Buddy diving just before and after the Second World War. After the invention of the "aqualung" by Cousteau and Gagnan, the first commercially underwater breathing apparatus became available for sale for sporting purposes in the late 1940s. As the new sport of scuba diving rapidly expanded through the 1950s, several sporting organisations—notably the YMCA—began programmes to train swimming enthusiasts in this new aquatic pastime, and began to codify what they believed were proper practises for this expanding sport. The YMCA considered the buddy system a useful corollary to the "never swim alone" rule of their swimming and lifesaving programmes. Cousteau himself independently
Résistance Joué-du-Plain and the Assassination of Emile Buffon Résistance Joué-du-Plain and the Assassination of Emile Buffon The French Résistance of Joué-du-Plain, and the assassination of Emile Buffon. The events concerns two tenants of Chateau de la Motte during World War II in Lower Normandy, France. The first was the mayor of the commune of Joue du Plain, Emile Buffon, who owned an animal brokering business, and rented the Chateau’s attached farm. Secondly there was Jacques Batchlier, who rented two buildings next to the main house, and had a dairy business. Batchlier lived in Chateau de la Motte with his wife, Denise. Emile Buffon lived at a rented farm