University to Present Course on Air Raids

The first air raid precautions course ever to be given by any University in this country will be held at Harvard between November 13 and the Christmas vacation for students, Faculty members and employees, the University Committee on Civilian Defense announced yesterday.

According to Donald Scott, coordinator of defense committees at the University, the purpose of the course will be to provide members of Harvard College with a working knowledge of first aid and fire-fighting so that, in the event of an air raid on Cambridge, they could make the University an entirely self-sufficient district until local professional forces arrived on the scene.

The course will teach the prospective wardens elementary gas-preventive measures, how to demolish buildings, and what action to take if incendiary bombs should break through the roof. It will demonstrate how wardens must be organized into units so as to keep the report center informed as to extent of damage and need for outside aid; such damage for example, as debris cluttering the streets broken gas mains and unexploded time bombs.

400 Volunteer Firemen

In connection with this move Chief Herman E. Gutheim stated yesterday that the Cambridge Fire Department may train 400 volunteer firemen from members of the University.

The course itself will consist of 15 hours of lectured on the air raid warden's duties and ten hours of first aid given under the auspices of the Cambridge Red Cross. The first aid part of the course need not be taken by those who have previously had equivalent training, and the work can be studied either simultaneously or later in the College year.

A preliminary public meeting, with moving pictures and speakers, will be held in the New Lecture Hall at 8 o'clock, Thursday evening, November 13.