The Coconino sun., 1919-03-21
GODFREY SYKES, WITH HIS FAMILY, IS BACK
 FROM THE BIG WAR
Carnegie Laboratory Man Managed Factory for Respitor Man.
 ufacture in London

home Tuesday night from England, where he has been engaged in war work for his native country, and brought his family with him. Mrs. Sykes left Tucson in June, 1914. The boys have not been here since 1908, but they are Americans and Arizo- mans, for they were born in Flagstaff Their names are Glenton G. and Gil bert w. Sykes. The family is staying at the Santa Rita hotel.
 Mir. Sykes looks forward with eag- erness to resuming his work as geo. grapher and map maker at the Carne- gie Desert Botanical laboratory. His party left London two weeks ago. They will make their home in Tue son henceforth, for the boys have grown up, have had their schooling in England, according to the tradition of British parents, and have served En- gland during the war.
 Glenton, who is 22 years of age. was in the Royal Engineers, stationed in Ireland most of service and doing coast defense work. Gilbert is IS years of age and employed in the wireless service.
 Mir. Sykes the elder was employed as the manager of factory in Lon don engaged in the manufacture of respitors for gas masks and protec- tive clothing for gunners handling gas shells. Apropos of them, MT. Sykes says the woman has come to stay in English industry. The factory girls did all the work of men, even heavy trucking.
 The labor of Mir. Sykes was entire ly in the protective side of gas work. He departed for England at the time that America declared war on Ger many and was only too glad to be en- abled by that declaration to go to the assistance of his native country. Be- ing an American citizen he could not go before. The Carnegie laboratory gave him leave of absence for the period of the war.
 Perfects Respitor.
 Certain defects in the British mask, such as the rusting of the containers of respitors by the breath of the wearers, or the wetting of cloth con- tainers by falling into shell holes, were overcome by Mir. Sykes before the end of the war. He perfected a vulcanized fibre container, which was much superior to the earlier types. In this work he and his associates were much exposed to the gas they were contending against, mustard, and his colonel died as a result of such ex- posture. Contact with the gas came about in one way through the hand ling of the masks, clothing and miscel- laneous material shipped home from the front for repair and salvage.
 MT. Sykes is, nevertheless, no mat ter what close calls he has had, in the best of health and looks it. His cheeks are just as pink as ever and his blue eyes twinkle just as brightly.
 It is interesting to note that ms factory has evolved a protective suit for use in gas fighting, made much after the fashion of an automobile mechanics coveralls and impregnated with linseed oil mixed with other sub stances. This suit, supplemented by gauntlets and cotton gloves, proved excellent protection for the British gunners, who put them on before is- suing from the dugouts. The sult would resist mustard for l6 hours in penetration tests at the factory.
 At the close of the war, according to MT. Sykes, the offensive gas arm of the allies was about a stand-off in effectiveness with the German, al- though the allies were then prepar- ed to drench the Germans with so much gas they would never have been able to stand before it. On the de- fensive, the German equipment was much inferior, the German respltor breaking down under the gas in four hours, while the British would last sixteen.
 Masks for Russia.
 The American mask, he said, com pared favorably with the British; in thas American type, the respitor was carried on the back of the neck, the place of all places on the body to re- main dry to the last. At the close of the war, the factory had orders to ship 100000 masks to Russia. for the use of the American army, indl- eating that a force of considerable size was to be sent there by the Unit ed States. Mir. Sykes brought some samples of masks with him.
 It was the English housewives who suffered most during the war of those who stayed at home, MT. Sykes says, paving tribute to his wife, for they had the task of patchworking the menu to make the limited allowances for their family last the week out. Forty cents worth of meat a week for four, ten cents each, four tickets, represented the allotment The butcher shops were closed two days a week, and the housewife pieced out the menu with fish.-Tucson Citizen.
 Godfrey Sykes is brother of Stanley Sykes of this city, and was one of the early residents of Flag staff, making it his home until sew eral years ago, when he moved to