The White Falcon - 17.11.1978, Blaðsíða 1
Deadline near for Christmas mail
W The Naval Station Post Office
has advised patrons to "shop early
and mail early" if they want to
have their Christmas packages
arrive in the States before Dec. 25.
If you plan to send a package
home you only have two weeks to get
it in the mail in order to assure
delivery on time. Postal Clerk
Chief Louis Dixon, NavStaKef Postal
Officer, advises that all Space
Available Mail (SAM) should be
mailed no later than Nov. 25.
Packages sent by Parcel Air Lift
(PAL) should be in the mail Nov. 30,
and Priority (airmail) parcels,
1etters and cards should be mailed
no later than Dec. 13 in order to
be at their destination on time.
Chief Dixon asked that in order
to help provide the best service
possible customers observe the fol-
lowing suggestions.
* Separate all cards and letters
according to size.
* Have all envelopes facing the
same direction with the address
side up.
* Group letters and cards by
cities and states. If there are
more than five letters or cards for
the same city or state, take a
piece of paper and write the city
or state on it and attach it to the
bundle.
* If the.'e are not enough to
make a bundle for one city or state
mark "mixed" on the paper and
attach to the bundle.
* If your letters or cards are
going locally (on-base) put them in
numerical order by box numbers,
mark local on the front of the
bundle, secure bundle with a
rubber band, and place in the
local box located inside the Post
Office lobby.
* Be sure to use your full and
correct return address including
box number and zip code.
* Be sure parcels are properly
packed (see story page 6) and
customs declarations are attached
and filled out properly to avoid
delay at the window.
*Customs regulations require
that you sign your package just
below your return address.
Chief Dixon also encouraged any-
one who has a question to call the
Post Office at 7981 or 2203 and any
of the postal clerks on duty will
be glad to help.
Qhahksqiuing
Celebrated the
cPUgrtms'
SuruiuaL
The first national Thanksgiving,
proclaimed by President Abraham
Lincoln in 1863, was during the
darkest days of the Civil War. The
very first Thanksgiving held by the
Pilgrims of Massachusetts, more
than three centuries ago, came at
the end of a period of suffering
during which almost half of the
settlers died. It is strange that
mankind is very seldom thankful
during periods of plenty.
There was a Thanksgiving cele-
bration in Jamestown, Va., several
years before the more famous one at
Plymouth. In June of 1610, a ser-
vice was held by the emaciated sur-
vivors of the "starving time". Of
some 490 colonists who had been at
Jamestown in the fall of 1609, only
60 were alive with the coming
Spring. These hollow-eyed survi-
vors were about to abandon the set-
tlement when news came that a ship
bearing relief supplies was on its
way. A thanksgiving service was
held upon the arrival of the ship.
Perhaps, as one writer expressed it,
the idea and expression of thanks-
giving is not a backward look, but
one into the future.
It was almost a century before
the Lincoln proclamation in 1863
that Congress took the initiative
continued on page 2