The White Falcon - 23.05.1964, Page 6

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WHITE FALCON
Saturday, May 23, 1964
A Little Bit About Iceland
Editor's Note: This is one of a series of exclusive stories written for
the benefit of White Falcon readers, it’s purpose is two-fold: 1, to
provide IDF personnel with insights about their temporary home and
2, to furnish IDF personnel with
back “home.”
If the summer tourist sea-'
son is as good to Iceland as
was the winter, it should be
an enjoyable year. MorgunblaS-
iS reports that 1963-64 was the
mildest winter of the 20th cen-
tury. The second mildest year
was way back in 1929. The mean
temperature this year in Reyk-
javik was 38.6° F. or 3.8° C.
Many people in Reykjavik and
Keflavik had green grass
through the winter. The year
was marred by the tragic loss
of a total of eleven Icelandic
fishermen but the year before,
nineteen were killed in fishing
mishaps.
Fishing, by the way has been
excellent during the first quar-
ter of this year with 260 thou-
sand tons of fish caught com-
pared with 230 thousand tons
last year even though many Ice-
landic boats have not gone out
at all due to the labor shortage
that has plagued the country
lately.
The month of May ends the
cod season for Icelandic fisher-
men and by June nearly all the
boats from Iceland will be rigg-
ed out for catching herring.
The big herring season has in
the past meant a pilgrimage of
all the boats from the south
coast of Iceland to the north
where great herring processing
plants in Akureyri and other
towns handled the catch. Be-
ginning last year, however,
many skippers found that with
new methods, they could do
well off the south coast too.
In fact, last Saturday the Jor-
undur II kicked off the herring
season in Reykjavik by bring-
ing in 1200 barrels. The Arni
Magnusson from the Westman
Islands, however, made the
headlines by bringing in 2,000
barrels last Friday the turning
right around before their nets
were even dry to drag in an
additional 2,000 barrels for a
total of 400 tons in less than
24 hours.
O’ Wii’e.t
By Elaine Boe
The OWC held its monthly
Coffee in the Club Reading
Room on May 12th. Jane Mc-
Kemey and Ann Reid were
hostesses.
Several interesting items
were discussed at the meeting.
Motions were made and second-
ed to make donations to the
Youth Center and Little Lea-
gue, both worthy causes.
Bless fish were presented to
members who will be leaving
within the month. Vera Boone
will go to Libya, Patti Speer
to Hawaii, and Barbara Schlott
to California. With them go our
best wishes.
A nominating committee is
working on a new slate of offic-
ers to be presented at our
Coffee in June. Officers will
be elected at our July Coffee.
The Off-Base Wives met in
the home of Fran Snow on, May
6th. The June luncheon will be
hostessed by BarLant wives.
Luncheons will be discontinued
in July and August.
Bridge will be held on May
29th. Reservations may be made
by calling Jean Kemp at 1332
Keflavik.
material they may wish to send
June Tour To
Have Contrasts
A three-day glacier-desert
tour is planned during mid-
June. First across Cage Heath
and east over the fertile farm-
lands of southern Iceland then
to the darkly contrasting desert
Rangarsandur for the beginning
leg of the journey.
The tour will take a route
through places such as Markar-
klett and into the realm of the
southern glaciers Eyjaf jallajok-
ull and Mordalskokull. The road
skirts their towering escarp-
ments ribboned with cascading
waterfalls, and on the left the
Westman Islands can be seen
offshore.
On the first night of the
three-day trip, the tourists will
lodge at Vik, a picturesque fish-
ing village. Next morning, the
sandy desert Myrdalssandur
will be crossed and then on to
the famous interglacial di-
strict of Iceland. Further con-
trast is seen when the largest
lava desert that has ever poured
out in a single eruption any-
where in the world is journeyed.
Then, on from this phenomena
to the highest mountain in Ice-
land, Oraefajokull. Lunch on
this day will be at a small vil-
lage with a name longer than
its main street, Kirkjubaejar-
klaustur.
After a Second night in Vik,
the tour will be rounded out
with a side trip to the Fljots-
hli3 district, generally consider-
ed to be the fairest in Iceland.
This is the famous Sagaland
area where the saga of Burnt
Rhal took place almoust a thou-
sand years ago.
For further information
about this glacier-desert tour,
contract Special Services.
Student Essay
Judges Chosen
The PTA president, Lieuten-
ant Colonel C. R. Fitch, USAF,
announced the names of the
judges of student essays on “My
Role As A Junior Ambassador”.
Commander A. S. Hibbs, Bar-
rier Forces Atlantic; Major V.
R. Barnard, Iceland Defense
Force Staff; Lt. Cdr. E. R. Hill,
Jr., Naval Station; Mrs. P. T.
Garfield High School; and Miss
Lois Barker Industrial Rela-
tions Office will select winners
in the four categories, which
include student levels of both
the elementary and high school
grades.
Final selections in the com-
petition among students of all
grades will be made by Admiral
Buie, Commander Iceland De-
fense Force. Essays are due to-
day, May 22.
Winners in each category will
receive a $50 United States
Saving Bond at ceremonies at
7 p.m. preceding the PTA meet-
ing Thursday evening, May 28.
Admiral Buie will review the
contest results and present
awards.
The regular meeting for May
will continue following the pre-
sentations.
NATO OFFICIALS — Adm. Sir
Charles Madden and Air Marshal
Sir Anthony Selway leave Kefla-
vik International Airport May 14
after visiting NATO installations
and attending various IDF brief-
ings and civic functions.
CwtnMa
by RUGGLES
This reporter has received
several calls and at the end of
the conversation the caller
would say, “Well, I’ll be up to
see you sometime, you are in
the hangar, right?” My usual
reply was usually “No I’m down
at building 839.” However, late-
ly I have stopped saying that,
I just say I’m down in the build-
ing where the telephone office
is located. Everyone seems to
know where the telephone girls
— that is, office is situated.
On the base proper the
CommSta is actually divided
into two spaces. The headquar-
ters is located in the building
that houses the telephone office,
building 839 and the communi-
cations center is located in the
Hangar.
The Communications center
in the hangar handles all the
actual sending and receiving of
messages and the operational
section of the CommSta. Ruikl-
inng 839 house the Commanding
Officer, Executive Officer, Ad-
ministrative Department, Supp-
ly Department, Electronics
Maintenance Office and the
Operations Office.
The Electronics Maintenance
Office in building 839 is re-
sponsible for maintaining all
the electronic gear in the
CommSta. The Supply Depart-
ment handles all the supply re-
quirements of the communica-
tions.
Actually the CommSta stret-
ches out in all direction when
you take into consideration the
the sites at Garrity, Grindavik,
Dye 5, HI, H2, and H3.
Housing. . .
(Continued from Page 1.)
fore being considered one of
the inadequately housed
Grade BAQ Rent
0-6 ......... $170.00 $200
0-5 ......... 157.50 187
0-4 ......... 145.05 175
0-3 ......... 130.05 158
0-2 ......... 120.00 142
0-1 ......... 110.10 125
W-4 ......... 145.05 168
W-3 ......... 130.05 157
W-2 ......... 120.00 147
W-l ............ 110.10 140
E-9 120.00 150
E-8 ......... 120.00 142
E-7 114.90 137
E-6 ....... 110.10 127
E-5 ....... 105.00 120
E-4 (more than
4 yrs. service) 105.00 110
History of Communism
Split In Socialist Ranks
Unites U.S. Communists
In his best-selling book, Masters of Deceit, FBI Direc-
tor J. Edgar Hoover relates the birth of the Communist
Party in the United States:
“An emergency convention of the Socialist Party was
scheduled to begin in Machinists’ Hall . . . Chicago, on Aug.
30, 1919. The Socialists were<
badly split. The left wing, thrill-
ed by the Russian (1917) Re-
volution, wanted to establish a
Communist Party. The rightists
were opposed.”
The Socialist Party, seriously
split on the war question, had
suffered devastating losses in
membership. The post-war
membership was comprised
largely of new immigrants of
Russian, Ukranian, South Sla-
vic,, Finnish, Lithuanian and
Lettish origins to whom the
Red revolution had meant new
freedoms.
Factional disputes have been
the hallmark of communist or-
ganizations since the time of
Karl Marx, and the embryonic
party in the United States was
no exception.
Members immediately divid-
ed into three groups the Com-
munist Party, the Communist
Labor Party, and the Proletari-
an Party. The latter was short-
lived and the other two were
to ultimately merge.
The economic depression
which began in 1929 permitted
the party to move into high
gear. Communists announced
that the failure of capitalism
was manifest, that the proleta-
rian revolution was at hand.
One Russian newspaper printed
pictures of routine street ex-
cavation in New York City and
captioned them the result of
bombings and riots.
Party members began boring
into labor unions and where
they failed to achieve leader-
ship, they set up substitute
party unions. Front organi-
zations (the party was driven
underground by prosecutions
almost at birth) were formed
by the hundreds.
When the Spanish Civil War
broke out in 1936, 3,000 men —
party members, fellow travel-
ers and sympathizers—went to
Spain as the Lincoln Brigade
to fight on the Loyalist side
agaist the fascists. (Moscow
was, at that time, urging all
communists to oppose facism
with whatever means available,
including co-operation with ca-
pitalist and socialist groups).
But before Hitler smashed his
way through France, he and
Stalin signed a non-aggression
pact and, to that extent, be-
came allies. Consequently, Ame-
rican communists were devoted
to keeping the United States
out of war inasmuch as it was
apparent on which side she
would fight.
When the madman turned his
tanks to the east, however, it
was entirely another matter.
“Aid to Russia” was the hue
and cry.
A glimpse at membership fig-
ures, which should be an ac-
curate barometer, reveals party
popularity. Rolls stood at some
25,000 shortly after the 1919
organization. Membership in
1930, following the purges of
the Twenties, approximated
only 7,-500; by 1935, in the
heart of the depression the
ranks had swollen to 30,000.
The popularity of the commu-
nist cause, i.e., anti-Hitler and
pro-“poor Russia,” drove mem-
bership up to 80,000 in 1944. By
the end of the war, according
to Saturday Evening Post Edi-
tor Harold H. Martin, there
were approximately 85,000 card-
carrying members and “the
concealed Communist, sympa-
thizers and fellow travelers
could be numbered in the hund-
reds of thousands.”
Today, the Party nose count
is believed to be about 10,000.
Next week: Today’s Ameri-
can Communism.
YN’s Require
No Shorthand
(NAVNEWS) — Yeomen no
longer have to study shorthand
in order to be able to meet
advancement in rate require-
ments. The Navy, after careful
study, has decided to eliminate
the present stenographic re-
quirement to be effective July
1 this year.
The Navy recognizes that it
still needs Yeomen with ability
but not the numbers in which
they are now trained.
In the past, it has been ne-
cessary for all Yeomen to de-
monstrate stenographic profici-
ency to be advanced to E-6 and
E-7. A new stenographic pro-
gram will utilize promising
E-5’s for attendance at one of
two new Class “C” High Speed
Shorthand Schools.
The new schools, to be lo-
cated at San Diego and Bain-
bridge, will be of 12 weeks
duration. Classes will convene
quarterly at each school with
10 Yeomen in each class.
Broad shorthand require-
ments for Yeomen have not been
realistic in recent years as a
result of decreasing demands
for the skill.
Billets still requiring steno-
graphic training, such as Ad-
miral’s writers and other re-
sponsible assignments, will be
filled from among Yeomen who
have the special “C” school
training.
Selection for special schools
will be based, in part, on an ex-
cellent performance record, high
motivation and moral responsi-
bility. It is considered that
these Yeomen, because of the
knowledge gained in highly re-
sponsible diversified and pre-
ferential assignments, will en-
joy a better than average ad-
vancement opportunity through
pay grade E-9 or selection to
Warrant and Limited Duty Of-
ficer.
It is expected that the pre-
sent Yeoman Class “B” schools
will be shortened from thirteen
weeks to seven weeks and the
present Class “C” stenography
school discontinued.