Show soldier newspapers are ke important factors in keeping up morale of 4 our fighting men ma NV OTC fl G its AN G HEAVY TANK production awl y 51 5 1 afi A ia oft 01 05 10 nav C rt abat y ti th I 1 0 COA S T ch 09 1 i 1 MI LA S ka NA r 8 1143 by ELMO SCOTT WATSON released te by western newspaper Newt paper union THERES HERES an old story saying that if two men meet anywhere in the world and one of them is an englishman the chances are hell suggest they start a club if true then its equally true that when any units of the american army larger than a squad arrives at a new post be it on home or foreign soil one of the first things the soldiers do is to start their own newspaper this seems to apply to the fighting fronts as well for soon after the american forces in sicily had captured the town of vittoria a one sheet called the doughboy news made its appearance As a matter of fact the IT news aws is a transplanted soldier newspaper it is published by and for the men of the division of the united states seventh army and it was started while the was in training at pine camp near carthage N Y where the paper was printed in the shop of the carthage republican tribune a weekly its editor is mgt don robinson formerly a reporter on the oklahoma city okla daily times the doughboy news however Is only one of more than 1000 such pub locations licati ons camp newspapers in this country 72 navy papers and service papers abroad the number of these papers reflect two things 1 the fact that americans are the ahe greatest newspaper reading people in the world so when an amerlean american marches away to war a newspaper seems to be an essential part of his equipment 2 although the home town newspaper is one of the most welcome pieces of mail that a soldier sailor or marine receives even this enough for these news hungry americans they want to read news ot of their own outfits their own activities and have the thrill of seeing their own names in print hence the service newspaper these service newspapers have every imaginable variety of format 5 size ize and frequency of issue there are dallies dailies semi weeklies and weeklies most of them are printed but many of them issued where printing facilities are not available are mimeographed but they an all have one thing in common they are primarily r il for the enlisted man and produced by enlisted men outstanding arri among brig these publications are two which are al in their scope yank a and 12 d th the stars and stripes when yank was wa established last year it was intended to be a newspaper for men in the armed um ed forces overseas soldiers sailors a ilori marines members of the coast guard and the merchant mazine marine however six weeks after it started it was distributed to men in the camps at home as well as those overseas now it has eight editions two in new york one ona for or the united states the other for general overseas distribution a british edition in london a caribbean edition in puerto rico and others in trini dad australia and hawaii other editions are planned tor for pa panama nama alaska and the persian cu gulf if command m and the reason for or all these editions t being to speed up distribution on april 18 1942 a new vers version ion 0 of f the stars and stripes famous so soldier 1 newspaper of world war 1 I made Us its appearance in london unlike yank which began publication later the stars and stripes was not to be for the whole army but for the in the british isles it started as a weekly but in november in response to a demand from its soldier readers who wanted more news from home than they were ge getting atin 9 in the english newspapers it b began e publishing dally daily since that time it has given birth to several lusty offspring in africa soon alter the great invasion of november 1942 the stars and stripes was hauled up on an editorial masthead in algiers and began publication as a weekly later it began issuing a daily edition as well as a weekly and daily editions are also issued in oran casablanca and other african cities the african edition of the stars and stripes is typical of the american soldier newspaper breezy and informal in the style of its writing reflecting the humor without which 1 democracy would die like most service bervice newspapers it prints much soldier verse and one of its poems promises to become immortal in one of the early issues appeared an eight line poem by private william L russell under the title of tune from tunis which told about dirty gertle gertie from Bizer bizette te tune from tunis was rep reprinted rint in yank where paul relf belt earn com F 77 N K AY me poser ot of the isle of capri saw it wrote some additional verses and set it to music since that time 0 ther other soldiers have added verses of their own most of which can NOT be printed and now it seems likely that dirty gertle gertie from Bizer te w will ill be the world war 11 II counterpart of mademoiselle from armenti e eres es 0 of f world war I 1 fame another soldier newspaper which has won considerable fame tor for its verse is the kodiak bear published by and for the soldiers sailors and contractors workmen stationed at fort greely and the naval air station on kodiak island in the G gulf u if of alaska it started the same week that pearl harbor was bombed and one of its most famous poems was called valentine verses to a geisha girl which was an invitation to geisha girl ol of far ar japan get a board aboard an old sampan paddle to some isle pacific I 1 kodiak to be specific the poem went on to assure the geisha girl of the warmth of the welcome awaiting her but ended with this abrupt warning C come 0 me str straight a ight to us my lotus flower C come ome to our bear infested bower bring your sisters bisters brothers too bring your whole damn fleet beet ol of two girl subs cubs but be ready for or one helava battle when you get here beret I 1 although army regulations forbid giving out weather data the kodiak bear has its own method of getting around that for instance there was this prediction the weather belly cold courtesy weather bureau it Is such things as these bits of humor typical american gags wisecracks wise cracks jokes at the expense of themselves as well as their officers both commissioned and non coms especially the lat latter terl which help relieve the monotony and drudgery of the military routine and which make the service mans newspaper such an important part ol of his bis everyday life military officials testify to the fact that there is nothing like these newspapers to boost the morale of our men in the armed forces maintain his interest la in the job before him so whether hes he stationed in alaska iceland trinidad australia or iran he looks forward each publication day to the arrival of HIS newspaper and as the african and sicilian sicilian campaigns have demon demonstrated stra ted he be sees to it that his newspaper er goes right along with him to the firing line the doughboy news published to in vittoria sicily may be the latest example of such it a paper pub it 11 leep deep in what was recently ny territory but itt its certain 4 it wont he h the last other day a staff sergeant who is ue lie managing editor of one of the dally daily editions of the stars and stripes tr apes in africa wrote back to his bis editor father in the states im waiting for the day when we publish either a rome daily or a berlin dally 1 some fun hey 7 1 I |