HEROIC MUNITION WORKERS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1908, 28 November 1918, Page 4

HEROIC MUNITION WORKERS.

RESCUE AFTER EXPLOSION. i\ recent explosion ;il n Midlands munitions fnelory was I.ho oemisimi ot; n display of licruistn mi I ho part of the men and women workers w hieh rivals that .shown m any recorded disaster. The disaster oeeniTed at leu minutes past seven in the evening, (hie hundred and thirty-four workpeople) were kilted; over In!) injured. The building of three thiors where Hie explosion omirred was totally destroyed. The works hospital, canteens, and many minor buildings were severely damaged. Yet almost be to re the eehoes of the detonation, had died away, certainly before the, dust had settled, the work of .-ueemiring the wounded had begun. Hundreds of men who had worked on the day shift returned to the factory on hearing (he explosion,- and laboured—as did the night shift also —through the night and I lie following day also. Skilled men toiled as common labourers. Within two and a-half hours the wounded were rescued., their hurls dressed, their removal to their homes or hospital completed. Production at the factory was resumed within two days, ami within a week" it eipialled half i he normal output. Magnilieenl devotion to duly was shown by four men, who worked throughout the night mi a heap of mins formed hy the collapse of a mill. Ilea.ring a man's voice, they steadily made a way through 1 lie iron girders hind debris till dually ■hey found (heir man pinned down by a girder and a thick leak door. Work was possible for only mm man •it a lime, so they toiled in relays, milling their way through the doin' and pipes till, at D.ih) the following morning, they extricated him, happily alive.

Many workers —butli men ami women —who were injured insisted on “carrying on’’ until exhaustion comijo I led them to desist, (hie such man eut off all the steam and drew his tires; another, without having a head wound dressed, organised resene parties and worked through (ho night. A woman canteen helper was thrown oft' her .bicycle outside the factory, partially stunned, and received injuries to her ankles. On recovering sufficiently she reported to the Wed Cross station, and worked until all the injured had received altention. A woman in the shell si ores was severely cut in the hack with falling glass, hut she rendered (irst aid until herself was removed on a, stretcher. Yet another, who had keen blown through a ‘(dose hoarded fence, assisted with the injured also. The telephone operator (who lost: a leg in the had lie of Loos) was at his instrument when the explosion occurred. The receiver was broken. Although sulierhig from shock', he never!lieless called the managing director, lire brigades and doctors, and warned local hospitals to prepare for the injured.