[This issue missing the usual "THE SQUADRON PULSE" header text. - Ed.]
For the Men of the Fightin’ 3rd Published in Luzon, P.I.
Vol. 1. No. 16 Weekly June 17, 1945 3rd Airdrome Squadron APO 74
CONVENTION MEETING BIG SUCCESS
At 8:10 S/Sgt. McQueen, presiding chairman, called the meeting to order. Club Carabao was packed with an unexpectedly large crowd and it was all the encouragement we needed.
After McQueen had kindled the fire of enthusiasm and briefed over the main issues, he called for an election of officers. First to be considered was a permanent chairman. Nominations were made & votes cast, and out on top came Pulse Editor, Stringfield.
At this point the new chairman took over. Without further ado, a committee numbering 5 men went thru the process of nomination and election. These men, it was agreed, were to represent and be responsible for all men living within a certain zone in the USA. The five zones and the men elected to represent each are as follows:
(1) New Jersey, Penna, Maryland and Delaware----Al Horne. (2) Ohio, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin-----Andy Mascolina. (3) All Southern States east of Miss. and south of the Mason-Dixon line----Lew Carter. (4) New England States and New York----Henry Basso. (5) All states west of the Mississippi, R.V. Calkins. John Ivanick was unanimously elected Treasurer, and that completed the roster of officers.
This was followed by open discussion. There were many hanging and dangling issues, such as to be found in the duties of officers, finances & the When and Where. Each jagged edge, however, was smoothed over or checked pending further discussion. Everybody responded...the esprit de corps was at its peak and progress was made in giant strides. This was indeed heartening.
Some issues, however, would have to be shelved ‘til the war’s end; others, more complex and decisive, will have to be panned out as soon as possible between Chairman and committee...but, in general, the scheme and outline of the Convention was no longer a haunting specter----it was a fact and it was very much alive.
Lack of space in this issue of Pulse will not permit the release of all details reached at the meeting, however as time goes by and still further decisions unfold, you will be promptly and fully informed...via the Pulse and the Bulletin Board. At some future date a second meeting will be held & a composite plan will be laid out before everybody for judgment, debate and final approval. In the meantime, everybody keep the coals hot and be ready to dish out 10 pesos [$5.00, or $88.31 in 2025 dollars - Ed.] at the pay desk on payday. Yes, you can pay by installments if you want......
THE HANGMAN
Whether or not the PULSE, in May 20th issue, was the match which touched off the powder keg, this week saw the second Battle of Iwo Jima flare up---even worse than the last----and all over those same darn, troublesome chickens.
The second “Iwo” started when the “Wall Street Boys,” LaMont and Obersaki [Obrsajko, name combined with “saki” (misspelling of sake) - Ed.], couldn’t come to terms-----they couldn’t determine whose responsibility it was to feed the chickens.
After much hee-hawing around, it was finally and settled---once for all! It seems that LaMont, in a fit of exploding anger, bolted from his workbench, grabbed one of the troublesome fowls, and in one fierce twist, wrung off its neck. Still mad with rage, “Hangman” LaMont then threw the bloody remains into a nearby truck, which happened to be Steele’s. This didn’t make Steele very happy. If this continues, looks like we’ll have to appeal to the Frisco Conference for intervention.
SQUADRON PULSE
Vol. 1 No. 16 . . . . . . . June 17, 1945.
Editor . . . . . . . . . Pfc. Stringfield
Staff Writers
Cpl. Calkins . . . . . . . Cpl. Fessenden
Compositors
Cpl. Drecoll . . . . . . . . Cpl. Harrell
Staff Assistants
Sgt. Bland . . . . . . . . Sgt. Mascolina
This paper may be mailed home.
A KINGDOM FOR A KID
All week long the dominating topic of discussion was demobilization. The undecided issue still pending in Washington irked everybody: How much lower would be the new point system? Can you still accrue points after May 18th? Will TD affect the points already accredited? And ad nauseum. Many conjectured--but nobody had the answer.
It seems that the plan has undergone so many changes since first divulged that many a GI has become a “Doubting Thomas,” suspicious that somewhere in the higher brackets there is bungling.
We hope that shortly something will be done to appease the GI’s mind once and for all. Personally, the PULSE feels that men like Keister, Lanigan, Ray Smith, Beaubien, Penn and Kelsey with 34 or more months overseas should get 1st consideration, but, unfortunately overseas time counts only ONE point---one measly point. [This is not quite accurate. While each month of overseas duty counted as one point, soldiers also got one point for each month in the service overall. So a month overseas meant two points. - Ed.] Ah, a Kingdom for a kid..... [Under the point system, which determined how soon a soldier was eligible to go home, a child was worth twelve points. - Ed.]
OUR HANDS ARE TIED
A few of the fellows (2 or 3) have voiced their opinions that the Pulse has in some past issues used too violent language. For these past iniquities, we beg forgiveness from those whom we offended, but the Pulse is out to please the vast majority of men, and so long as only 2 or 3 or even 10 complain, the Pulse will stand its ground. You can’t please everybody.
AS TIME GOES BY
Birthdays for: Ralph Buck 18th, Dwight Bull 18th, Al Tilghman 20th, Charlie Eastland 20th, Cellery 21st, Percy Miller 22, C.D. Horn 22nd.
BOOBY TRAPS--Don’t be curious. Curiosity kills more than cats.
CAPTAIN MTCHELL COMMENDS: T/Sgt Schmitz for efficiency in handling the Refueling Section.
A TYPICAL SNAFU
On my left I heard the whining sound of an engine being started. When its intensity increased and no sign of contact, I glanced over to see a Snafu. The command car wouldn’t start. The driver, after running the battery down, decided that there “must be something wrong” (to quote).
Up goes the hood, off comes the air cleaner, which our friend almost dissects and to his dismay, finds oil in same----maybe that’s it. A few loose wires, which our driver has seen fit to scramble up a bit more. He looks happy now as he climbs back into the seat and starts the grinding over again.
In the meantime, a few spectators had arrived in the scene----each telling the other all about the intricacies of internal combustion. Let’s see, present were two cooks, a medic, a Sq Supply man, oh few Filipinos, not to forget one from Hq.
It was all settled when one mechanic walked up and set his mechanical genius to work. The trouble---the ignition was not turned on. The driver - oh yes - he was a cook!!
MECHANIC: Courtesy of Operations Section.
BY E.W. LOW
GRAPEVINE --- By X-2
FACE THE MUSIC: Two things not to worry about: 1. Getting credit (and 5 points) for the Bismarck Archipelago Campaign. Reason: We weren’t cited by USAFFE General Order. 2. T. D. You might as well forget about it......unless you’re a key man.
GESTAPO: For a couple errors committed in his first ballgame, “Shortstop” Red Dunbar, on returning to his tent, found his sack laying outside.
MAYBE: Perhaps in the near future, with the stumble-block gone away, we can get our Filipino KP’s back.
TRIVIA: “Zombie” Blankenship’s first reaction when he got the news of going home was summed up in these words: “And all the money I owe everybody.”
MY DAZE . . . . . . . . By r.v. calkins.
Someday some of us may possibly visit those group of islands (I mean that group of islands) north of here and known as Nippon or Japan. This is not giving out any military information, of course; it would be darn funny if some of us didn’t see Japan. Pre-war travel ads pictured this country as a colorful land of snowcapped peaks and orchards reeking with the scent of cherry blossoms. A quaint and harmless people were supposed to inhabit this land, very polite, interested principally in cultivating rice. Their cities were modern and progressive. Japan was an interesting and pleasant place to live.
General Arnold has remarked that from here on out, Japan is going to be one terrible place to live. That quaint and harmless race whose quaintness turned out to be fanaticism, are going to lose those progressive cities, and the reek of smoke and death will blot out all scent of cherry blossoms. Which is too bad -- for them.
Nobody, or at least very few, seemed to realize what the Jap character was like until the war. The Jap has always been considered a very funny man. Back in the last century, W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan wrote a comic operetta about “charming” people, called “The Mikado.” The opening chorus began:
If you want to know who we are,
We are gentlemen of Japan.
We figure in lively paint:
Our attitude’s queer and quaint -
You’re wrong if you think it ain’t.
The Japs didn’t cotton to operetta; it made fun of their customs, ideas and the Mikado himself was one big laugh all the way through. But they didn’t raise any fuss about it --- then.
Japanese houseboys were another source of humor. Some time ago there was a radio program called “Watanabe and the Honorable Archie.” Watanabe was the houseboy who twisted his English into the Japanese idiom and it was very funny indeed.
Now we have a different idea, though we got it the hard way. The Japs have a different idea of us, too, and we are making a stronger impression every day. When we go into Japan, what will we do with the Japs? Probably the best answer is in Gilbert & Sullivan’s “Mikado,” where the Mikado himself says:
“Let the punishment fit the crime.”
IT WAS A KILLER
This past week, the sqdn was prodded to see The Sex Hygiene Training film. It is a show that most of us have seen no less than 20 times and most of us by now know it backwards. [Perhaps they were shown this film that can be seen on YouTube - Ed.] But, as it turned out, it became the greatest hit comedy yet seen on this base. GI’s laughed so hard, they went into convulsions; some collapsed, rolled over, beat their thighs, spanked the ground until their sides were splitting. We just gotta have more of ‘em for morale’s sake. Possibly a Training Film on “Close Order Drill” would do the trick.
APOLOGY: He probably won’t be around when this issue of the PULSE comes out, but, for the record, the PULSE wishes to apologize for their carelessness in omitting Lt. Peterson’s name on the “Going Home” list in the last issue. The Loot [lieutenant - Ed.] already has his plans laid out for a “brawl” in Frisco with Cathcart, Blank, Watson and Poe invited. I rather imagine it will be something like a Sunday School class, don’t you?
MORE GRAPEVINE --- By X-2
QUESTION: Where’s the matches?
THE MILITARY: Kaufman and Reinhalter failed to salute an Officer in town one evening this past week & had their names turned in. Naughty, naughty.
IRONY: When “Pinky” Cathcart left for overseas, home, he was promptly honored by his former tent mates. They hung a Service Flag outside of the tent.
FAMOUS SAYINGS
With a strictly 3rd Airdrome flavor.
“You can’t even get by with your own idiosyncrasies”----Sam Rosenblum, commenting on his lost freedom in the service.
“Yeah, I was pretty handy with the glove in the ‘Old Army’”-----Larry Theobald.
SOFTBALL . . . . . . . . . By Fessenden
NUMBER ONE
Avenging a previous defeat, the Third beat the 7th ASG Hq Sqdn, 1st round runner-up team, by score of 1-0 in a tight contest at the home field Monday.
Playing errorless ball, the 3rd got its one run in the second inning --- Stouch smacked a two-sacker and Knisley, the next man up, singled to bring him across the plate.
Rose, pitching one of his best games, allowed the 7th only two hits while the 3rd collected five off Montrose.
NUMBER TWO
The Third was again in the win column Wednesday night, winning over the 2479th QM Tk Co., 5-0. Again there were no marks in the error column.
Goodman, playing his first game of the season at shortstop, hit twice for two times at bat, and both drove in runs.
Smith, J.T. Goodman, Goelzer, Henry and Rose scored.
NUMBER THREE
Some’s got it, and some ain’t, and this week the Third had it. Friday night they wound up a perfect week by beating the 1098th Signal Co. 2-0.
The 2 scores came in the first inning when Smith hit, J.T. Goodman sacrificed, Stouch singled to drive in Smith and Anderson brought Stouch over the plate.
No runs were scored against the 3rd in this week’s games, and behind them is a record of errorless ball. All told, Rose gave up 7 hits; 1098th Signal went hitless until Small got a fluke hit in the last of the 5th.
BASKETBALL . . . . . . . . . . . By Bland
THIRD TRIPS LEADERS
The “Fightin’ Third” done dood it again; first it was the 6th Rangers, whose record stood at 19 wins and 1 defeat until they tangled with the 3rd; then it stood at 19 wins and 2 defeats. ["I dood it!" was a catch phrase of radio comic Red Skelton, and the title of a movie that he starred in. - Ed.] Next it was the highly touted 6th Army outfit whose 29 victories out of 30 starts, and the defeat was at the hands of a Filipino Olympic team, made them feel like a “Superior Private” towards all other GI basketball teams on Luzon -- that is until Monday night when they ran into the 3rd and took a good drubbing 35-23.
Said the Tuba Tribune, “It was no ordinary night.” [Judging by a few rare examples found online, The Tuba Tribune was a mimeographed newsletter that was published in the Philippines, possibly by the 6th Army. The first issue appeared about a week or two before The Squadron Pulse began, so it is possible that The Tuba Tribune inspired The Squadron Pulse - Ed.] And just how right they were cannot be overestimated, for the Third should have, by all means, just gone thru the formalities of a ballgame and bowed down to their “Superiors.” But that was not the case. The team squared off and let go with everything they had. Big Bill Fowler tagged 5 points before the 6th even found an opening in the defense to score a field goal, but from then on the 6th could not come within 3 points of tying the score. The 3rd’s big period was the final quarter, when they tallied 15 markers with ten of them belonging to the Pa. Dutchman, Johnny Stouch whose one-handed shots had even the 6th’s cheering section standing up and rooting for the 3rd. Johnny collected 15 points in all to be evening’s high scorer.
The 3rd worked and fought as a team throughout the game. Brownie and all his 5' 7" provided a lot of action by snatching the ball from his 6' 4" opponent, while Cathcart and Cummings put clamps on their better 6-foot charges.
Stouch
Cummings
Fowler
Brown
Cathcart
Fountain
Hunt |
|
GF
7
2
4
1
2
0
0 |
FP
1
0
1
0
1
0
0 |
P
15
4
9
2
5
0
0 |
|
--------------------------- |
|
16 |
3 |
35 |
LAST GAME
The squadron team had one man’s name on the lineup for the 6th Army game which will be missing from the remaining games - Cathcart. “Pinky” has been a member of the team since the first time it played under the colors of the Third at Myrtle Beach. “Pinky,” Kraft, Stouch, Bland and Englebretson made up the team at that time and since then Pinky, by his aggressive playing, has been responsible in no little way for much of the success enjoyed by the team and in no little way will his loss be felt in future games.
TOURNAMENT NEXT WEEK
Next Friday the 3rd enters the league basketball tournament against a new opponent, the 16th Signal “O” team [possibly meaning the 16th Signal Operations Battalion - Ed.].
|
|
