IL L
Issued Every Two Weeks By
and For the Employees
WHIST L E
MARSHALL FIELD & COMPANY, INC,
Manufacturing Division, Spray, North Carolina
Volume Three
Monday, July 31, 1944
Griping Is Just Griping
Ninety-nine out of a hundred letters
we received from our men in service
contain something about their appre
ciation of the way we people at home
are doing our part. They never fail
to mention us; usually in glowing
terms, such as one we. have on our
desk right now: “As long as you folks
at home are so solidly behind us every
thing is all right”. And: “I never real
ized how much it means to have real
friends until I had to leave them.”
Sure, they gripe. They gripe a lot.
As one of our good friends, Pvt. Her
man Transberger, wrote us: “ . . . and
we gripe about this, that, and every
thing. The average GI Joe would
gripe if he was sitting on a throne on
the right hand of God. But get this:
If every last man in any theatre of
this war were offered a honorable dis
charge about one in ten thousand would
accept it.”
Knowing Herman, and reading his
sincere letter, makes us feel mighty
good. It means that the average soldier
—our sons and brothers ■— hates this
war but they wouldn’t -think of leaving
their perilous task until it is finished.
That’s the American way. No matter
how distasteful the task we tackle it
and stay right with it until it is finish
ed.
Or do we?
Suppose we were offered a nice, easy
job at more pay, .but one that is not at
all essential to the war effort. What
would we do? Would we accept it, or
would we, like our GI Joe’s, keeping
right on griping about our jobs BUT
remaining on them because we know
they are essential?
Shucks, there isn’t anything to guess
at in that question. We’re in this war,
and we’re going to gripe all we please,
but we’re staying on the job. There is
no longer the excuse that: “I owe it to
myself and my family to earn as much
as I can while I can”. We don’t owe
as much to our families as we do to
the boys and girls who are out there
in a veritable hell making it possible
for us to have families living under
one roof.
After all, griping means exactly noth
ing. It is simply a matter of blowing
off steam when we’re peeved about
something. Griping is a safety valve,
(Continued From Page 3)
Beloved Couple
Taken By Death
The sudden death of P. F. Grogan at
11:45 in the morning of July 4th. was
a great shock not only to his children,
but also to his many friends who had
seen and talked with him just a few
minutes before his passing.
Mr. Grogan had worked faithfully
with Marshall Field & Co. 46 years
and during these many years he miss
ed very few days from his work.
He was born in Rockingham county
April 18, 1871 and spent his boyhood
on the farm. In 1898 he came to Spray
and did his first public work with the
contractor who built Nantucket Mills,
and there he continued his work in the
same plant until passing to his eternal
reward.
In 1901 he was married to Miss Lucy
Hayden, who preceded him in death
May 26, 1944.
He lived a life of service to others
in that he always put the welfare of
others before his own. He was clean
in his thinking, and high in his ideals
for himself and those he loved.
The Company has sustained a great
loss. We as co-workers extend our
heartfelt sympathy to his three sur
viving children, Mrs. J. W. Hudnall,
Mrs. James Curry, and his son James,
who is with the Army Air Forces in
Madison, Wisconsin.
Number 2
Civil Air Patrol
Formed Here
We are very proud that we now have
a Civil Air Patrol and that so piuch
interest is being manifested in this very
necessary unit. Right now the men.
women, and boys who form this Patrol
are hard at work learning the funda
mentals and it is expected that within
a few weeks our Patrol will be as good
as any of them.
For -some time there has been talk
of forming a CAP and on Sunday, July
16, a meeting at the armory resulted
in 29 volunteers taking the oath of al
legiance. These volunteers consisted
of seven men, five women (all officers
in the local W.A.S.G.) and 17 teen-age
boys.
Training started at once, under the
command of members of the CAP, and
for the past several days the training
planes have spent much time in the air.
Charles L. Cox has been commission
ed a first lieutenant and appointed
commander of the local squadron. Lt.
Cox is a veteran of the first World
War, serving in France for several
months, where he was wounded and
invalided home. At the time he had at
tained the rank of sergeant. Members
of the local CAP feel fortunate in hav
ing Lt. Cox as their commander.
V . . . —
Something New!
We received a most unusual picture
this morning. A copy of THE ECHO,
house organ of the Ecusta Paper Cor
poration, Pisgah Forest, N. C., came to
our desk and in it was a picture of
our Luther H. Hodges at play. Yes, at
play! We’ve seen many pictures of
Mr. Hodges during the past quarter
century but this is the first one we
ever saw of him relaxing. We were
beginning to wonder if he ever relaxed,
and this picture, showing him dressed
like your favorite junkman, seated on
a big rock with fishing rod in his hand,
sort of took us by surprise.
As proof that we are perfectly sober
this morning we’ll try to get that pic
ture from THE ECHO and print it in
these columns real soon. And we’re
mighty glad to know that Mr. Hodges
is taking a well earned rest.