The White Falcon - 25.06.1976, Blaðsíða 3

Page 3
June 25, 1976
Iceland celebrates Republic Day 76
Traditional events, parades and ath-
letic competition were a few of the many
activities held on Iceland's Republic Day
Thursday in Reykjavik.
The establishment of the Republic took
place June 17, 1944, and each year it is
celebrated not only in the nation's
capital, but also in many small commu-
nities around the country.
The events in Reykjavik included the
laying of a wreath on the statue of Jon
Sigurdsson, the father of Iceland's in-
dependence movement, and a church service
at the National Cathedral.
Three parades joined togther at the
downtown square where there was enter-
tainment for all ages.
In the afternoon, a swim meet and
track and field events were held. The
day ended with outdoor parties.
ATHLETIC COMPETITION (left) and parades
(right) mark Icelandic Independence Day.
These were only a few of the activities
marking the festive day in Reykjavik.
(photos by PH3 Rene1 Pearce)
Girl Scouts have Bicentennial Day Camp
Seventy girls and 23 adults have
spent this week at Girl Scout Day Camp.
The camp ends tonight with a closing
bonfire ceremony to which the families
of the scouts have been invited.
This year the day camp has a Bicen-
tennial theme with all the activities
and games the same as those a girl in
1776 might have done.
The scouts did some old fashioned
cooking such as making jelly, scones and
making their own butter. They played
games popular in the Revolutionary War
period. Some of the arts and crafts
projects they were involved in included
needle point, quilting, candle dipping,
puppet making and making com husk
dolls.
The camp met every day from 9 a.m. to
3:30 p.m. at the Girl Scout Hut. It in-
cluded 20 second and third grade
Brownies, 35 Juniors from the fourth,
fifth and sixth grades and 15 Cadette
Girl Scouts from the seventh, eighth and
ninth grades.
^ ‘I felt I needed to help the people who have helped others’
The pleasant aroma of barbecue sauce
and fried fish spread through the build-
ing and escaped out the door.
For those waiting in the foodline,
the smell was tempting and they were
ready to eat at the fish fry - but most
of them didn't mind waiting for service.
Never before had so many people
gathered at the USO at one time. Five
hundred twenty-five people were served
in 15 hours by one man - with a little
help from his friends.
"I'm not much of a cook," said Tech-
nical Sergeant Festus Rice, "but I made
available my services and time for a
worthy cause."
It was quite an evening for Sgt. Rice
and the volunteers who had planned only
on making $500. After the food was ser-
and the money was counted, the USO
over $1,000 from the food contrib-
uted by Sgt. Rice.
lie donated over $300 worth of gro-
ceries, including 350 pounds of fish,
hush puppies, french fries, baked beans,
and the ingredients for coleslaw and po-
tato salad.
About his generous act Festus says,
"I felt I needed to help the people who
have helped others. There are so many
people who try so hard to support the
USO. My only regret is that I didn't
get involved with the USO sooner than I
did.
Explaining his interests in the USO
Sgt. Rice continues, "As Traffic Mana-
ger of Air Forces Iceland I have been
called several times by the USO for ad-
vice. In working with these cases, I
found myself spending more and more time
at the USO. I didn't realize they han-
dled so many personal problems there."
"The military personnel here are just
great and they deserve more convenience
items. For more of a family-type atmos-
phere in the USO a wood-burning fire-
place will be installed." He said, "For
speed service in the kitchen we hope to
order a deep fryer and an ice cream ma-
chine from the money that was just
made."
The success of the event rests on the
planning and publicity it had. As Fes-
tus put it, "People will spend money for
something like this because they know
how it will be spent. The volunteers
who helped serve and make cakes and pies
just enjoyed helping. We also appre-
ciated the help and publicity from
AFRTS."
"It was about 2 a.m. when the crowd
was gone and there was still food to be
served. I called the radio station and
they announced that the USO was still
open and serving fish. The whole Marine
Barracks must have gotten out of bed to
come eat because between 2 and 3 a.m.
over $150 was taken in. By 8 a.m. the
only leftovers were fish."
According to Joan Pierce, USO Staff
Helper, "The fantastic fish fry was an
inspiration to us, he proved it could be
done. Sgt. Rice is a truly fine indi-
vidual who cares ultimately for the wel-
fare and happiness of others. His un-
selfish donations helped us to obtain
new equipment which we so desperately
need. The whole staff thanks him
dearly."
About future USO specials Sgt. Rice
declares, "Any help that you can give
will be appreciated. Gatherings like
this fish fry have been planned for the
future. Saturday night we stayed open
all night and drew a crowd of over 300
persons. Because of its success it was
decided to keep the USO open both Friday
and Saturday nights this weekend. Fish
will be served again."
For Sgt. Rice, "The USO should be
SGT. FESTUS RICE (left) and one of his
assistants serve dishes of food at the
USO. (photo by TSgt. Larry Simmons)
(Story by J02 Terry Barnthouse)
a place you want to come to and we are
trying to make it that way."