The White Falcon - 13.01.1945, Blaðsíða 3

3
'CIGARETTE Stioi
■1/ jouxvy-- /w\Val Battle
NATION
Books I
w/i/w.-m/A
INTERVIEWS WITH FIRST IRC SOLDIERS TO RETURN FROM FURLOUGHS IN U.S. BEUE STORIES THAT
HOME FRONT IS LAND OF DISILLUSION
“Home is wonderful!” —
that is the unanimous opini-
on of a group of IBC veter-
ans who returned recently
from furloughs in the U.S.
under the War Dept. T.D.
and Rotation Plans which
are now in effect in all theat-
ers.
To these men, many of
whom have seen 30 or more
months of service in the IBC,
it was a dream come true.
They agreed that there have
been quite a few changes
since Pearl Harbor, but that
the U.S. is still “God’s Coun-
try.” The war has brought
minor hardships to the peop-
le in the States; however,
they are still the best fed and
best dressed civilians in the
world.
Pvt. Clifton Peek of Louis-
ville, Ky., met
his son for the
f i ,r s t t i m e,
making it de-
finitely the
high spot of
his slay at
home. He re-
turned to the plant where he
used to work and put in sev-
eral days “just for the fun
of it.” Of the many changes
that have taken place in
Louisville, the most appar-
ent to Cliff was the park est-
ablished on the site of the
old Post Office Building.
Another resident of the
Blue Grass
State, Tec 5
Johnny Pirce-
aco of May-
field, has not-
iced the exod-
us of people
from the small
towns and farms to the big
cities. These people are lur-
ed hv the wages offered by
the defense plants which dot
his state. Johnny discloses
that he just “hung around
town” talking to what’s left
of the old gang.
“Everything and everyone
is swell!’” was
the enhusiast-
ic reply of
bridegroom
Tec 5 James
AY. Ax tell of
Denver, Colo.
Jimmy Quarri-
ed his “best gal”r in Ivansa’s
City* but spent, jJ^s honey-
moon in his home citv. While
I
riding the crowded streqt
cars, he couldn’t help hut olJ
serve the number of ol
i
people who were working ip
the war plants. Everyone
seems to be doing some sort
of work to help the war ef-
fort.
Broadway is still the same
in the opinion
of Tec 4 C.
Gordon Kurtz,
well-iknown
playwright
who scripted
“Six Jerks on
the Jump” for
this Command in 1944. Pro-
ductions, which in normal
times would be flops, are
successes due to the de-
mands of the people who
are out pleasure-seeking.
Among the many hits Kurtz
saw were “Harvey,” “Search-
ing AVind,” “Dear Ruth” and
“Oklahoma!” Gordon said
that during, visits with ac-
quaintances at casting offic-
es he found that there was
an “overabundance of young
hoys” for the musicals and
plays —: that there doesn’t
seem to he a manpower
shortage in the theater.
Pfc. Jaul J. Simon found
spending his,
furlough home. A resident of!
Lyndon Station, AVisc., Sim-!
on had plenty to do what
with milking the cows and
feeding the stock. Social life
was centered pretty much
around church dances and
festivals. Like the others, he;
missed the guys in the crowd.
Even after 20 months on
the Rock, Sgt.
jijiljv in |L
U.S. One of the sights which
stand out in his mind is that
of women dinving txicabs. It
just doesn’t seem the “femin-
ine thing to do.” The Sgt.
made one trip to Chicago to
visit and “repljyqpainted the
. town red.”
Newlywed T/Sgt. Ben H.
■ • .ys..• -. CoIlCU of Mil-
jqt as ba<j. as
it has been reported. Al-
though the OPA has placed
a ceiling price on rentals,
Ben says that people are buy-
ing houses, thereby bringing
about the eviction of the ten-
ants. Cohen reports that
there are numerous dis-
charged veterans and wear-
ers of the Purple Heart back
in the States from France
and Germany.
Tec 4 Jake Link, Jr., of St.
Joseph, Mich.,
too!" Find^n^
that married life had its re-
sponsibilities and duties,
Jake spent his time setting
up a house and meeting the
folks all over again. One
notable sidelight on the Am-
PEOPLE ASK ABOUT
ICELAND’S WEATHER
To the folks back home,
Iceland’s climate is the
coldest, windiest and
dreariest in the whole wide
world—so that is why the
newly-returned IBC sold-
iers spent most of their
time explaining that it is
just as warm (sometimes
warmer) up here as it is
in the States. This weather
query was the question ;
most asked of the men.
Civilians wanted to
know all about the coun-
try, the people, the food
and industry here. Of
course, they also wanted
to know w hat “their boys”
did at this cutposj:; the
entertainment facilities
and their reaction to the
war in general. The over-
seas service stripes and
ribbons, as well as the IBC
shoulder patches, raised a
erican Scene is the surplus
of women. “There are more
women than you know what
to do with,’” Link told a
drooling Falcon reporter.
As “Bronxish” as can be,
Tec 5 Louis
sweating out
another furlough so that he
can get married. Spaghetti
was number one on his
“Food Parade” and he com-
es back convinced that no
one can make the dish like
his Mom can.
America’s farms bad a
record crop of
wheat is the
good news un-
covered by
Tec 4 Nichol-
as Kuntz who
lives on alarm
near Flasher,
N.D. Nick can't get over the
changes in his family as bis
younger sister had grown
quite a bit during his ab-
sence. His visit was “a great
success” but he was wishing
that some of his brothers
would have come , home
from Ihe service, too.
! “Naturally, people back
^ gi-ipe,”
have sons or
husbands in the armed forc-
es. On Ihe whole, though,
we were treated like kings
by most of the people. Even
our ration boards gave us
plenty of stamps for meats \
and canned foods. AV"e also!
received one gallon of gas-
oline per day. At the Over-
seas Returnees Center, we;
were issued shoe cerificates, |
if we so desired.”
M/Sgt. Russell Lobell spent!
plenty of time (
comm u ting be-
tween his Chi-1
e a g o h o m c I
and (Saginaw,
Mich., rcsid-
[,ence; of- his
!>,ri|h'. i AYjlh
two-and-one-half; ye&cs h of |
his Army career spent here
in Iceland, Lobell was rather
“shocked” lo find the women
back home so “money mad
and job conscious.” There
are some 4-Fs running ihe
streets hid most of them are
busily engaged in war work
of some sort. Russ confined
most of his eating to the
homes of his family and
friends. “None of that re-
staurant stuff for me,” he
maintains. He took in plenty
of football games, too.
Pfc. Beverly Reinhardt
found his
home town,
Baltimore,
§yi||24 Md„ as cold as
■■ Iceland — so
Iph/? H missed his
ili Par^a very
much. With
many of the largest camps
in the U.S. located in his part
of the country, Reinhardt
saw many GIs there and in
Washington. He got plenty
of “inside- dope” on the situ-
ation on the western front
from buddies just back from
Germany.
From Texas way, Tec 5
Tom L. Colvin
of Galveston
- says that now
lie’s- back lie’s
going to take
a good long
rest if the 1st
Sgt. will coop-
erate. He was on the go 21
hours a day doing the high
spots of the town. In his op-
inion, people will work if
they can get $1.50 an hour.
All in all, there has been no
remarkable change in Gal-
veston with Ihe exception of
the new war plants.
AYitli three young and live-
,.......■ .. Iv children to
, go home to,
ll^PT Pvt. Raymond
ii. A ii! k< ■ w:i k
. jfe " jsAai of Hammond,
■pA link, had his
around the
house. He had to take the
kids to the show and sled-
ding. A volunteer himself, he
has found a decided trend
towards the induction of
married men with three .or
foqr children as Sqlectjiye
S^yiye ;r#{fheft ’(jif
(Continued on-iPjigtfcJi,