese had occupied, they had some particular needs that ingenious minds were forced to meet. It was mostly a naval operation, with a large air element. Airfields had to be constructed quickly - sometimes in a matter of days. The Construction Battalions, or Seabees as they were known, took advantage of a neat invention. They would clear the land, grade it and then spread strips of metal plate called Marston matting on the ground. The matting consisted of thick strips of metal with oval holes punched out and the edges ridged for stiffness.
The plates locked together to form a continuous surface. A layer of crushed rock was spread over it and compacted by a diesel roller. Presto! An instant airfield!

Over in Europe, which is filled with rivers and other waterways, bridges were always being blown up in order to slow the enemy's progress. The Allies devised several methods of crossing those streams. They used pontoon bridges, essentially a row of huge tanks floated on the water and lashed together. Planks were laid on them, allowing vehicles and men to pass over. A British engineer, Donald Bailey, came up with an ingenious system that's still with us to this day. His bridge was made up of metal racking of standard sizes bolted together. As the pieces were added, the bridge was rolled out from one shore until it reached the opposite shore.

A few years ago, while visiting Papua New Guinea, I crossed several rivers traversed by leftover Bailey bridges, and saw a new use for Marston matting. Strips of the material were bolted to short posts embedded in the bank alongside the road to serve as fences. Talk about reusing and recycling!
Perhaps the most famous product of World War Two is the Jeep. The US army had called for a small, powerful vehicle which could travel in rough terrain and be used in a variety of applications. The Willys-Overland and Ford motor companies churned out thousands of the tough and versatile little vehicles which saw service everywhere fighting went on. The modern Jeep, Land Rover, Mercedes Geländewagen,Nissan Pathfinder, Mitsubishi Pajero, Toyota Land Cruiser and all those other transports we now call Sport Utility Vehicles are direct descendants of the simple little runabout which soldiers used to tow trailers, or as machine-gun platforms, scout cars, radio-communications bases, ambulances and for joyrides.

The phenomenon is celebrated on a television programme carried in North America by the specialty channel History Television. The producers demonstrate the item the military calls for, and then show how it's adapted to civilian use. They call the show "Tactical to Practical". Indeed.

keeble.mack@sympatico.ca

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