Stuff about Things!!

 

CHANUTE FIELD, ILL.                                                       (REMEMBER)

 

    18 helicopters will take off for Shepard Field, Texas in what the AAF Training Command termed the largest mass formation and longest distance hop of its kind.  (So don’t be surprised if some day your best gal sets her helicopter down on your tent top.)

 

LATELY FROM HOLLYWOOD!

 

    Jimmy Stewart, now Col James Stewart, named commander of a Liberator wing with the 8th Air Force.   (This actor is not an acting C.O., quote a few of the wags.)

 

THERE’LL BE SOME CHANGES MADE (AND WERE)

 

    Six months old red Irish Setter succeeded Fala in the White House.  (See who said there were no eligible replacements around?)

 

NEW YORK!   ONE BORN EVERY MINUTE!

 

    A 4 effer, who posed as an Army Sgt., flew to Europe on a transport and was sentenced to 18 months prison.  His plea was, wanted to be in the Army but had been turned down by draft officials.  (Would his plea be the same if he had landed here…..we ask…)

 

WASHINGTON, D. C.                       (WHERE MAN MADE LAWS)

 

    Postmaster General says overseas Christmas gifts must be mailed between September 15 and October 15…(Our advice is to mail ‘em now…under the new Army point system we’ll always be here to get ‘em.)

 

FOUR STAR SPECIAL FOR FOOD LOVERS

 

   Portions of salmon now discarded in canning process will form a new food known as Cannery Loaf.  An unlimited has been bought by the ARMY….(At last a substitute for Spam.  Pass the Epsom salts, Doc!)

 

INTRODUCING CAPT. ROBERT A. TIMM:

 

    Our new C.O. is a familiar person to some of the older men in the detachment.  Capt. Timm was the first O.I.C. arriving here June of last year with the original station project.  The first of the troop carried Capt. Timm and his men.  They were greeted by the base commander and went to work immediately installing power equipment. The following day, the station was on the air.

 

    Capt. Timm was cryp officer in some of the Southern Stations.  He joined the group when it was still the 5th AACS region.  Later as security officer, the routine followed him up through several APO’s.  Capt. stayed with us from June to November when he received orders to attend a special officers school in Australia. 

 

    After his course in Australia, Capt. Timm returned to the N.E.I Theater and served as C.O.  at APO’s 702 and 926.  Then came his orders to his old job back to Detachment 45.

 

    “After receiving my orders back to APO 920,” Capt. Timm said, “I felt a bit reluctant about the matter.  After all, I was going back to a place where they all remembered me as the guy who had put them on detail to build the camp’s area.”

 

    Actually, Capt Timm said his reception was entirely to his liking and he is receiving and appreciates the cooperation of all the departments in the detachment.

 

    “I promise,” said Capt. Timm, “to try to make this detachment as comfortable a place for living, working, and recreation as we can find in the entire Group.

 

***************

 

STUFF SAYS: Looks to me like the Nazis finally found that secret weapon that ended the war – a stick with a white flag on the end.

 

TO THE GALS WE LEFT BEHIND

 

    PFC M. I. Grewsome, jilted for the fifth time, herewith presents a form letter compiled from the many similar noted received by him.  Grewsome feels that this will serve as an indispensable aid to perplexed soldier jilters back in the states.

 

INSTRUCTIONS:  Fill in blanks with the victims name and mail to the jilted boy friend.

 

Dear -------

 

    I don’t know how to tell you this but two weeks ago I met ------------ whom I knew instantly was “my man”.  Now please don’t be angry because I will always have a fond spot in my heart for you.

    After all dear, you are there and I am here with thousands of miles of water between us.  And --------- is such a nice fellow.  Really, he is.  (Also he is here.)  I told him all about you and he thinks you are a fine man to be doing your part.  He wishes he too could be a soldier but he is sooooo necessary to the war industry.

    I’m sure you will understand what happened.  I can’t see why we shouldn’t go on remaining friends.  I do want to continue writing to you, really I do.

 

                                                 As ever,

 

 

                                              -----------------

 

***************

 

DON’T SAY WE DIDN’T WARN YOU DEP’T

 

    A ditch has recently come to life in front of club 45.  The chasm grows more troublesome with each successive beer.  It is possible that some heavily loaded member of the detachment unable to negotiate the crossing will go into a half gainor some evening ending where he least expected with a fractured bottom to boot.

(No doubt this mere mentioning will send a flock of would be engineers to work.)

 

IT’S ALL A MATTER OF VIEWPOINT

 

   APO 920 is a rough rugged hole.  Yep, a dusty coral dump in the Southwest Pacific.  Many of you will say, “Why do we have to be the ones to accept this desolate waste as our Pacific Paradise?”

 

    We all realize that as long as the present conflict lasts, we cannot expect to be home.  What’s more, few of us are fortunate enough to be in a position to choose our place of duty.   We have been sent to APO 920 and regardless of our personal viewpoints as to the reason, it is to assist in our small way in the defeat of an enemy who had tried to destroy our way of living.

 

    It is an accepted tradition of all soldiers to “gripe.”  Griping is a privilege in which we excel but often abuse.  Examples of this are such phrases as, “our chow is unpalatable, the climate is unbearable, and the working hours too long.”  Are these things true or are we attempting to use them as an outlet for some inner feeling?  Do we find men in the detachment who appear to be suffering from the effect of hunger or malnutrition?

 

   “Our weather is bad,” sure it is.  We find ourselves sometimes lacking the urge to move very fast, we are tired, even though we have spent eight hours in the sack.  But what we have forgotten is that some of our best friends go for days in flooded fox-holes—their sacks are the hard ground.  Many of them go for days with even a few hours rest.

 

    We say that the sun is hot, but how does it compare with those places in the states where we took basic training?  Miami Beach, Sheppard Field, Jefferson Barracks, Keesler Field, where it is either hot, grimy and sweaty, or windy, cold and freezing.  One is just as bad as the other.

 

    Our hours seem long, but are we actually working a greater number of hours than we did in our civilian capacities?  The answer is obvious but we are reluctant to admit it.  Compare our income now, with that formerly received for our efforts.  We grant you the truth there, but still we cannot overlook the fact that we are the highest paid of any army.  More important that that is our presence here is to assure us that those back home are not suffering the same fate of the peoples under the so-called “New Order.”

 

    Refusing to allow yourself to see the other side of things develops the neurotic feeling that we are imposed upon and that our life is merely an existence.  Just remember it is all a matter of view point, so why not pick the right point?

 

**********************

 

RADIO MECHANICS’ NIGHTMARE

 

A swingy little thingy sung to the tune of “MAIRZY DOATS”.

 

A.C. volts

And D.C. volts

And little ohms and amperes.

A little inductance, too,

Wouldn’t U?

 

With microohms

And B.F.O.’s

And little microfarads,

I’m more than Guinea Goofy.

Aren’t U?

 

If these terns sound queer,

And Screwy to your ear,

A bit off resonance and freaky,

Say L CR and A.V.C.,

I think my condenser is leaky.

 

Ohmzy’s laws

And Kirchoff’s bores-

This is a little crazy.

Radio’s crazy too,

Aren’t U?

 

(Dedicated to T/Sgt. Paul Kepto, radio maintenance chief, S/Sgt George Stearley Sgts. Martin Lam, Cecil Harris, Chet Swiderski, Cpls James Lamp, Frank Rusio(sic) and Pfcs Charlie Lord, Charlie Hodgson, Julius Muscari, and Ballarini.)

 

BACK