Page 88 - Mastheads Aug-Dec 1944

PAGE 2 THE MASTHEAD, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1944

Navy Mail Servi(e * NAVY NURSES DONATE PLASMA*
D Takes Added Steps

To Speed The Mails
* * Island publication distributed every Saturday without
<>ffioial Tre!"sure * * cost to the
officers, enlisted men, and employees of Treasure Island. All communications and Making every effort to
contributions should be directed to The Editor, Welfare and Recreation Department,
Treasure Island, San Francisco, California. Phone: EXbrook 8981, Extension 59. speed the mails through rap-
idly to bluejackets, Marines
COMMODORE R. W. CARY, USN
Commander U, S. Naval Training and Distribution Center and Coastguardsmen on a new
LT. COMMANDER R. S. KIMBELL, USNR ship or at a new overseas sta-
Director of. Welfare and Recteation tion, the Navy Department
STANLEY SOLOMON, Y2c, USNR has inaugurated a change of
Editor
address system which is com-
CLYDE F. BABB, Slc, USNR, Associate Editor
Robert E. Johnson, Y3c, Managing E·ditor Rex N. Olsen, Y3c, Feature Editor pulsory for every Navy man
Carolyn N. Brown, Y2c, WAVES Editor George J. Schechter, Y3c, Staff Artist leaving the States.
Previously, there was no system
TREASURE ISLAND, S. F., CALIF., SATURDAY, NOV. 4, 1944
by which an activity was notified
that a specific group of men were
arriving. If the man had not in-
EDITORIAL- formed his correspondents of a
changed address, mail addressed to
him. was forwarded to his new sta- •
tion, often. before he had arrived, FOUR RECENT DONORS from Treasure Island t-o the Red Cross
and when there was no record of Blood Donor Center in San Francisc-o-were Navy Nurses Ensign Ma-
belle E. Kuschel, Lt. (jg) Frances L. Sonsalla, Ensign Mildred I. Oswalt
his name there, it would be re-
and Ensign Gertrude M. Silverstein. It was the first donation for all
The Armed Forces of the United States have returned to the Philip- turned. but Lt. (jg) Sonsalla, who made her third donati-on, and who had bee,n
at Pearl Harbor December 7 and helped administer plasma at that time.
pines to fulfill both a military necessity and a moral obligation. Now, however, every Joe Doe
leaving an activity within the
Even if re-conquest of the Islands had not been essential to future United States will fill out a card for tered the district tennis tourna-
ment for women. Working her way
large-~cale operations against the east China coast and the Japanese main- his correspondents, newspapers and ~~~
up in the singles line-up she
land itself, we would have come back. For the Philippines have been our publishers giving his new address eventually reached the top and was
and notifying his office of the
responsibility since they came under U. S. control in 1898, (following change of address. This new system 111111 11'Dtl IE 1111 EW S defeated for the championship by
the Spanish-American war) and our government is solemnly committed, only a narrow margin.
informs the commanding officer
by Congressional resolution, to the restoration of Philippine freedom and Seattle, Wash., is her home and
that Joe is coming and to hold his Queen of the Courts she admits a yen for not only
early independence. mail; and, by the same token, gives The young lady in question is tennis, but most other sports with
When General Douglas MacArthur left the Philippines in March, his old station an immediate ad- Marion Fry, SKD2c. Her picture special emphasis on basketball.
1942, to set up the Southwest Pacific Command in Australia, a few steps dress to which mail can be for- appeared on our front page two We feel she deserves special credit
weeks ago and now we feel she de-
warded. The commanding officer for her help . in promoting the
ahead of the invading Japs, he vowed he would return. And even in the serves a complete introduction to
at every ship and station is charged women's sports program here on
early black days of the Pacific war, there never was any doubt that that T. I. tennis fans .. the island. The large number of
with the responsibility for having
Her Navy career reads like that WAVES from Armed Guard who
pledge would be kept. the change of address card filled
of most enlisted WAVES with the are now active · on the various
The six-months' defense of the Philippines against overwhelming out completely for each enlisted customary four weeks spent in bowling and volley-ball teams
man and officer being transferred
Jap odds by green American and Filipino troops was not only an epic "boot" school followed by a special show the kind of sports promo-
from his ship or station. training course at Storekeeper tion she has been doing in her
of courage add endurance, it was also a military contribution to the cause
When a boy first arrives over- school and eventual assignment to leisure hours. This kind of team-
of United Nations' victory of the first order, the full significance of which
seas his morale is at lowest ebb. the west coast and Treasure Is- work will put T. I. WAVES in the
is only now becoming generally appreciated. Mail from Mom, Dad and Mary land. She is at present attached to limelight during the next few
The men who fought in the jungles of Bataan and in the fields and used to take from three weeks to the Armed Guard Disbursing of- months.
caves of Corregidor gave us the necessary time to recover from the treach- three months to reach him after he fice. Japs Wanted His Scalp
had left the States. This Ii.ew Taking an active · After getting more than what
erous attack on Pearl Harbor, to prepare for Australia's defense and to part in high school
method is designed to give Joe a would seem his share of action
set up sea routes across "the Pacific. Their fight was hopeless, but it was sports prior to en-
break. Now his mail will be there during the invasion of Peleliu,
listment, i t w a s
not in vain. · to greet his arrival overseas, and only natural that Palau Islands, Navy Pharmacist's
The first attack on the Philippines came about 10 hours after the letters that just missed him as he Mate (third class) Frank Tracy
when the spring and Callahan, 19, of Woburn, Mass.,
bombing of Pearl Harbor, on December 8, 1941. Virtually all American left the States will be ready to be summer m o n t h s
delivered at ship's side when he rolled around they has arrived for convalesce»1ce. He
planes on the islands were destroyed before adequate counter-measures is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Edward
first puts into port. Not only will would find Marion
could be taken. Our main bomber force, at Clark Field, 40 miles north J. Callahan, 53 Arlington Road,
this be a big boost to morale, but on the T. I. tennis
of Manila, our main fighter force at Iba Field, and our planes protecting it will eliminate a large part of the courts polishing off the fine points Woburn.
"The Purple Heart was the last
the Cavite Naval Base were all destroyed, m_any on the ground. Cavite was directory service, making available of service and return.
thing I was looking for," he said,
the operating headquarters of the U. S. Asiatic Fleet. additional Navy personnel for dis- Her first taste of Navy athletic "but I was hit seven times during
patching the mails. competition came when she en-
Following a strategy worked out many months before the attack, the first hour and a half at Pel~-
liu. Those Japs really wanted my
Manila, the large Philippine capital, was declared an open city, scalp!"
and, on January 1, 1942, forces were withdrawn to Bataan Peninsula, four DECEMBER 1 TO 7 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Serving as aid-man with a rifle
•
• • •
• • •
miles from Corregidor. The original intention was to hold out for sixty company of the renowned First
days until reinforcements from the U. S. arrived, but the Pearl Harbor Marine Division, he went ashore on
D-Day, under heavy artillery and
attack made any effective aid to the Philippine garrison impossible.
mortar fire, in a first-'wave am-
On Bataan, we were able to put only two combat planes in the air phibian tractor.
at the same time, while squadrons of Jap fighter planes and bombers He made the
beach at 8:30 a. m.,
ranged the skies bombing and strafing our men almost at will. For awhile,
and by 8:40 he had
four light unarmed civilian planes, called the "Bamboo fleet," made been hit twice-each
regular night flights, bringing in supplies of quinine and other drugs. time by a different
Jap sniper, but each
The Bataan defenders had only one radio direction finder, one fully
time on his right
equipped anti-aircraft battery and one group of mounted 75's. A squadron hand. He continued
of PT boats under Lt. Commander John D. Bulkeley performed heroi- to work. And at 10
o'clock he caught
cally, sinking a Jap light cruiser, a 5,000-ton transport and other Jap ships.
five slugs from a light machine
But we were hopelessly outnumbered.
gun, in his left shoulder and neck.
Nevertheless, while Singapore and Hongkong fell before furious Jap On all three occasions, he was
onslaughts, our men-almost all of whom were experiencing their first bending over wounded Marines,
giving first aid ,
action-stubbornly held an estimated 200,000 Japs including thousands
"The machine gun stopped me,"
of battle-tried shock troops at bay until mid-April. Disease-ridden, ex- he said. "I was preparing to give
hausted from lack of sleep, without food or drugs, they endured unbeliev-_ a shot of morphine to a Marine,
able hardships. Crocodiles and pythons were reported slaughtered for when the five slugs hit me. They
dazed me for a moment or two,
food. Rice and mule meat were staples of their diet.
but when I recovered, I gave the
Before the end came, as many troops as possible were evacuated to Marine his morphine-and took a
Corregidor to continue resistance, including some sailors and marines and shot myself.
68 Army nurses. But the Japs captured 35,000 American and Filipino "Then we both wa,Jked to the
beach, and waited our turns to go
combat soldiers, several thousand non-combatant soldiers and 25,000 aboard a hospital ship.
civilians on Bataan. "Believe me, anybody who came
At Corregidor, Lt. General Johnathan Wainright, who assumed com- out of Peleliu in one piece is a
lucky man. I've seen exactly an
mand after General MacArthur's departure, continued fighting until May
hour and a half of combat, so I'm
6, 1942, when the last organized American resistance on the Islands ended no veteran 'campaigner'- but I
with the surrender of our forces. .~·::-. can't imagine h~w battle could be
Now- two years after they were driven from the Philippines, U. S. l • ,e ~·•:.-~~~~~:~· ,_i+., tougher, anywhere against any-
one."
Forces have retttmed to the Islands. Today, backed by the mightiest mili- :11;.... •
Callahan was graduated from
tary machine ever built by any nation, our tr()o ps are there kJ stay. ~ LIFEBUOY @ Woburn High Scnqol in June, 1942.