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Show October, 1944 THE CENTERVILLE NEWSETTE SERVICE NEWS and NOTES From the Mail Bag On Labor Day, Leon Earl, Bkr in 2c, wrote us from the USO to hear are We San Diego. pleased from him, so here it is: This place is full of sailors. Makes one wonder how so many people could have been born. There is just no end to them. I see a few Marines here and there, but San Diego is mostly Navy. I just put a dime in the slot which entitles me to one half hour of writing. Rather think that I shall be able to say all I want to in that time. Could go on writing for hours, I think, but maybe it would not interest you-al- l. because I have I say you-al- l, been around folks from way down South for these past two years. There is an orchestra upstairs rumpus raising the men of Most the heard. ever you ceaseare headed that way. The less seeking of the lonely heart. Maybe there will be a gal who will dance with them. I hope so. Man is such a depending creature. He has to be tickled almost every day. Wonder just how most of these fellows are going to settle down when this awful business is dog-gonde- st over. I do hope everyone at home and abroad is as well as could expected. Reading the reports the men out yonder is very teresting. I am a land lubber, far, so could not have much interest to say. Best wishes everyone, everywhere. be of in- so of to Home last month was Pvt. Arthur B. Harris, son of Mr. and Mrs. Tom Harris. Arthur entered the army June 15, 1944, and has been at Bozeman College, Montana, taking Army Specialized Training. When he is 18, he will have the choice of either joining the Air Corps as a cadet, or have further training in the work he is now doing. (The Newsette wishes to express apology to Arthur, as his name w?s not put on the service Honor Roll when he went in in June.) 4 At the controls of the Gen. transport which brought Charles de Gaulle to this country last summer was Robert J. Major, of the U. S. Air Transport Command, home last month. Bob is C-5- a son of Mr. and Mrs. ,D. H. That was my greatest Major. thrill, says Bob, and I also was training; University of North Dakota, for C. T. D.; Santa Ana AAB; Lowrey Field, Colo., to armament school, and Harlingen, Tex., for gunnery school. He re- Honor Roll Now 83 I Page Three ' Jarvis Miles left Sept. 12 to join the Marines at the San Diego ceived his wings Aug. 21,, 1944. Sheral took a short trip into Mexico while stationed in Texas. Marine Base, swelling the Centerville Honor Roll to 83. Home in the group that escorted Pres. Roosevelt to Casablanca. Although I have been very busy (he goes on three round trips per month) I didnt carry very many movie stars. Bob was one of the first Centerville boys to enter into the war effort. It was way back in 1939 that he received his pilots license through C. P. T. In May, 1941, he joined the Ferrying Command and went to England where he had r, experience with the Spitfire, and several Hurricane, other famous British planes. he Then, says, I went to the Douglas aircraft plant in California as a test pilot on attack bombers and transport planes. August 1942 he joined the U. S. Air Transport Command and has been in this service ever since. Its a wonderful service, says Bob. Our job right now is to wounded soldiers from the carry battle field to England, and then to the U. S., and the transport command is really doing an efficient job. The is the largest transin the world. They port plane one at a time, and have only go no fighter protection or armor, only sidearms for the fliers. Its pretty dangerous getting through with enemy fighters lurking about, but the C54 is a pretty fast plane, so its hard to keep up with. A lot of planes are shot at by submarines. I never came close to but I did going down in a have to send an S.O.S. out once. Also an indication that Bob has been busy is the fact that he has been to 26 different countries during his travels. They never let us go to London during the robot blitz, so I never got a chance to see them. I expect to transport wounded from France before long, and Ill be glad when I can get R. A. F. Beau-fighte- C-- 54 C-5- 4, back to Centerville to stay for a while. On furlough during last month was Cpl. Sheral T. Rigby, son of Mr. and Mrs. Horace Rigby. Sheral enlisted in the Army Air Corps Sept. 15, 1943, and went to Sheppard Field, Tex., for basic on furlough last month after seeing most of the islands of the Pacific, was Petty Officer 1c Andrew A. Torry, an Aviation Ordnanceman, son of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew B. Torry. Ive seen a lot of jungles and coral reefs in the last two years, says Andy. We flew around the New Hebrides, Guadalcanal, the other Solomon Islands, Bougainville, New Guinea, and many others. In all, I flew 200 hours in a 4 Liberator, and we also bombed Munda before the Yanks took it from the Japs after that B-2- terrible battle. Andy enlisted at the San Diego Naval Air Station Jan. 1, 1942, and went overseas about Dec. 16, 1942. He was promoted to his present rank Nov. 15, 1943. It looks, he says, as though, after living conditions were fixed just a little more, it might not be so bad to live on one of those islands for a while at least, but I wouldnt want to live there permanently. One thing the guys over there miss the most is milk. Out there its powdered, and tastes like chalk. When a group of us got in the states, that was the first thing we went for, and we drank gallons of it. The island natives are starting q little gardening now, but peaches, cherries, etc., are pretty hard to get at that, and thats another thing they wait to get home for. I was kind of lucky, I got home just before the peach crop started, so I got a little taste of good old U. S. fruit. The war in the Pacific certainly looks a lot better now than it did, but I think it will take quite a while to lick the Japs yet'. NOTICE, PLEASE ! Two or three times in the past, servicemen or women have come home without the Newsette service editor contacting them because he did not know they were home. We do not want to leave anyone out, and this will not be necessary, if, when the serviceman or woman comes home, he or she will contact the editor, phone 43-J- 2. |
