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Show 12 1 6 i in i J" gmiaijfanl With Apologies By JAMES M. LANDIS (National Director of Civilian Defense.) In war every threat to our country is a war threat. Enemy action at sea, sabotage, fire, flood, hurricane and civil catastrophe stem our fighting fight-ing power as truly as an air attack that is why Civilian Defense is not limited to protection against raiding bombers but has answered the Nation's Na-tion's need In countless other emergencies. emer-gencies. PROVINCETOWN HELPS IN SHIP DISASTER . . . COCOANUT GROVE FIRE PROVES CrVTLIAN PREPAREDNESS . . . VOLUNTEERS VOLUN-TEERS AID TORNADO VICTIMS . . . MIDWEST FLOODS FIND OCD READY . . . WAR EMERGENCY EMER-GENCY RADIO SAVES LEVEE . . . AID GIVEN IN RIOT EMERGENCIES EMERGEN-CIES . . . WAR AGAINST BLACK MARKET. Cape Cod. Early on a Spring morning last year, Provincetown, at the tip of Cape Cod, got news that it would soon receive an unknown number of survivors of a torpedoed ship During the day, out of fog and the crash of surf, the town received a dark commitment of dead and half-drowned men. A hotel was commandeered, com-mandeered, auxiliary police roped off the streets from the landing point to the hotel, and in three-hour shifts the wardens and other defense de-fense workers transported the survivors sur-vivors to safety. They were cared for by emergency medical forces and were clothed and fed by Civilian Defense and Red Cross workers. ' For an outstanding record during disaster, Provincetown was give national recognition in a citation from the U. S. Office of Civilian Defense. Boston. The work of the emergency emer-gency Civilian Defense medical services at Boston's Cocoanut Grove fire was hailed as "an epic in medical medi-cal history." Volunteers rushed to the scene to administer first aid and assist in removing the injured to hospitals, where 202 casualties were given blood plasma from OCD's blood bank. A master file system, set up by local Civilian Defense officials offi-cials to operate during bombing raids, functioned as a check on casualties. casu-alties. In service to the fire-sufferers and the public, the defense forces showed that the work they had been trained to do for war could be used for a large-scale civil emergency. Akron. Leaving a path of wreckage wreck-age and injury in its wake, a tornado tor-nado struck northeastern Ohio the night of April 27. Within 40 minutes, 1,500 auxiliary policemen and firemen fire-men were entering toppling buildings build-ings to rescue victims. Auxiliary police rerouted traffic, recovered lost property and prevented looting of the stricken areas. In the morning. morn-ing. Civilian Defense volunteers staffed the property relief office to help those needing repairs for their homes. Emergency squads of auxiliary aux-iliary firemen helped make temporary tempo-rary repairs on houses, patching windows and repairing small roof openings. In alL 8.000 Civilian Defense De-fense workers saw Cleveland, Medina Me-dina and Akron through the tornado. Ohio. Air raid control systems from northwestern Ohio to eastern Oklahoma alerted 25.000 Civilian Defense De-fense volunteers for flood duty as the Wabash and its tributaries overflowed over-flowed their banks last May and the flood crests swept south. OCD volunteer vol-unteer offices rushed the recruitment of additional workers, while wardens and other defense forces manned the levees, evacuated river-edge families and helped feed and house flood victims. Civilian Defense auxiliary aux-iliary pumpers, mounted on barges, were sent in to give protection to districts the regular fire equipment equip-ment could not reach and thus guarded against the fires that accompany ac-company flood. Many Industrial plants were kept in operation. Detroit. Riots are a particularly harmful threat to the war effort. In the Detroit riots, Civilian Defense volunteers with the red, white, and blue emergency armband, went unharmed un-harmed through battle - scarred areas, rescuing victims and helping them buy food. Volunteer nurses' aides gave emergency help in crowded hospitals. Through OCD, 472 units of blood plasma were supplied sup-plied for riot victims. In the recent one-day rioting hi Harlem, New York, a volunteer civilian ci-vilian pntrol of 1,500 residents, mostly most-ly Ncgos, augmented by air raid wardens, helped restore the peace. Anderson, Ind. In the same Midwest Mid-west floods, the War Emergency Radio Ra-dio Service got its baptism In action. WERS is a local system of two-way rsdlo communication, using sets reassembled re-assembled from Junked radios by Civilian Defense volunteers. At Anderson. Ind., WKKS sets saved a crucial levee, four portable porta-ble radios were placed In operation on the levee and were used to deploy de-ploy trucks, men, sand and equipment equip-ment ngalnst the ivaiiutf waters. Other sets operated at U control center and other headquarters. |