The White Falcon - 11.06.1965, Blaðsíða 1

Eighth Ranked Sea Service Newspaper - 1964
THE WHITE
U.S. NAVAL STATION, KEFLAVIK INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, ICELAND
Volume IV, Number 22 Friday, June 11, 1965
FLAG RAISING—Holding reveille at 8 a.m. every morning the three flags (from left to right) of the
United States, Iceland and NATO prepare to be hoi sted up. On June 14, 1965 a special day, Flag Day, will
be set aside by the people of the United States to ho nor the world-renowned Stars and Stripes.
Americans To Observe Flag Day, June 14
To Recall Our “Stars And Stripes” Her itage
June 14 is a special day set aside to honor the world-renowned Stars and Stripes by
the people of the United States.
Americans, particularly those in the Armed Forces, take a great pride in their country
and in their flag. Nearly everyone knows the legend about Betsy Ross. At one time
or another, almost all have taken part in a reveille or retreat ceremony and watched
with pride as the color was raised or lowered.
But how many know where the eight sites in the United States are that the Stars
and Stripes are continuously flown ^
in honor of brave men and their
deeds?
Flag Sites
The sites—four by tradition and
four by presidential proclama-
tion—are: The grave of Francis
Scott Key; the War Memorial in
Worchester, Mass.; the plaza in
Taos, N.M.; a civilian cemetery in
Deadwood, S.D.; Ft. McHenry,
Md.; Flaghouse Square, Balti-
more, Md.; the Capital in Wash-
ington D.C.; and the Marine
Corps Memorial in Arlington, Va.
"rt&i
New Flag Design
Many colonial flags led up to
the designing and adoption of the
flag of the United States on June
14, 1777. This flag consisted of 13
stars on a blue field and 13 red
and white stripes, the number 13
being symbolic of the 13 colonies.
Reasonable Size
In 1794, Congress voted to add
two stars and stripes for the new
states of Vermont and Kentucky.
By 1818, the Union had grown to
include 20 states and at the sug-
gestion of Captain Samuel C.
Reid, USN, Congress voted to
keep the original design of the
flag intact and to keep it at a
reasonable size. A law adopted on
April 4, 1818, requires that a star
be added for each new State on
Military Housing For Families
Still Poses An Urgent Problem
The Department of Defense must build more family
housing even though it prefers to rely on available com-
munity facilities, according to Deputy Assistant Secretary
of Defense (Family Housing) John J. Reed.
This distinction is important, he said, citing “urgent”
housing needs and mentioning DOD’s responsibility to
^adequately house families through*^
whatever reasonable means are
available.
An attempt is made to utilize
the community to the greatest ex-
tent possible, Mr. Reed said, but
this support is restricted through
requirements for personnel to live
on base under certain conditions,
the remoteness of some installa-
tions and existence of certain
hardship areas due to high rental
costs or sub-standard facilities.
“It is these exceptions which
cause us to have a sizeable annual
new housing construction prob-
lem,” Mr. Reed said.
The Defense Department does
not consider “for sale” housing as
a solution to the servicemen’s
needs. It was noted that service
personnel are subject to reassign-
ment every two or three years and
should not have to assume home
ownership risks.
Should a serviceman purchase
a house however, DOD classifies
the individual as being adequately
housed. (AFPS)
the 14th of July after its admis-
sion, but that the 13 stripes re-
main unchanged.
15 Stars And Stripes
The flag, which inspired Franc-
is Scott Key to write the Star
Spangled Banner, the first verse
of which was adopted as our Nati-
onal Anthem, had 15 stars and
15 stripes. As of now the Nati-
onal Ensign consists of 13 stripes
and 50 stars.
Stars From Heaven
When the Stars and Stripes was
first flown by the Continental
Army, it was reportedly described
by General Washington as fol-
lows: “We take the stars from
heaven, the red from our mother
country, separating it by white
stripes, thus showing that we
have separated from her, and the
white stripes shall go down to
posterity, representling liberty”.
Born Amid Strife
Thus the Stars and Stripes
came into being-—bom amid
strife of battle to become the
standard around which free
people rallied to establish our
nation.
Famous Sentence
In 1892, Francis Bellamy wrote
a sentence which has become one
of the most sincere pledges of
homage in the world. Many may
not have recited its words since
grammar school days. Now, being
older, its words have a deep mean-
ing that can be well understood.
That sentence, as later amended
is:
“I pledge allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America,
and to the Republic for which it
stands, one Nation (under God),
indivisible, with liberty and just-
ice for all.”
Dentist Brings Relief
To Icebreaker Crew
Lt. William C. Amos, DC, USN, of the Naval Station
Dental Clinic has been awarded a letter of commendation
from Rear Admiral Ralph Weymouth, Commander Iceland
Defense Force.
The Doctor was cited for providing “outstanding” dental
service for crew members of the icebreaker Edisto (AGB-2)
in the Norwegian Sea last month while the ship was
engaged in the evacuation of1*’ ; ----------------
scientists and Navymen from ^ie *ce Pack, said the Doctor, crew
Arlis II Iceland. members threw a ship’s party on
The commendation read, in
part:
“This (evacuation of Arlis II)
involved a long period at sea und-
er arduous circumstances in an
ice field with usual accompany-
ing storms. It is understood from
the Commanding Officer (of the
Edisto) that you worked many
long hours performing this ser-
vice discontinuing your work only
when sea conditions precluded
operations ....
Outstanding Performance
“As you know the primary
mission of the shore establishment
is support to the fleet. This out-
standing performance of duty on
your part on a voluntary basis in
support of this mission is con-
sidered to warrant special recog-
nition and ‘Well Done’.”
Doctor Amos spent three weeks
at sea aboard the Edisto. He said
that a dental unit was aboard the
ship when he arrived but there
were no dentists.
Working Hours
While aboard ship, he worked
regular working hours and even-
ings “when work came up, weath-
er permitting.”
He said his best working time
was when the Edisto was trapped
in an ice pack for four days. He
said the skipper of the Edisto
told him it was the thickest ice
pack he had seen in 27 years of
naval service.
Ship’s Party
While the Edisto was locked in
the ice. They whipped up some
“Polar Punch” — a concoction of
grape juice and ethyl alcohol —
and downed it in record time. Old-
timers claim that after a few
whiffs of this, a man stands as
tall as a polar bear.
Crew members also played vol-
leyball, baseball, football and
even took to tobogganing it with
sick bay stretchers.
Months At Sea
It was a successful ship’s party,
said Doctor Amos, and helped
fight off falling morale. The Ed-
isto had spent four continuous
months at sea before coming into
port for five days to load stores,
then back out to sea again for two
more months.
Doctor Amos said that the Edisto
provided him with his first taste
of sea duty, that he “thoroughly
enjoyed” his brief stint aboard
the icebreaker.
He said he had made two un-
succesful attempts to get sea
duty.
In This Issue
World’s Fair Accommo-
dations ............ PG 3
Movie Guide .......... PG 4
Raymond Burr In Viet
Nam ................ PG 5
High School Graduation PG 6
Sports ............... PG 7
Radio—TV Guide....... PG 8
CITED FOR SERVICE—Lt. William C. Amos, DC, USN, receives
congratulations and a letter of commendation from Capt Charles
W. Miller, DC, USN, dental officer for the Naval Station. Doctor
Amos was commended by Commander Iceland Defense Force for
rendering “outstanding” dental service to crew members of the ice-
breaker Edisto (AGB-2).