Alfred Robert Matern, February 16, 2004, Salt Lake City, Utah: an interview by Frances Merrill

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ALFRED ROBERT MATERN FHM: Could you explain what that is? February 16, 2004 ARM: Well, KP on the ship was- they had these great big cookers, like kettles, and we would steam them out with hoses that had steam so that all the grease and stuff would go down. They would, also, not only take the grease out, but they would sterilize these great big giant kettles they cooked the food in. After we left the ship we boarded some trains at Liverpool, went through the Midlands, and we finally came to our destination, a place called Twyford, England. We went to London first, and then to Twyford. And we walked with our stuff to a place called Hare hatch Estates where we stayed. FHM: How many were in your group? ARM: There was-officers and all-there was like eighty something personnel. We set up the lab in Twyford where we were really assigned as to what we would be doing. Our first projects were working with incendiary bombs that were dropped mostly over London. The planes would drop the incendiaries. They had various men put sand on the incendiaries. They would strike on top of a roof, and a civilian defense man would pour sand on it. FHM: Was this in the middle of the war? ARM: Yes. We found out-the German spies learned what the British were doing. They changed the incendiaries, so when the British poured sand on them the incendiaries would not ignite. They would then bum inside, and later explode on the inside a few seconds later, and cause more fire. The civilian defense men would pick them up and put them in barrels of water. The 5