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TEEN DRIVERS AND
ALLIED POWERS OUTWITTED THE ENEMY, ONE GAME AT A TIME You know Monopoly as the game that ruins friendships and sparks hourlong battles over Park Place. But during World War II, it played a much more significant and far braver role: helping Allied soldiers escape from German POW camps. Yes, really . In one of the most brilliant covert ops of the war, the British Secret Service turned Monopoly into a top-secret escape kit. Before this tactic, smuggling noisy paper maps without tipping off the guards was too risky, and getting caught could be fatal for prisoners. Enter silk — strong, weather-resistant, and, most importantly, silent. The British turned to John Waddington Ltd., the licensed Monopoly manufacturer in the UK, who also happened to be an expert in printing on silk. It was a match made in espionage heaven. Waddington didn’t just tuck maps into game boxes, though. In a locked room most employees didn’t know existed, craftsmen rigged Monopoly sets with tiny metal files, magnetic compasses, and even real currency hidden beneath the play money. Each game was marked with a secret red dot on the Free Parking space — an insider’s clue for captured soldiers to look out for. Thanks to a clever partnership with the Red Cross, these “games” were slipped into POW camps as humanitarian aid packages. The guards thought they were passing along innocent entertainment. Meanwhile, inside the box were the tools to freedom. By the end of the war, over 35,000 POWs had escaped German camps — many with the help of these customized Monopoly sets. Though exact numbers are lost to history, Monopoly’s role in those escapes is one of the war’s clever secrets. The mission was kept quiet for decades to preserve the strategy for future use. Today, the story reminds us that the simplest tools can sometimes carry out extraordinary missions. Next time you pass “Go,” just remember Monopoly once helped people pass barbed wire.
WHAT PARENTS SH
Summer’s here, and if you have a teenager with a set of car keys, chances are your stress level just went up a notch. I know the feeling. My son is home from college and spending more time on the road, and my 17-year-old daughter is working
toward her license. It’s exciting, but also makes you stop and think about what’s out there, especially this time of year. There’s a name for the stretch between Memorial Day and Labor Day: the “100 Deadliest Days” for teen drivers. This period sees a significant spike in fatal crashes involving teens. On average, more than 275 teens are killed in crashes every month during the summer. That’s not a statistic any parent wants to hear, but it’s one we can’t ignore. There are a few reasons the risks go up. Teens are out of school and driving more, often later at night, with more passengers and fewer eyes on what they’re doing. Distraction plays a huge role, too. Studies show that around 60% of teen crashes involve distracted driving.
Speed is another big factor. Teen drivers are more likely to speed and less likely to recognize risky situations when they
SUDOKU
SOLUTION ON PG. 4
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