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Show With the Colors' , j Among the comparatively few. service men home for holiday fur-j loughs are Lynn Williams and Jimmie Jones, both in naval ser-. vice aboard the same vessel, a light cruiser. Since they were 1 last home they have seen service in the Mediterranean, where their ship took part in the invasion of Sicily, followed by plenty of action in the Pacific. Here they took' part in a task force attack on Wlake island and the preliminary! attack on Tarawa island, followed i by assistance with the vtery sue-1 cessful Bougainville banding. Their ship, no doubt, was included among the list of ships "sunk" j (in imagination) by the Japs; andj it was damaged somewhat but 1 not enough to prevent it from j making a four-day run between ' Honolulu and a Pacific coast port. They have been granted a n d most certainly are entitled to a leave sufficiently long to include both holidays. i The Spencer Whittaker home was made "doubly happy Christmas 1 eve, when they were able to enjoy en-joy an all-family reunion. Going1 to the train to meet her daughter, Mrs. Ardath Stulz of Salt Lake City, Mrs. " Whittaker was agreeably agree-ably surprised when she was also greeted by her son, Arland S. (Bud) Whittaker, home on a 15-day 15-day furlough from 16 months army serMjce in Alaska. Young Whittaker, who quit a job on the Union Pacific to volunteer for army service, is now a corporal technician fifth class in a railroad battalion. He does clerical work at the Skagway terminal of a 110-mile 110-mile narrow gauge railway which extends to White Horse. Corporal Whittaker, incidentally, is loud in his praises of The News, stating that he reads every line, from front to back. Glen (Bud) James, one of the' first Milford boys to volunteer for naval service, was home - for a three-day visit over Christmas with relatives and friends. He is serving aboard one of Uncle Sam's destroyers, as we recollect, and has seen plenty of fighting in the Pacific, where he has been located lo-cated since his boot training. Jack B. Kirk, who has completed his boot training at the huge Great Lakes Naval Training station, sta-tion, near Chicago, is home for a holiday visit prior to assignment to a school for special training or active duty aboard ship. From Bombardier Lieutenant Vernon Ver-non C. Beard Savannah, Georgia, December 22, 1943. The Milford News, Dear Mr. and Mrs. Williams: With this writing I am at the officers club, Hunter Field, Savannah, Sa-vannah, Georgia, awaiting my orders for a P. 0. E. transfer. It has been my desire to write The News for several weeks since my experience ' . in combat training have been rather interesting. And, as I prepare to leave the United States, it is worth a reflection to note the wealth of travel and training that can be crowded into one short year. Santa Ana furnished an introduction intro-duction to army life and the memorable mem-orable week-ends in Hollywood and L. A. will not soon be forgotten. forgot-ten. Crossing the southwest into the land of enchantment, we find class 43-8, bombardiers, graduating graduat-ing from Roswell, New Mexico. Then to Hondo, Texas, where all good navigators are trained. My first phase was the "Battle of Ephrata" as the base changed from a class B to a class A rating. rat-ing. It was here I met my crew and felt the firm contraction that the B-17 was a formidable ship. Walla Walla, Washington rates as one of 'the finest bases in the nation as headquarters for the 17th Wing, 2nd Air Force. -It was a great day when our groups left Washington on a cross-country flight to our new third phase base at Avon Park, Florida 3500 miles and through 15 states. And perhaps some Utahns saw the planes as they crossed through southern Utah between Milford and Enterprise about November 5. So., at my seventh base, I am entering my second year in the Air Corps, and I am sure the coming year will be the most thrilling episode in my history. It has been a pleasure reading the Milford News and following the boys in the service as they continue to the fight for "our town" and the spirit that is America. When a person reaches this stage of the game, your heart has new tenor. People may worry and have sorrow, but to any man with the courage to shoulder arms, wear the uniform. and live for the future of America, Ameri-ca, there comes the strength and knowledge of the great need to restore re-store peace to the world. To those who have shirked their responsibility responsi-bility as a citizen to wear the uniform; and to those who have sought to profiteer in the war years they are marked men: a mark worse than honorable death. Folks, I hope that I can again see your son Bud and David Lewis. Whether I will enter their theatre lis. not known, but I would be i happy if you will always keep the folks informed as to Bud's locale. I Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, I remain LT. VERNON C. BEARD (Enclosed was a picture of Lieutenant Lieu-tenant Beard and the crew of his B-17 F as they arrived in Florida a fine bunch of fellows.) i jPart of V-Mail Letter from Navi- gator Lieutenant David S. (Bud) ; Williams jr. "Somewhere In England", December De-cember 13, 1943. Dearest folks: Have stopped again for indefi-j indefi-j nite period in England, but in the j interval since the last letter I have jseen a good deal of British coun-Itryside coun-Itryside and have found it all the fluent writers have claimed it to . be lush, small and divided with well-kept hedges and small brick i and thatch-roofed homes. There is I a quietness about it though that is ! due to more than the reserve nd natural unhurriedness of the English Eng-lish people. And the cities in "black-out": more darned people wander the streets with ."torches" I (Continued on last page) --. . v With the Colors , (Continued f roifl "page 1) ' (English term for flashlights) and "cat-eyes" ! Odd when you would expect it the other way about, j The cities I've seen Liverpool and ; bomb-scarred Coventry are just 1 "English" towns -very much industrialized. in-dustrialized. Wish I might be home this holiday holi-day period, but, instead, have second sec-ond choice and lucky to be here rather than in any one of numerous numer-ous other places we know of. In lieu of being able to greet you in person, I am wishing yon happiness for Christmas and the New Year with all my love. BUD j u |