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No.4353

£1.45

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URING WORLD WAR TWO FEW RADIO OPERATORS WERE AS GIFTED AS YOUNG WALLY D CLEGG, BUT EVEN HIS REMARKABLE SKILLS WOULD BE TAXED TO THE LIMIT AS HE ATTEMPTED TO SEND A VITAL DISTRESS CALL FROM THE CHIN HILLS OF NORTHERN BURMA...TO A MOORLAND COTTAGE IN LANCASHIRE, SIX THOUSAND MILES AWAY.

WE CAN’T HOLD OUT MUCH LONGER!

STORY ALAN HEBDEN ART CARLOS PINO COVER CARLOS PINO

COME ON, MISTER RAMSDALE, PICK UP. IF YOU DON’T, THE JAPS ARE GOING TO INVADE INDIA!

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4 WALLY GREW UP IN A LANCASHIRE MILL TOWN DURING THE 1930s, WHERE HE WAS REGARDED AS A GOOD LAD EVER EAGER TO HELP OUT.

HERE, I’LL CARRY THAT BUCKET FOR YOU, UNCLE ERNIE.

NAY, LAD, I CAN DO IT MESELF.

UNFORTUNATELY WALLY WAS ALSO THE LIVING BREATHING DEFINITION OF HAM-FISTED, HIS GANGLY LIMBS SEEMING TO LACK ANY CO-ORDINATION, WITH THE RESULT THAT EVEN THE SIMPLEST TASKS WOULD LIKELY AS NOT END IN DISASTER, AS HIS UNCLE ERNIE KNEW ONLY TOO WELL.

YUUURH!

I DON’T KNOW HOW YOU DO IT, WALLY. THAT BROOM’S BEEN PROPPED UP AGAINST THE WALL PLAIN AS DAY, BUT YOU STILL MANAGED TO TRIP OVER IT.

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5 WHEN WINTER CAME WALLY’S AUNT RUBY BY WOULD STOCK UP ON SALVES AND OINTMENTS, KNOWING THAT EVERY TIME HER NEPHEW VENTURED ON TO THE ICY STREET IT WAS ALMOST CERTAIN HE WOULD BE RETURNING WITH CUTS AND BRUISES FROM HIS LATEST SLIP-UP.

YAAARGH!

A PART-TIME JOB AS A GROCERY DELIVERY BOY WAS SHORT-LIVED WHEN IT BECAME APPARENT THAT WALLY AND BICYCLES WENT TOGETHER LIKE OIL AND WATER.

OOF!

IN DUE COURSE IT WAS WALLY’S TURN TO FOLLOW THE TOWN TRADITION AND GET A JOB AT THE LOCAL MILL. ON HIS FIRST DAY HIS UNCLE ERNIE SAW HIM OFF, BUT ONLY WITH CONSIDERABLE MISGIVINGS. SEE YOU TONIGHT, UNCLE ERNIE.

AYE, LAD, IF YOU LAST UNTIL THEN THAT IS.

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6 THE DAY STARTED WELL ENOUGH. FOREMAN ALF RAMSDALE COULD SEE THAT THE NEW LAD WAS BRIGHT AND QUICK ON THE UPTAKE. JUST PULL THE SHUTTLE TO THE LEFT AS EACH FRAME REACHES IT, THEN TO THE RIGHT AFTER IT’S PASSED. GOT THAT?

IT WAS SIMPLE ENOUGH TASK THAT ALF GAVE EVERY NEW WORKER, SECURE IN THE KNOWLEDGE THAT VERY LITTLE COULD GO WRONG. HOWEVER, AN HOUR LATER HIS TEA BREAK WAS RUDELY INTERRUPTED. COME QUICK, MISTER RAMSDALE! IT’S AN EMERGENCY!

WHAT THE ‘ECK…?

LEFT AS EACH FRAME REACHES IT, RIGHT AFTER IT’S PASSED. I’VE GOT IT, MISTER RAMSDALE.

IT TOOK A LOT TO SURPRISE ALF BUT, AFTER JUST AN HOUR ON THE JOB, WALLY HAD MANAGED TO LEAVE HIM STUPIFIED WITH ASTONISHMENT. I DUNNO WHAT HAPPENED, MISTER RAMSDALE.

I...I DON’T BELIEVE IT!

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Young Wally Clegg was a

nice lad but a bit of a clumsy clot. As soon as he got near a ham radio set, however, there was a veritable transformation and he became a communications wizard.

And although he was bounced out of the Royal Signals Corps, if there was radio work to be done, Wally was there to do it. Now the Japs were poised to invade India and it looked like only Wally could send the message that would stop them. With the pressure on would he be a wireless wonder or a

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