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ALUMNI NEWSJack and his wifeJeannineIn 1998, Jack, who was apilot with the RAF duringthe Second World War,was awarded the MBEfor his work with theRoyal British Legion inthe Bordeaux areaEnglish to some more contemporaryversions; from that of Devonshiresoldiers to that of Glasgow factoryworkers. A job in the drawing officeof the Rolls Royce aero-enginefactory in Glasgow also taught methe intricacies of imperial scalesthat were so different from thefamiliar, simpler, metric system!I volunteered for aircrew duties inthe Royal Air Force (RAF) when Iwas eighteen, and spent five yearsflying Spitfires and, just before VEDay, Meteor twin jets. As FlightCommander, with the rank ofFlight-Lieutenant, I became duefor demobilisation in November 1946. I had managedto go and visit my family in 1944 soon after they hadbeen liberated in July. Although they were safe, theyhad lived through a terrible ordeal, and I knew that itwas up to me to find my way in post-war Europe.The RAF quickly saw to it that everyone was informedof the possibilities available to them on their returnto civilian life. For many of us, who had joined afterschool, it was difficult to imagine life outside theForces. I learnt of ex-servicemen’s grants, discoveredI could obtain one, and decided to become a forester.At Easter 1946, I naïvely toured the Oxford colleges.I met with little success until a college porter suggestedthat I approachSt Catherine’sSociety.The head ofSt Catherine’s,the ReverendBrook, wasextremely kind,understandingand welcoming.Going back to school after seven years of adventure wasnot all that easy; nor was applying University rules andregulations designed for students straight out of schoolto a population of ex-servicemen. Nevertheless, we allmanaged to get on together.After three years, I left Oxford with a BA in Forestry.I joined the Colonial Forestry Service and servedas Assistant Conservator of Forests in Sierra Leone.In 1954, at the outset of a graduate year workingmainly on developments for the use of Gmelina arborea(an Indian tropical fast-growing tree widely used inreforestation programmes in Africa), I was awarded theSchlich Memorial Prize at the Imperial Forestry Institute.The approaching independence of Sierra Leone, andthe undoubted impact that independence would haveon Forest Conservation, lead me to resign in 1956.I returned to France, and worked in a variety of sectorsof the timber industry, all connected with the use anddevelopment of the pine forest in the South-West ofFrance, until my retirement in 1983.42/JACK DOUAY