The White Falcon - 23.12.1966, Blaðsíða 2

2
WHITE FALCON
Friday, December 23, 1966
EDITORIAL
For Christmas Spirit
Try Giving Yourself
The stores are jammed with last-minute shoppers; the marvelous
mechanical toys are bobbing’ and whirling; great glossy firs and
spruces glow with lights in public squares. It’s another Christmas,
and all the people who observe this incomparable festival around the
world can take time out’from tension to attend a birthday party.
And a birthday party is, of course, an occasion for joy. Christmas
is the joyous season but joy — true joy — is much more than gift-
swapping and gluttonizing. It is the honest delight in being members
of the human frater — a time to throw old distrusts and grudges out
the window and subtitute charity and good will in the spirit of the
Nativity.
“Peace on Earth” — has that splendid phrase, the sum of man’s
hopes through the centuries never had more meaning for us than at
Christmas 1966? Wherever the season finds us helping to preserve
such peace as the world enjoys, we respond in our heart to its mes-
sage. And in responding we give the ultimate gift — ourselves, each of
us dedicated to something outside and above preoccupation with
creature comforts. We in the service are looked to by all our fellow
Americans as the guardians of the best way of life the world has
ever known.
Christmas is a time of wonder, as the Wise Men wondered. For
children it is a time of pulse-racing excitement, and their elders are
given their greatest gift when they make it a memorable event for
them. Gift-wrapping, tree-trimming, the hanging of light, the carol
singing, the holiday feast — we can remember their magic from' our
own childhood and we cherish the memories.
Many of us this Christmas will be far from our homes and families
.— but near them in spirit, and by ’letting them know that we are of-
fering them something that can’t be bought in any department store
or exchange but is of infinitely higher value.
Hints For A
Fire — Safe
Christmas
“Christmas is a time for happi-
ness and no time to be heedless of
fir-e dangers”, says the station’s
fire chief, Sveinn Eiriksson, in
his Christmas message to NATO
Base personnel.
In his holiday message, he cau-
tions each person to be watchful of
the dangers involved with Christ-
mas trees, paper decorations and
wrappings, electric lighting deco-
rations, and electric toys and
gifts.
The following is a list of safety
hints that might help you to enjoy
a safe lively holiday season.
• Select a tree that is fresh-look-
ing and firm-needled.
• Support the tree firmly and
keep it well away from heat-
radiators, stoves, fireplaces.
• Keep the tree for the shortest
possible time.
o When selecting artificial trees,
be mindful of these facts: Plas-
tic and metaliced trees can
burn; metal trees are a shock
hazard when you attach a string
of lights.
• Use noncombustible decorating
materials where possible.
• If using combustible materials,
make sure they are flame-
proofed.
• Don’t use polystyrene foam for
candle holders or for table or
mantle decoratings where cand-
les are used.
• If selecting Santa Claus masks,
whiskers, and costumes, choose
only those that are fireproof.
• Dispose of gift wrappings
promptly and safely after use.
• Use only lighting equipment car-
rying the Underwriters’ Labora-
tories (UL) label.
• Don’s allow smoking near the
tree amidst decorations and
wrappings.
• Supervise small children play-
ing near the tree.
INCREASE YOUR ALLOTMENTS...
AND SAVE !!
SAVE FOR AMERICA S FUTURE
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THE WHITE FALCON
U.S. Naval Station Keflavik
White Falcon’s mission—To in-
form and entertain all hands, to
serve as a positive factor in pro-
moting the efficiency, welfare and
contentment of personnel.
Commanding Officer
Capt Emile E. Pierre, Jr., USN
Executive Officer
Cdr Richard C. James
Information Chief
SMSGT Jack D. Beard, USAF
Editor
POl George Cates
Reporters
P03 James Rutledge
SN, William Stanley
The White Falcon is published
weekly on Friday in accordance
with NAVEXOS P-35, revised June
1958, for free distribution to personnel
of Naval Station Keflavik. It is printed
commercially by the Isafoldarprent-
smidja, Reykjavik, Ice., from non-
appropriated funds.
Opinions and statements made in
articles published here are those of
the authors and are not to be con-
strued as official views of the U.S.
Govt., Dept, of Defense or the Navy
Dept.
Chaplain J
Corner
Chaplain Clarence E. LeMasters
A little over one hundred years ago our nation was in the throes
of a great Civil War. A poet of the day wrote a hymn that is as ap-
propriate now as when it was written.
I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men.
And thought how, at the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men.
And in despair I bowed my head:
“There is no peace on earth,” I said:
“For hate is strong, and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men.”
Then pealed the bells more loud and deep
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”
Till, ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,
Of peace on earth, good-will to men.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1863.
Probably there is little that can speak more eloquently than these
words of hope at Christmas time. May this hope be yours as well.
Christmas
Voice is
Universal
Christmas speaks a universal
language of peace and good will
to all men. Customs and tradi-
tions vary from country to count-
ry, but in every land people ex-
press their earnest yearning for
peace.
In the United States, Christ-
mas is both a religious holiday
and a time of family reunions.
Children and grownups look for-
ward to opening the gaily-wrapped
packages beneath the Christmas
tree.
Christmas in England is much
like that in the United States.
Children receive presents from
Father Christmas. Carols are
sung. Roast goose and plum pud-
ding are traditional at the table.
The day following is also a major
holiday — Boxing Day — named
from the time when the village
priest opened the poor box to help
the needy.
In France, only children receive
presents at Christmas. Grownups
exchange gifts on New Year’s Day.
Presents come from “Pere Noel”
(Father Christmas), who fills shoes
lined up before the chimney. The
Yule Log appears in the form of
a cake served as a traditional des-
sert.
Germany begins celebrating on
the first of Advent — four Sun-
days before Christmas. Homes are
decked out with red-ribboned
wreaths of fine twigs. The big
day for children is Dec. 6,
the birthday of their Santa Claus.
Two weeks before that date,
youngsters put their shoes out
each night and find candy in the
A letter to £ahta
by P03 James Rutledge,
The post office in Reykjavik,
the capital of Iceland, has report-
ed they have received several
thousand letters addressed to
Santa Clause, Toy Workshop,
North Pole, Iceland.
Reveiving letters as far away
as South Africa, Iraq and many
of the western states in America,
the children of these lands asks
Santa for very unusual things.
One little boy asked for a sister.
A six year-old girl asked for a
mother, and a child in California,
asked for snow. But none of the
letters received each year can re-
peat the following:
Dear Santa Claus:
We are very sad at our house
this year, and I don’t want you to
bring me anything. My little
brother went to Heaven last
spring. All I want you to do when
you come to Our house is to take
brother’s, toys to him. I’ll leave
them by the kitchen stove; his
hobby horse and train and every-
thing. I know he’ll be lost in
Heaven without them, most of all
his horse. He always liked riding
it so much. So you must take them
to him please, and you needn’t
mind leaving anything, but if you
could give Daddy something that
would make him like he use to be,
make him smoke his pipe again
and tell me stories, I do wish
you would. I heard him say to
Mommie once that only eternity
could cure him. Could you bring
him some of that, and I will be
your good little girl ....
—Marian.
morning, if they’ve behaved. On
Christmas Eve, the whole family
sings carols for the Christ child.
In Italy, Christmas is primari-
ly a religious holiday. Midnight
mass is widely attended after
traditional Christmas Eve family
dinner. Gifts aren’t exchanged
until Epiphany — 12 days after
Christmas. On that day, Befana,
the good fairy, flies in through
an.’ open window and leaves pres-
ents for good children.
In Switzerland, presents are dis-
tributed on the Feast of St.Nich-
olas, Dec. 6. In many sec-
tions, Santa Claus is replaced by
Christ Kindi (Christ child), who
travels in a gift-laden sleigh
drawn by six reindeer.
In Belgium and Holland, the
children’s holiday is also Dec-
ember 6, the Feast of St. Nicholas.
Children in the Low Countries fill
their shoes with hay for the white
horse that carries Saint Nick from
roof to roof. In return the young-
sters find candy and'toys.
Sweden’s celebration starts 12
days before Christmas and con-
tinues through January 13. Lucia,
the national spirit of Christmas,
reigns supreme. Many villages
choose a girl to represent Lucia
through the season.
Iceland shares many customs
with Sweden. Icelanders have a
holiday-packed Christmas week.
December 23 is celebrated as St.
Thorlakur Eve in honor of an early
Icelandic hero, and December 26
is, as in England, a holiday too.
In the Philippines, Christmas is
the time when families are re-
united. No matter how poor a
family is, Christmas is celebrated
as the most important feast of
the year.
MOW CALI -
Dec. 23. to Dec. 30.
A. Adventures Of Hajji Baba—John Derek, Elaine Steaart
93 min. Adventure Drama
B. The Beautiful Blonde From Bashful Bend—Betty Grable,
Caesar Romero.
74 min. Western Musical.
C. Not With My Wife, You Don’t—Tony Curtis, Virni Lisi
119 min. Comedy.
D. An American Dream—Stuart Whitman, Janet Leigh.
103 min. Drama.
E. The Girl In The Red Velvet Swing—Ray Milland, Joan Collins
109 min. Drama.
ANDREWS POLAR NCO CPO ‘O’ ROCKY. GRV
THEATER CLUB CLUB CLUB CLUB
FRIDAY A D
SATURDAY B D A E C
SUNDAY C B D B/A A/E
MONDAY D A C B E
TUESDAY E C B D A
WEDNESDAY C .F, D A B
THURSDAY D