The White Falcon - 24.12.1943, Side 3

3
Proving that all First Sergeants aren’t rough and gruff, 1/Sgt.
Herbert A. Williams of Colorado Springs, Colo., decorates a
Christmas tree in his Medics messhall. What’s more, Williams
bought the tree in town for “my boys.”
Veteran Vaudeville Hoofer
To Dance, Sing In ‘Drunkard*
War Dept. Authorizes New
Awards For Infantrymen '
For 20 years, Pvt. Michael Ep-
polito of this Command was a
top-notch vaudeville star in the
good old U.S.A. He was hoofing
it on the stages of American
theaters when vaudeville was en-
joying its gaudy, brawling hey-
day, and he stuck with the game
through the dark days that some-
times saw the customers out-
numbered by the performers.
So it is little wonder that Mike
is enthusiastic about “bringing
vaudeville back” for the GI’s in
Iceland. His love for what he
calls the greatest business in the
world hasn’t diminished a bit
since he arrived here, and at pre-
sent he is touching up the rough
edges on some of his old routines
before he makes his bow in “The
Drunkard.”
In this show Mike, who will
be remembered by vaudeville
fans as Jack Clifford, will treat
GI audiences to rhythm' dances
and will also team up with pretty
Betty McCabe of the USO in a
song or two.
Mike says he is not so sure
about his voice any more. “This
climate may have cracked it a
bit,” he admitted this week. But
he grins and says that “the old
itch” is still in his feet.
He has had that urge to dance
ever since he was 17 years old,
when he started competing in
amateur shows on New; York’s
glorious East Side. Shortly after
that he was auditioned by the
famous old minstrel man, Eddie
Leonard, and was promptly em-
barked on a lengthy career that
was interrupted only by the beck-
oning right hand of Uncle Sam.
Thirty-seven-year-old Mike did
two a day on the famous Keith
circuit, teamed with comedian
Tom Healey in song and dance
acts for ten years
Mike has worked the same
theaters with Rudy Vallee (“It
was when Rudy was just break-
ing in,” says Mike), Bill Robin-
son, the Condos brothers and the
great Houdini.
“There was the guy,” Mike
says of Houdini. “When he was
on stage you could hear a pin
drop in the back row. He used
to have ’em all in a trance.”
There was a saying a couple
of years ago that it would take
a Houdini to bring vaudeville
back, but Mike doesn’t agree. “It’s
just had a slight relapse,” he says
as he goes into his dance.
U.S. Jargon
Is Simple
For G retar
By CPL. JOHN MORAN.
Gretar Burtman, nine-year-old
Icelandic newsboy, accepted an
Infantry soldier’s invitation to
a game of chess the other day—
and won hands down!
Making no distinction as to
rank, he subsequently checkmat-
ed the entire chess-playing per-
sonnel of an Infantry camp here,
his opponents ranging all the
way from privates to captains.
Gretar has also shown himself
astonishingly proficient at black-
jack, pinochle, poker and “gallop-
ing dominoes.”
What has impressed his soldier
clientele more than onything else,
however, is Gretar’s great flu-
ency in English—or rather in
“American.” At the drop of a
chess board he can rattle off
colloquialism representative of
the United Kingdom, Flatbush
or the Deep South.
He calls paper money “bloody
notes!” and in>chats with soldier
friends he has been heard to
make such remarks as: “I reckon
ya’ll jest cain’t wait to git back
home!”
A Reykjavik schoolboy at pre-
sent, he says that one of his chief
aims in life is to visit the United
States and to see in action the
famed Brooklyn Dodgers baseball
club. If this ambition is realized,
he certainly won’t go hungry
throug inability to yell out: “One
on a bun — with everything!”
The jeep, most highly public-
ized of all Army vehicles, has
proved its worth from the
swamps of New Caledonia to the
rocky roads of Iceland, but ex-
perts are of the opinion that it
is “too wild” to be placed in
the hands of civilians. George W’.
Ritter, vice-pres. of Willys Over-
land Motors, came out with the
statement this week that civilians
“can’t be trusted with jeeps.”
Ritter told a Congressional
committee that unless the jeeps
were geared down before they
were sold to civilians it would
be extremely dangerous because
The War Dept, has just author-
ized two new awards for infan-
trymen—the Expert Infantryman
Badge, and the Combat Infantry-
man Badge.
The former bears a miniature
silver rifle mounted on a blue
field with a silver border, is
three inches long and half an
inch wide, and will be awarded
to officers and men of the in-
fantry whose action in combat
is satisfactory.
The latter medal—similar in
SSO Receives
25 New Films
A new batch of movies fresh
from the States and including
several- current favorites on the
home-front arrived in Iceland
this week and will be placed
on the regular circuits as soon
as possible. Most of them, how-
ever, will be shipped to outlying
sections of the Command.
In all, there are 25 films.
they take off so fast.
Revealing that Willys has al-
ready perfected plans for 36 dif-
ferent tasks jeeps could perform
on a farm, he declared that the
jeeps as now constituted could
not be expected to plow fields,
although they could easily be ad-
justed to “be turned loose on
the farm.”
He suggested that the jeeps be
turned back to Willys after the
war because otherwise the auto-
mobile market might be ruined
by the “junk price” jeeps not
suited for civilian uses.
design except that a wreath Is
added—will be awarded to sol-
diers whose conduct in combat
is outstanding or whose combat
action occurs in a major opera-
tion.
Infantry units will not go un-
rewarded either. If 65 per cent
of the men and officers of a com-
pany, battalion or regiment win
the Expert Infantryman Badge,
the unit will be awarded a white
streamer for its color or stan-
dard.
Final Count
Swells Total
In Aid Drive
Pvt. Ralph Chin and associate
leaders in the drive for the China
Relief Fund in Iceland finished
digging their way through a huge
pile of kronur this week and
readied a check of close to 30,000
krOnur for the United States
China Relief Committee.
After completing the counting
of the unexpectedly large dona-
tions, Pvt. Chin reported that
high honors go to the Engineers.
The men of the Air Corps, In-
fantry and Medics also earned
themselves high ratings in the
field of generosity. However, it
was difficult to ascertain just
who the biggest contributors
were, because nearly half of the
kronur pieces were collected from
boxes in theaters and Red Cross
and PX boxes.
Jeeps Risky For Civilians,
Auto Authority Points Out
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: World rights focrvt^r

by Chic Young:
Blondie