BU
Vol. 3—No. 47
U. S. NAVY PRE-FLIGHT SCHOOL, CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
Friday, August 10, 1945
Six Officers Arrive
While Seven Leave
During Past Week
Changes in officer personnel
during the past week included
six arrivals and seven detach
ments.
Those reporting here for duty
are Lt. Comdr. Carl H. Senter,
from Georgia Pre-Flight, as
signed to navigation; Lt. Comdr.
E. E. Brunson, from Air Group
98, who will serve as officer-in-
charge, military track; Lieut.
D. W. Christiansen, from
NATTC, Jacksonville, Fla., as
signed to the Military Depart
ment; Lieut. H. J. Franklin,
from NAS, Dallas, Tex., as
signed to aerology, and two
Navy nurses, Lt. (jg) Janea E.
Wiley, from overseas, and Ens.
Mary E. Zohn, from Naval Hos
pital, Portsmouth.
Those detached were Lieut.
John J. Craighead and Lieut.
F. C. Craighead, Jr., assistants
in the survival program; Lieut.
Wilmer F. Bennett, navigation
training officer; Lieut. George F.
Horner, English training officer
for the French cadets; Lieut.
Robert J. Keefe, insurance offi
cer; Lieut. George F. Fusco, bat
talion officer, and Lieut. Edwin
H. Staehling, engines training
officer.
I
15,000 Magazines Weekly
Naval personnel on board
ship and at shore stations out
side the United States are re
ceiving each week 15,000 copies
of America’s favorite magazines.
TO ENTERTAIN TONIGHT—High on the list of talent that will
entertain at the all-station Happy Hour at Emerson Field tonight
are the five cadets and civil service employee shown above. Top
left in the usual order are Moffat G. Sherard, 68th Battalion,
Miss Vee Yates, of the disbursing office, and Wirt H. Hamilton,
68th Battalion. Above on the right is singer Leonard H. Graves,
of the 68th, while rehearsing their act below are French Cadets
Cloude Girard, from Paris, at the piano, and French Cadet Yves
Matte, from Algiers, exercising his vocals.
Ex-Cadet Survives In Jungle
Add to the now almost end
less list of naval aviators who
owe their lives to superb physi
cal conditioning the name of Lt.
(jg) Robert J. Graham, Ard
more, Pa., who was in training
here with the 14th Battalion late
in 1942.
The stirring story of his
forced landing on a rice paddy
and of a 179-day battle for sur
vival in the wilds of Borneo was
related in an Associated Press
dispatch from Fleet Air Wing
Headquarters in the Philippmes
last week.
To quote: . .
“Some fliers are superstitious
about that last mission, the one
that releases them for home and
rest. They fear something may
happen, just as it did in the case
of Lt. (jg) Robert J. Graham
and his Navy Liberator crew.
“The mission was their 62nd
—and last—when they took off
for a Borneo snooper raid. It
would be ‘San Francisco, here
we come!’ when—and if?—they
returned.
“In this case, the bugaboo ‘if?’
intervened. Only four of the 10
strong young fliers came back
£nd that after wandering
through Borneo’s wilds as hunt
ed men—sick, half-starved, and
always in danger of capture by
the ruthless Japanese. Three re
turned together, 179 days after
the mission’s start. They had
been listed as missing and pre
sumed by their friends to be
dead. Among them was Gra
ham. . . .
“One of the crew was killed
in aerial combat before the Lib
erator was forced down and five
others were captured and exe
cuted by the Japanese. . . .
Attacked by Fighters
“The trouble began when four
Japanese fighters tackled the
Liberator near Bruei Bay. One
fighter was shot down but two
of the bomber’s engines were
knocked out and the plane made
a crash landing.
“The bomber bellied along on
a rice paddy and mud gushed
in, filling the plane. The nine
live crewmen couldn’t find their
(Continued on Page 3)
All-Station Show
Planned for 1900
Today at Emerson
All personnel of this station
and their families are invited to
the Variety Show that is being
sponsored this evening by the
Welfare and Recreation office at
Emerson field starting at 1900.
The show, made up of local
talent, will have as master of
ceremonies, Cadet A J Per-
bohner of the 69th Battalion.
Music will be furnished by the
Pre-Flight Cloudbuster Swing
Band with a special quartet fea
turing band members Finley
Reeves, Chapman, and Moore. ’
A black-face minstrel number
will be presented by Cadets
W. H. Hamilton and M G
Sherard of the 68th Battalion’.
Cadet L. H. Graves, also o£ the
68th, will sing on the program.
A group of cadets under Lt.
Comdr. Charles J. Keeney will
present a trampoline specialty
act featuring 20 minutes of tum
bling and acrobatics.
Representing the French
group here, Y. Matte and C
Girard will give a song and
piano comedy number in French.
In the event of rain, the pro
gram will be held in the Me
morial Hall auditorium.
Outdoor Cadet Dance
Planned for Aug. 18
The second regimental out
door dance of the season will be
sponsored by the Welfare and
Recreation Office on the basket
ball courts in back of Navy Hall
on Saturday, Aug. 18.
Dancing to the music of the
Cloudbuster swing band will
start at 2100 and end at 2400
Refreshments will be served as
usual during the evening.
New Navy Weekly
A new Navy weekly has just
been authorized by the Secre
tary of the Navy. Tentative
plans call for a 32-page maga
zine in two colors, with eye-wit
ness stories, news, humor, fic
tion, pin-ups, pictures, sports
cartoons, and “gripe” columns.
The as yet unnamed weekly wili
be staffed by professionally
qualified personnel and will be
printed in the U. S. for distribu
tion to the entire Navy.
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