Shortwave Radio, ca. 1942 to 1946

Donor’s father Jack Emery passed away in October 2005.  Donor’s mother [unconfirmed] was in process of moving to a smaller house when she and donor “came upon the radio while packing” and determined that it should be donated to Galt.

The short-wave radio originated from Camp 133 in Lethbridge [1942-1946].  According to a September 1946 article in the Lethbridge Herald, the “powerful short wave receiving set” was “constructed secretly by German prisoners at the internment camp during the Second Great War”.  The radio was the second found concealed in the camp and was discovered when the donor’s grandfather, Ted Emery, was working on the camp’s former public address system.  The system was sold as part of the Camp’s dismantlement to Lethbridge businessmen J. Patey and D. Priestly, who were affiliated “with an orchestra”.  They turned the system over to Emery in order “to put it into shape”.  He was a radio repairman for Transcontinental Airlines and operated a local short-wave radio business.   While working on the P.A. system, Emery found ingeniously constructed short wave converter.  In addition to Canadian radio parts, much of the radio was “painstakingly fashioned from wood”.  The set, it was claimed, was “powerful enough to pick up trans-Atlantic messages… from Germany” 

Jack Emery received the radio in 1973/74 [possibly upon the passing of his father – unconfirmed]  He was living in Oregon at the time and, thereafter, Washington and Alaska, ending up in Olympia, Washington.  It was kept in a box in an attic/basement/garage for the entire time.  It is not believed that the radio was working or used while in Jack’s possession.

Ref. #P20050004000