OCR Text |
Show A Salute to the Navy Service Letters Cheer South Hi November 6, 1942 Dear Service Friends: Yes, South is mighty proud of you! When Old Glory was insulted last December, you Yanks piled in the fight. We watched and cheered you on Bataan; we died with you on Wake Island; we are still fighting fight-ing with you in the Solomons. Leathernecks, we are trying to help you gain complete control of the situation situ-ation in Guadalcanal by buying War Bonds and Stamps. The students are giving their studies extra attention, for they know that the nation will call upon them in the near future for help. We are going all out for war. and PEACE. When the nation celebrated Navy Day, we cheered you. We wanted to give you the recognition you deserve. de-serve. Even though it is late in the day ,we are dedicating dedi-cating a portion of the Editorial page to you. Our first letter came from a South Alumnus who is somewhere cut in the Pacific. Dear S , I rather enjoyed our trip to II . And you should really be proud you know me I did not indulge in-dulge in that ailment commonly known as "mal de mere." Ain't it wonderful what a little will power will do for one ? Someone told me to keep my stomach stom-ach full so I did. The second day out, I didn't feel too comfortable in the abdominal regions, but that's where the will power came, and I never missed a meal. (Nor lost one.) Some of the fellows insisted on feeding the picatorial specimens. We saw a whale, and I can't understand why Jonah would want a submarine trip in one. Romance! Glamour! Adventure! South Seas! Well, IH take my South Seas vicariously hereafter. You're spared all the unpleasantries. They're just like that song that begins "Lovely to Look At . . ." My disillusionment, wouldn't have been so complete had there been several Dotty Lamours and Jon Halls running around in sarongs. And then just to add to that touch, it rained. And it rained. I reread Maugh-an's Maugh-an's "Rain" and enjoyed it with a relish that was missing the first time. When we first came here, we slept in hammocks. I should like to get my hands on the composer of that ballad "Swinging in a Hammock." I know da well he never slept in one, but has had romantic delusions. After a week of suspended animation, I welcomed our bunks even though they have wooden slats. The place sounds just like the forest when the leaves are brown and sere with a wind stirring things up a bit whenever anybody turns over in his sack. And what with the cacophonous emanations resultant from sleeping on one's back, I have developed devel-oped a certain imperviousness to all entraneous noises prevalent during the sleeping hours in a barracks. My leisure time ? Ah, that's a rose of another odor. But it's not too riotous an existence. The local pubs close at 6 just beer and wine to be had with occasional oc-casional gin and very occasional scotch. Well, what's a man going to do ? We must be in the barracks by 11, so we have to achieve that glow in very rapid order in fact, it must be expedited. We have occasional occa-sional dates, but nothing serious or entangling. The gals here do the pursuing not much different from American females both have that predatory gleam. I ate too much, and I'm getting sleepy. Remember me to your mom and pop both in the best of health, I hope. As Ever, |