Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 24 July 1942 — Page 13

* FRIDAY, JuLy 2, 1942

~* Hoosier Vagabond

LONDONDERRY, Northern Ireland, July 24.— When America started in last fall to build a naval base here, the planners had one thing uppermost in mind. That was dispersal. The idea was to separate _ things as much as possible in order to avoid concentrating - everything in one spot to the advantage of Hitler's bombers. So today, although the whole

thing is known as naval operating base, it actually is a number of separate centers several miles

apart. There is a hospital in one place, machine shops somewhere else, living quarters at another point, and headquarters elsewhere. Nobody lives at the base proper, where the actual work on ships is done. The sailors are taken back and forth by bus. Everything is brand new. There was no- converting, or adding to something old. The British did have, and still have, a repair base here, but ours was created on ground that had been mostly bare or occupied by a few old buildings, now torn down. There is a wire fence between the two bases, but British ships tie up at our docks for repairs. Our ships are never in Derry very long. It is unusual for a ship to be here more than two or three days. They are like race cars coming to the pits at Indianapolis— in, for a hurried moment to get whatever is necessary, then gone again out onto the dangerous tracks of the Atlantic.

It's Like Any Navy Base

~~ THE REPAIR BASE itself is almost exactly like any small navy yard at home. Work goes on in just ,the same routine, matter-of-fact way. The buildings are big rectangular ones of corrugated steel, laid out in streets. There are foundries, woodworking shops, electrical and radio shops, and storage sheds, There is even a typewriter repair shop, and a room where a watchmaker keeps the base’s clocks in repair. ;

By Ernie Pyle American sailors carry on various crafts just as

they have done-throughout their navy careers. There is nothing warlike at all in the atmosphere.

The sailors and .marines live in a camp some dis~

tance away, on-a slope. It is laid out just the same as a military town back home. The main difference being that instead of living in two-story wooden barracks the men live: in those rounded nissen huts, made of steel. Youve doubtless seen pictures of the huts. They're the kind the troops use in Iceland. Each one looks like a half-section of a huge drainage pipe. The ‘huts arrive here in the form of slightly curved sheets of steel. These are fitted together over a steel framework and bolted.: Then two inches of insulation is applied inside the hut, and a wooden floor is laid. They say 10 unskilled soldiers and sailors, after a week of practice, can put up a hut in a day.

Everything Inside Nissen Huts

_ THE HUTS ARE USED’ because they are easy to transport knocked down, and because they are more sturdy than wooden buildings and quicker to put up. Each hut has a doof and two windows at each end. There are no windows along the side except in special office huts. This is to reduce the danger from flying glass in case of a bombing. The result is that the huts tend to be darkish, but in most of them the men have rigged up their own bed-table lights.

Each hut holds six to 10 men, There are lockers The huts don’t have washing or toilet facilities, but in each company street one entire hut -it ‘devoted to that.

and chairs.

Everything at the camp is inside nissen huts—

kitchens, clubs, library, dental office. The one excep-

ton is the recreation: hall, an immense, tall, rectangular building of steel sheeting where they show movies and have dances. In the center of the camp Old Glory flies at the top of a high mast. The view from the camp is lovely—green Irish fields stretch to the horizon, and low clouds smother the green hilltops. Way down below is the river. It would be a perfect place for a country estate— if it could only be in southern California instead.

Inside Indianapolis By Lowell Nussbaum

ALFRED CAMPBELL, general sales director for Marmon-Herrington, says he’s so used to throwing his cigar away as he approaches the plant, in accordance with defense rules, that several times he has caught himself about to throw his cigar away as he drives in the driveway of his home. ... . Noticing that a waiter in the Hotel Lincoln's Tuscany room was making indecipherable marks on his order pad, one of a group of diners. asked him if he wrote shorthand. And, believe it or not, he does.. He wears badge number 12,"and his name is David Richard Henderson. . . . Mark Ogden (state employment security division) and Jim Tucker (the exsecretary of staté — remember?) will repc. J together at Abbott Hall, Northwestern university, Monday morning ‘as navy lieutenants. They plan to room together. The only trouble that may arise is the matter of saluting. ‘Jim, being only 34, drew a commission as lieutenant (junior grade), while Mark, being older (39, we think) drew a senior grade lieutenancy. That means Jim will have to salute Mark first when they meet—in public.

Where's the Dough?

A RED CROSS worker says one of the problems » faced by the organization is that of soldiers who get a week-end furlough and take the occasion to get married. In many instances, the bride calls on the Red Cross the very next day wanting to know where she can get her federal allotment as a dependent. « « « The initial “P” on a black background, seen on all the second, third and fourth story windows above v the J. C. Penney, W. T. Grant and Burt's shoe stores, probably date back to the days when the site was occupied by the old Pettis Dry Goods: store. . One of our friends has been after us to tell you girls how to get around the nuisance of leg makeup that rubs off. “Tell ’em to put a few grains of potassium permanganate (a disinfectant) in a tub of warm water

.to be ‘pretty’ solid.

and bathe their limbs in that until they reach the

desired shade,” he says. It’s cheaper and more permanent, he adds. It's his suggestion—not ours, girls.

It’s Bad Luck

NEVER TRY to pay your bill at Gus Hitzelberger’s with a two dollar bill. Gus just won't have it.” Why? Well, it's too long a story. Just don’t try it, that’s all. . Pranklin L. Burdette, director of citizenship instruction at Butler university, wrote a book recently (Princeton Press) on Just ‘out is’ a pamphlet, written by Mr. Burdette and bearing the same title, issued by the American Council on Public Affairs. . . tention are the coin display by the Indiana Coin club, in Wasson’s circle window, and the German fliers’ lifeboat, in Ayres’ window. . ... One of the boys wants to know why ‘the breweries can’t just collect and reuse beer bottle caps.

Conservation Is Right

FOR YEARS, the state conservation department office force has had a picnic each summer—always in one of the state parks. “This year, to save rubber, they held it (yesterday) on the private estate of J. I.. Holcomb, one of the conservation commissioners, out on Cold Springs road.” A fine time was had by all. ,.. The I. A. C, at long last, is about to get a fancy flagpole. They're putting an iron one up .on the roof and just to be sure it doesn’t fall over, they're anchoring it in the floor of the ninth story. It ought JorAs'woman phoned “Mrs. Mary Wells at the central library the other day, during the midst of the heat wave, and asked: “How many shopping days until Christmas?” Mrs. Wells figured it out and it came to 136. It’s several less now. . . +» The town’s greatest optimist, in our opinion, is one of our friends who happens to be one of the mighty throngs impatiently awaiting action on their applications for army commissions. This particular chap, sure that his commission must be just around the corner, went down the.other day and bought. a pair of officer's shoes. Now he’s breaking them in, as preparedness.

Raymond Clapper is on vacation.

He will return in about three weeks.

Useless Words?

MOSCOW, July 24—Sometimes it seems that words are as powerless as icicles in an April sun, as futile as an aviator’s skywriting traced across the heavens on a windy day. How can one hope to make you see and feel, in some adequate measure, the gigantic toll of sacrifices, suffering . and death which the Russian people still bravely endure as the German invasion enters its 14th month? You have had ham and eggs, bacon or sausage or griddle cakes and, any amount of butter, and probably coffee with real cream, for breakfast. You switch to fruits or cereals whenever you feel like it. You have three meals a day and you can eat ice cream, cakes, candy and cigarets pretty much as “fancy dictates. How can you understand that even the simplest nourishment is truly a luxury to 180,000,000 Russians who exist on wartime rations? You see hundreds or thousands of privately operated ‘automobiles every day. Probably you own or ride in one. Even if you now are forced to limit your driving, the war really has not touched your mobility. How can you visualize a country several times larger than the United States, where not a single motor car is available for private purposes?

Can You Even Imagine It—? THERE IS NO patch of soil on the entire Ameri-

can continent where your sons, brothers, fathers or.

those of the vast majority of your neighbors are fighting, ‘bleeding, dying. There is no 2000-mile battle. front slicing through the heart of your country— say from Boston to San Antonio, Tex. How can I h to portray what this means to millions upon lions of Russians?

My Day

EN ROUTE CAMPOBELLO, New Brunswick, Thursday.—Yesterday I lacked the space in which to tell you about something in Asheville, N. C., which interested me very much. That was the Farmers Féderation, It takes in all the western, mountainous

part of the state-and has 21 ware-

houses, plus a central warehouse in Asheville, The federation began in a very small way, and is now a busy and flourishing ‘co-operative, We spent an‘ hour Tuesday morning looking" over the Asheville plant. At the poultry project, chickens . are "hatched from the best eggs that can be obtained,

a mountain farmer today, comes from a strain in which the hens have a record of laying at least When you consider that the breed

By Leland Stowe

Here, for 13 terrible, desperate months, 10,000,000 or 12,000,000 or more Russian men have fought without’ respite—and still fight. Here some 4,000,000 Russians have died or suffered wounds or have vanished

among the missing. .

Supposing in the United States and Canada we today had losses of one dead or wounded for each 30 adults. Can you possibly conceive what sacrifices in lives and wrecked bodies all America would now be feeling? Can you somehow imagine this kind of an America, with 10 months of mortal combat on its home soil already endured—and an unpredictable number of equally ravaging -death-strewn months yet to be borne, one after another? Can you picture scores of millions of ‘people facing this, enduring this, and accept this with the heart- -breaking holocaust of the battle of the Don steppes roaring on inexorably and yet saying: “We shall never yield. We shall fight until victory?” Can you see it? Can you feel it?

If You Could Only Conceive—

NO, THAT PERHAPS is asking too much. Human

beings can never really conceive the cost of war, of

this world-wide battle for freedom, until the war strikes their own homes and every slightest aspect of their daily lives, what they eat and how they sleep and those they.love. These words of mine are almost useless, I know. They will vanish like words of smoke in a windblown sky. You may not read them. If you do, you will forget them tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. If you could sense this price, even. a little more clearly, and if you could remember that here, for the 14th month they fight alone, then you might conceive with some measure 2p, understanding how terribly and excruciatingly much the opening of a second allied front in western Europe before October would mean to the Russia’s sorely tried and long-suffering soldiers and civilians. © °

By Eleanor Roosevelt

see what a difference, this would make. This enterprise has -developed jiito a flourishing business. . gor grades and candles all the ere is a market waiting to-buy ed from the farmers. 1 members have tremendously im- |. proved. their dairy stock. They buy and sell the best seed obtainable. They run a school which boys attend for a year while they axe paid a subsistence wage, Later these boys are employed by the federation, and many of the warehouse managers once attended this school. They have taken over a small handcraft project) known. as the Treasure Chest, which now sells hooked

‘rugs to many of our larger shops in big cities.’ and every young cockerel sold to ,

When: Mr. McClure,’ the head of the federation, tells you that at one time the average farmer saw less than $85 a year in cash in that section, and that

“Education for Citizenship.”|

Two exhibits attracting at-|

touches on the southeast army J. Dowling of Sanderson, Fla.,

It takes a lot of work by the ground crew to keep those flying safely through the-air in Uncle Sam's airships. Mecke field, Montgomery, Ala., are shown here at their everyday tes “ing at top: (I) Sergt. Burman R. Smith of Daytona Beach, |

Pvt. Floyd Regeski of Swoyerville, Pa., install a new left fron

air forces training center in :

Sergt. Herbert Naiburg of

gnia;

lots and bombardiers ics-soldiers at Gunter . Left to right, startla., puts the finishing

tamford, Conn., and nding gear assembly;

(2) Pvt. Horace

(3) Pvt. Clarence F. Potts of High Point, N. C., drains and cleans the oil screens of - a powerful Pratt & Whitney engine; (4) Pvt. King T. Powell of Birmingham, Ala., a radio mechanic, and Corp. Hjalmar G. Carlson of Shrewsbury, Mass., crew chief, check the radio equipment of a basic trainer; (5) basic trainers on the line for inspection; (6) Pvt. E. F. Kasuba (top) of Scranton, Pa., checks the fuel system, Sergt, Bernard Baldridge (lower left) of West Prestonburg, Ky., works on the accessory section of the plane, and Pvt. Woodrow W. Parson of Labelle, Fla., tests the motor.

VICTORY RALLY * IS SCHEDULED

Of Committee Arrang-.

ing Negro Event.

An “Americans for Victory Day,” to promote a feeling of victory among the 100,000 Negroes of the state, will be held Sunday, Aug. 30, at Victory field. Tentative plans to fill the stadium| with 20,000 Negroes were made: this week by a citizens committee headed by the Rev. Judge I. Sanders, pastor of Shiloh Baptist church, and F. B. Hansom, member of the city council, Clubs, civic and social, fraternal and labor groups, churches, schools and. business establishments are to take part in the program which begins a drive among the Negroes of the state to sell $50,000 worth of war bonds and stamps.

Pledges to Be Taken

A committee will take pledges from ‘businessmen, school teachers, hotel men, skilled and unskilled workers and all those persons employed. The Rev. J. B. Carter, pastor of the Twenty-Fifth Street Baptist church, was named chairman of a

| committee to secure a singing group

of 500 voices which will take part in the program at the stadium. No admission will be charged, but persons desiring to contribute toward the general expense are asked to send their contributions tc the committee treasurer, Mr. Ransom, at the Mme. C. J. Walker Co., Indianapolis, Ind. Mayor Sullivan and other city officials will take part in the program and invitations have been sent to many nationally known persons.’

Soldiers to Attend

Negro soldiers at F't. Harrison will attend in a body, as will the R. O. T. C. unit at Crispus Attucks high

ican Legion drum and bugle corps, Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A. and other groups. A special invitation has been sent to mothers of. soldiers in the armed

_|forces thrgughout the state and

chairman, 2649 Northwestern ave. The program will begin at 3 p. m

STUDY EVANSVILLE MILK

Mayor William Dress of Evansville said today he would’ call a special session of the city council members Monday as a result of army officials’ rations that Evansville milk is

today they pay many a man more than $1000 or $1500 below ‘the requirements of camp

has made in the farm Jamily's standard ot Hving & in

‘a year, you can sée what a difference the federation [commissary requirements. The coun-|{ney sit Will consider passage of a Graneid y

school, Boy and Girl Scouts, Amer-|

Perso wishing to make - war bond pledges have been asked to write thé Rev. Saunders, general

DR. AND MRS. Blaine lers of Clinton, Ind. f{ residents of Indianapolis years, will return Sunday ic celebrate their golden weddin: :

Dr. M. B. Sellers, 6468 Call The couple was ma Franklin, Ind, July 21,

of the bridegroom. Both mer members of the Nori: and Viiqsiy Park Ch

RHODIUS sn

Something new has been added in the way of entertainme! t at the

program will include a wats r polo game and several ballet nuribers by Joan Nolan, Annabelle Ci Betty Carroll, Mildred Cai

Angeline Lynch and Enid Major Willis and Wilbur close, members -of the life. guard staff, will give a diving ex! ibition and will assist other guards, /Martha Sturm, Roger Downs and Pit Patterson, in supervising the cz ni Following the aquatic c&)' benefit dance for the Red be ‘held. Mrs. Harry Biddy chairman of the hostess curimittee.

THEME: “INDIANA VAC Marc Waggener, director | lic relations for the state ment of conservation whos Job it is-to tell Indiana people lic'v wonderful their state parks ang x recreational facilities are, will j3icak at the Kiwanis club luncheon 'V/ednesday noon in the -Coluralh s club. His subject will be “Vacatic hing in Indiana. i

Raving Yan

Breger, former magazine ¢¢ toonist who now does humorous ¢ awings for the army, knows now {hat all those stories about the toigh top : {sergeant weren't fiction, j Breger : and Burgess £iott, - a former- newspaperman on the Paducah, Ky, Sun-Demact been rescued from the wrath, but in the meal

.|mess tins, peeled potatoes nd be-

come proficient _with ren and

“broom.

EVANSVILLE, July 24 (U. P.). = “I've got dishpan hans

id » "said Scott, “and, brother, I am a longer delicate. Right now, I air practically blind from looking th in the eye.” Breger and ‘Scott, who ne re both

.| into battle and became lost from

,| high school*here and Wesleyan uni-

| The. youngest American to arrive in

ks From "Yank' Learn. About ‘Top Kicks’

EVAR SERVICES AT 4:30 SUNDAY]

Friends Church to Hold Memorial for Ensign Missing in Action.

A memorial service for Ensign William R. Evans Jr. navy pilot reported “missing In action” in the battle of Midway, will be held at 4:30 p. m. Sunday in the First Friends church, 1241 N. Alabama st. Ensign Evans’ parents, Mr. and Mrs. William R. Evans, 5019 N. Meridian st., were notified June 19 of their son’s heroic exploits. He was a member of Torpedo Squadron 8, from which only one pilot, Ensign G. H. Gay of Houston, Tex., returned. The 'squadron was reported as the first to sight the Jap fleet. He went

its supporting squadrons of fighters and dive bombers. Twenty-two years old, Ensign Evans was a graduate of Shortridge

versity, Middletown, Conn., He enlisted in V-5 immediately after nis graduation from college in 1940. He was commissioned last summer and went ‘into active duty last August. The services Sunday will be conducted by the Rev, W. O. Trueblood.

' YOUNGEST REPATRIATE LORENCO = MARQUES, Portuguese East Africa, July 24 (U.P.).—

Lorenco Marques with homewardbound repatriates from the Far East was nine-day-old James Theron Ward. He was born July 15 on board the Asama Maru to Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Warg, - southern baptist missionaries en route to Bessemer, Ala., from Hong Kong.

“He didn’t see why we should be given time to gather stories or cartoon material,” ‘they explained. “And mostly he didn’t like newspapermen at all. But we thought we had gotten rid of him when we boarded a boat for North Ireland.” Then as Scott and Breger walked down the gangplank in Ireland the same top sergeant spotted them. “Where’s your papers?” he demanded. : The men had papers giving them freedom of movement in the United States but not in this war theater. “Then he smiled very happily and the next thing we knew we were starring in the regiment’s kitchen: detail,” Breger said. The men were moving furniture when they met an officer who knew them and rescued them, He explained the Yank London office had

Back to the Mail Bag and

The Tomatoes Grow Taller

‘By FREMONT POWER _ ‘Times Tomato Editor . ‘It could be that this tall tomato business will go on and on. You can’t ever tell. We print a story about ‘Mrs. Lucile Barnes and her 86-inch tomato plant at 1321 Oliver ave., which was about two inches higher than V. S. Buckner’s at 1001 Sanders st. a few days previous, and id following happens: Mrs. Ora Fisher, 928 Campbell ave, writes: “I accept your challenge about the ‘84-inch tomato plant. . + . I have ‘a taller one which ‘measures 89 inches—grown by a womah” (last four words underlined). Albert F. Franke, 309 Sanders st., calls (the second time): Mr. Franke has one which. reached 88 inches. Then he pinched the top off because -it looked like the thing was going to get out of hand.

Now the Radish Race

Mrs. Tillie Hill, 961 E. Morris st. calls: “What's the record on radishes?” she asks. “You got me there,” quickly. “Well, I've got one here that’s 10% inches long. Doesn't appear to be - pithy, - either.’ moo Which is ‘how. it GOES. A colleague on” an opposition paper writes: “Keep your tomatoes to yourself, will ya.”

I reply

He inclosed a story sent him)

about a man who used the corncob tomato method, but apparently got mixed up as to what paper was running this tomato business.

A Bit of Trouble

Herschel V. Cline of Coatesville, asks: “Being an expert, tell me why the blooms wither and fall and no

tomatoes put on.” I called Horace Abbott, the county agricultural agent, about this and he said: “Probably too much nitrogen in the soil.” It could be a condition originally in the soil, he said, but likely it resulted from too much fertilizer. That answer your question, Mr. Cline? ‘Ralph Jewell of Sunnyside sanatorium writes: “So growing tomatoes is your business. Well, I happen to be in that business myself, though, of course, in a small way. To be truthful, I have only one plant, but I am proud of it since it has grown under such difficulties.

"Looks Like Big Yield

“It .is ‘two feet tall, and is confined to a small amount of soil. It

is watered by having the container |’

sit in a pan of water, from ‘which the plant gets its moisture. Already there are eight tomatoes on it, and prospects for more.” Let me know how those prospects come out, Ralph. Keep me informed. - Also in the tomato department

are communications from the fol-|.

lowing

_The Brownings 50 W. 64th

These gracious. people named one of their plants the “Fremont Power.” And they write, “The Fre mont Power is well over six fees and full of fruit. It shows definites ly that it pays to feed a tomato something besides ~ corncobs and water. I° Teslly:Tertilized mine with Vigoro. »

" Blames “Sun Spots (That special problem you speak of, Mr, Browning, probably is cone nected with sun spots. .So help me!) ; : “Mrs. Charles Thompson, 2817 Boulevard place: She has 18 plants, one taller than she (5-foot-8), and Kentucky Wonder green beans and corn, too. John Montani, 2640 N. Meridian st.: “I am not seeking publicity—it says here—but would like you to see first-hand what a fellow in 4-F can do with poor soil, lots of shade and infrequent cultivation. Some of my tomato plants are 60 inches plus and are well loaded. I

*lhave 59 plants in all.”

Mrs. Gerald Mahalowitz of 6105 N.. Michigan road: “I don’t seem to see ‘the point in your experie ment, but I daresay there's a secret and one of these days your plant will put all others in the ‘shade’.” She said she'd put her plants “up - against anything you've shown so far, including (Vice President) Wale lace.” And this is just part of the mal More: later.

AUXILIARY POLICE COURSE TO START,

A new class for auxiliary police of the Speedway City defense dis= trict will begin tonight at the town hall. Twenty-two men have enliste ed in the .course, which will give instruction .in.general police duties. Harry F. Bernhardt, Speedway City police chief, is in charge, with Glen Collins, a deputy, as instruce tor. Floyd Farley, funeral director,

is’ defense director of the area.

HOLD : EVERYTHING