Page 96 - Mastheads Aug-Dec 1944

PAGE 2 THE MASTHEAD, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 1941

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Se(I frontier Sector (Ind loc(I/ Defense
T$ASTHEAD * * ♦ ♦ • • ♦ ' ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ • ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ • ♦ ♦ • • • • ♦ ♦ ♦ • • • • •

Official Treasure e Small Craft Did Priceless Job
* * Island publication distributed evEn·y Saturday without cost to the
officers, enlisted personnel, and employees of Treasure Island. All communications and
contributions should be directed to The E ditor, "iVelfare and Recreation Department, s In Ke~ping Our Coasts Unscarred
Treasure I sland, San Francisco, California. Phone: EXbrook 3931, Extension 59.
This is the story of the purse seiners, the cutters and the
COMMODORE R. W. CARY, USN A Marine Yawn-s, Eh?
Commander U. S. Naval Training and Distribution C'enter Personally, we won't vouch for tuna boats-tiny ships but gallant ones-the thousands of lit-
the truth of this superman feat so tle ships that went to sea without glory or fanfare. Ships that
LT. COMMANDER R. S. KI MBELL, USNR
Director of Welfare and Recreation we will just pass it on to you with- have written a glorious chapter in the wartime history of our
out inferring our opinion. Recent
CLYDE F. BABB, Slc, USNR copy which was passed by a censor nation. What happened on the beaches of Dunkirk and in the
Editor English Channel is a story we know well. But what was hap-
relates a story about a Marine who
ROBERT E . JOHNSON, Y3c, USNR, Associate Editor was run over by a tank- and lives pening along our own coasts men are now commanding officers
Rex N. Olsen, Y3c, Managing Editor · Robert H. Perez, Cox, Sports to tell it. while "patriots" were crying aboard P C's, SC's and AK's.
Carolyn N. B1·own, Y2c, Waves Editor George J. Schechter, Y3c, Staff Artist Marine Cpl. Lawrence McKinney, "where is our Navy?", is a This sea-going life was new to
while lying on the beach of Pelelui,
(The Masthead uses Camp Newspaper Service Material) story that becomes known in most of the men but they returned
was run over by a tank. After it to base with a smile and always
. .
had passed over him, McKinney a l ess spec t acu 1 ar way. went out agam m the same manner.
TREASURE ISLAND, S. F., CALIF., SATURDAY, NOV. 11, 1944
got up, yawned and brushed him- Before the smoke had cleared at Their constant wish was to be sent
self off. Pearl Harbor, small boats up and to the South Pacific to "get a
Startled corpsmen were so down the Atlantic and · Pacific crack at the Nips." In their eager-
EDITORIAL- amazed by this incredible incident Coasts were pressed into service ness they would have headed di-
they made him lie down again and as patrol craft. Their job was to rectly for Tokio, had they been
called a doctor, but an X-ray ex- patrol coastal waters and notify the given the word!
amination proved he was not in- mainland upon approach of enemy It was a gruelling task, a dull
'' PaueJ B'I ee,uOII, ,, jured. vessels, aircraft or submarines. The monotonous existence aboard these
* * * proof of how well these converted Lilliputian ships of the Navy. For
The Magellan Route fishing boats accomplishd the task three long years they've done the
The autumn season, arriving a few weeks later in California than When the· fighting Gls started of tightening the ever-watchful web job of ships that could not be spared
back in the middle west and east, reminds many Treasure Island blue- their drive to Leyte Island by the of protection maintained along our from the battle zones. The .wartime
way of the Central Philippines, shores, is apparent. The coasts of work of the fish boats is finished.
jackets of their fall season back home. Back in the states beyond the they followed in the footsteps of our nation are intact and unscarred. They now go back to their peace-
· Rockies you may stand on a hilltop in late September and see October com- Magellan, who discovered the is- Commander Charles Jokstad has time work on the fishing banks.
. · ·1 C l'f · h. · 0 L - d lands 400 years ago. They have been decommissioned by
mg- very s1m1 ar to a 1 orn1a at t 1s time. ut w::re you can stan on a M fi t . ·t been in charge of section patrol
age 11 an rs sigh: ed Suluan the Navy and in the near future
hilltop and see December coming, even through the mist of rain and heavy Island in the Philippines in 1521 craft operating from Treasure Is- will be taken over by their civilian
land, since the dark days of 1942.
fog. "Back home" it is not only October one sees coming in September but and this island was also the site of "Before the Midway alert we had owners.
the American first landing. The swing shift and the purchase
all Autumn. It creeps down from the mountaintops in a haze of leaf color. It St forty-eight hours in which to con- of war bonds have now pr,oduced
1 s range? vert sailing yachts, t una boats and
It strides across the meadows in a foam of final blossom. It whispers down Men of Tojo's ancestry who make purse seiners, fit them out as patrol the needed craft to r-eplace the con-
the valleys in a southward rush of wings, through the marsh grass, tangs up more than 90 per cent of tile vessels and send them to sea. They verted fish boat patrol. The men of
. . . --= 0 personnel ,of the Japanese-Ameri- sailed a radius of five hundred these ships receive no citations or
the evenmg arr with wood smoke. Not only can you see autumn ; you can can 442d Regimental Combat Team glory of actual combat ... but we
miles with no navigating training
hear it, you can feel it in the air, you can smell its pungence. Autumn have won Combat Infantryman and only a sextant and chronometer can give them the recognition that
rd is their due ... upon completion of
trundles into the farmyard fodder for the cattle and yellow-kerneled ears Badges, acco ing to reports. to aid them to port. Anyone who
This combat team is made up en- could boil water was made a cook, a necessary task-the alert and in-
to feed the hogs. It rolls into the cities pumkins, and squash and onions tirely of enlisted men of Japanese vulnerable guard kept upon Am-
a man who had ever fired a gun erica's shores.
and earth-smelling potatoes. It trails bleating and bawling into the stock ancestry. Take note, Tojo! was made a gunner's mate, and
* * *
towns grass-fed beef and fat lambs. It is another season's planting and Nazis Questi-on GI Politics those with mechanical aptitude 1 "Di Dah Dit Corner"
Now that the election is over, the• were the engineers." Flashing new rates on the ATR24
breeding brought to fruit and maturity. Our autumn is something the first
"secret ballot" of a GI may be dis- These ships patroled the en- are "Smokey" McLean, .BMlc,
settlers noted with amazement and visitors still r~mark upon. Those who trances to the various ports of the
closed to captured Nazis who ap- "Shorty" Stroud, CM3c, Bill Brand,
Pacific and steamed in and out in
live with it accept it with simply the turn of another year--,-until they find, peared to be more interested in Somlc and Arthur Davis, ST3c ...
their custodian's political views all kinds of weather without a Congratulations to Lt. Nelson, on
in a letter "passed by censor," the lines: "By the time you get this the
than in anything else. single casualty. One purse seiner two scores, his recent marriage and
maples will be turning. Take a good look at them for me." The GI stated that the German went to the aid of a four-masted the new stripe he is salting down ...
Yes, take a look. Begin in the high country, where aspens fill whole officers asked him how he was go- bark that was becalmed and drift- The new Wave Specialist (X) rat-
ing to vote. ing helplessly toward the beach. ing is being worn for the first time
valleys with rippling gold. Buckbrush has turned crimson, and scrub oak Letters have been received by by five Waves who are -doing
* * *
is purple bronze. Drop down into the great midlands and hear the song of "Pearls of Wisdom" Commander Jokstad from the men quartermaster duty for the Com-
the corn on the bangboard of the husker's wagon. See the fox grapes hang- "Man postpones or remembers;_ who manned these ships early in munications Division of Northern
he does not live in the. present, but the war, and are now serving in all California Sector, D. M. Hoskins, F.
ing high and purple against the sky, the black walnuts waiting the first with reverted eyes laments the parts of the world. These letters tell Stamm, D. Grahovac, L. R. Chester-
_hard frost to bring them down. The wind shakes loose a shower of tam- past or, heedless of the riches that how valuable was the training and field and E. E. Roth ... The Di Dah
experience they received while Dit Corner would not be complete
o' -shantered acorns in the oak thickets, and the bobwhite's whistle echoes/ surround him, stands on tiptoe to
. , foresee the future." "bouncing around on the mountain- without a wedding and Margaret
over the fields of stubble, Sweet gum bursts into a flame of gold and ous waves in the approaches to "Peggy" Entwistle, T2c is the one
the Goldeh Gate." Many of these who "Dood it" this time.
scarlet, and sumac fires line the roadside. Come, finally, to the land of tide-
Sailors and Waves
water, frothy with asters in the meadows and yellow with goldenrod. HANDWRITING ON FUJIYAMA
Bittersweet pops its husk to show a berry bright as a persimmon, and fat Drill Before
bayberries _cluster on the stem, gay as frost and gleaming with beads of Enthusiastic Audience
fragrant wax. Dogwood drops its deep-red leaves but its berries are still The members of the Armed -~-1)."Jt,~
:~·
bright with color. The grape fern spreads its purple lace against the warm Guard Signal School and Wave ~~*~~-~~­
0 _Drill Team were featured at the -~~1;~~
gray granite of an old stone wall. · · · ·---~~•
34th Annual Fireman's Pageant ;;:::- · .
v~.~ O• : •:•.-,";, ,·••'-.•A -
..
Dusk comes earlier now ; with the Big Dipper low on the horizon in and Ball, held in the Civic Audi- :.~:~~~t~~~t?~'~--,
, f 11 d d · · f h. torium in San Francisco Saturday
early evenmg, as though to scoop up a u an nppmg measure o t 1s N ' ' ~~;;~~~--
, ovember 4.
autumn essence. By mid-October the harvest moon was as full of autumn It is believed that their perform-
color as a late chrysanthemum or a tree-ripe winesap. Stand on a hilltop ance marked the first time in the
.. ,. history of San Francisco show busi-
and see autumn come. Stand there and · take a look for me. Not at the ness that a combined men and wo-
maples alone, for the flaming leaves are but a part of the autumn we are men's drill team, made up of mem-
bers of the Armed Forces, executed
remembering now. So is the harvest from the fields, and so are the flights
close-order, precision drills simul-
of mallards and the slow beat of October rain on the new plowed stubble. taneously. The capacity audience
All these are but a part, for autumn in America is also in_the deep strong gave them the biggest hand of the
evening as they turned in a flaw-
pulse of Americans. It is the satisfaction of another season's work well
less performance.
done, the security of sturdy stacks in the farm yard and full bins in the The Waves who participated are
to be especially commended since
root cellar, the strength o( a home where the back log simmers on the
the hours spent in practice for the
hearth and young laughter is the enduring answer t~ the hoot-owl call of event were taken from their own
the dictators. This is the autumn we are remembering, this and frost- leisure time after duty hours. .--:::;:.
..... ?,•'
The Battalion Chief, in thanking ---~·
touched evenings on a qi:iiet street in a peaceful village, mellow moons in
them for their work, asked to be
a city with only the blue October sky overhead, brisk dawns in the fruitful remembered to Commodore R. W. ;. -'~t~ 11'7l,;,-.;:_~-~i.,-- - --
farmland. This is ours, to cherish and defend ; ours to return to and make Cary, Commander E. D. Flaherty,
Lt. Commander Thomas Macklin,
once more our own. Lt. Q. Carmichael and Chief Signal-
On this Armistice Day let us remember that there will be another man Douglas Sherwin without
whose sponsorship and help the
similar day in the not too distant future. The more we in the Navy can do
team could not have appeared.
to bring this war to its final end the sooner this important day will arrive . The entire performance will be
and we then can return to our homes where autumn creeps down from the repeated tonight at the All-Station
dance at the Treasure Island Gym r•c:.. . . . .._
mountaintops in a haze of leaf color and we will not be writing letters with \........_.)J,i • ......_MS~,e,...,;_
and will highlight the intermission
the stamp on the envelope reading "passed by censor." entertainment.
4',a>7 W~ 1Jon4 Cartoon Serrio•