Vol. 3—No. 23
U. S. NAVY PRE-FLIGHT SCHOOL, CHAPEL HILL, N. C.
Friday, February 23, 1945
Marine Unit Here
Will Be Disbanded
At End Of Month
Members of the Marine Avia
tion Detachment here have
landed travel orders and the
Leatherneck unit will be dis
banded effective March 1. The
Seven enlisted men will be trans
ferred to Camp Lejeune, N. C.,
for re-assignment.
Navy gunnery specialists will
^’eplace the Marine unit whose
^embers have instructed cadets
here in the fundamentals of
small arms and gunnery since
1942. The Marines instructed
both on the range and in the
<^lassroom, although Naval of
ficers recently supplanted them
instructors in academic class
es.
Most colorful personality,
Perhaps, to be affected by dis
banding of the unit is Warrant
Officer Faustin E. Wirkus, Com
manding Officer of the detach
ment, who currently is conva
lescing in U. S. Naval Hospital,
Brooklyn N. Y., following a
Serious operation.
King of La-Gonave
With service in the Marine
Corps dating back to the first
World War, Wirkus was well
^nown in Haiti as “The White
^ing of La-Gonave” during the
late ’20s.
No information is available as
to where he will be assigned
*^ext.
^ Warrant Officer Leslie W.
^ardeuff, who has been in
^narge of the detachment during
^irkus’ absence, will return to
^uantico, Va.
, The enlisted personnel, slated
transfer to Camp Lejeune,
^re; First Sergeant Wladislaw
Dezak, of Malden, Mass.;
gunnery Sergeant Philip N.
^oyd, of Sayre, Okla.; Platoon
^ergeant John B. Both, of Har
bor Beach, Mich.; Platoon Ser
geant Joseph R. Cruz, of Phila
delphia, Pa.; and Sergeants John
y Buckley of Clinton, Va.; Her-
p®rt Reiss, of Chapel Hill, and
^eorge H. Spanos, of Sioux
'-ity, la.
Hart To Senate
. Hartford, Conn. — (CNS)—
Thomas C. Hart, 67, mem-
of the Navy General Board,
been appointed to the U. S.
^®Hate by Connecticut’s Gov.
^^ymond E. Baldwin. He suc-
jv^eds the late Sen. Francis T.
/taloney, whose term would
^Ve expired in 1946.
Adm. O. B. Hardison
Rear Admiral Hardison Gives
UNC Commencement Address
$200,000,000 Goal
As Red Cross War
Fund Drive Nears
The 1945 War Fund campaign
to raise $200,000,000 to finance
Red Cross activities for another
year will get under way on this
and all other Naval ships and
stations on March 1. President
Roosevelt has designated March
as “Red Cross Month” and has
requested that the Navy cooper
ate fully with the American Red
Cross, in the conduct of the cam
paign.
There will be no solicitation
of enlisted personnel but unso
licited renewals of membership
or contributions will be wel
come. All others, including civil
ians, will be solicited and urged
to contribute to the War Fund.
Five million pints of blood
were collected by the Red Cross
for plasma last year. Operation
of 727 clubs overseas, was another
vitally important mission. Al
most 11 million food parcels
were sent to prisoners of war.
The Red Cross furnished 5,149
hospital sunrooms, handled 14
million communications and, in
recruiting nurses, was responsi
ble for 15,000 joining up. These
are only a few of the contribu
tions too numerous to mention.
Rear Admiral O. B. Hardison,
USN, Chief of Naval Air Pri
mary Training with headquar
ters at the Naval Air Station,
Glenview, 111., will figure prom
inently in University of North
Carolina commencement exer
cises in Chapel Hill tomorrow.
Starting at 1100 a military re
view for Admiral Hardison will
be held in Kenan Stadium and
awards given to Naval ROTC
students in the graduating class.
Admiral Hardison, who is the
top-ranking Naval officer among
the University’s alumni, will pre
sent the Navy Department’s Sil
ver Cup to the winner of the
NROTC inter-company competi
tion.
The Pre-Flight regiment of
cadets will participate in the re
view, along with NROTC and
V-12 units of the University.
Later, at 1530, the Chief of
Naval Air Primary Training
will be the principal speaker at
commencement exercises in Hill
Hall, and deliver commissions to
NROTC members of the gradu
ating class.
Awarded for Heroism
Admiral Hardison, who was
graduated from Carolina before
entering the Naval Academy in
(Continued on Page 3)
Station Shows Big
Enrollment In War
Bond Buying Drive
In a congratulatory memoran
dum to Lieut. Comdr. James P.
Raugh, Commanding Officer here
(see page 2), Rear Admiral Jules
James, USN, Commandant, Sixth
Naval District, has announced
that Pre-Flight at Chapel Hill
has qualified for the Comman
dant’s War Bond pennant with
97 % enrollment.
The pennant and certificate
will be presented in the future
by the Admiral’s representative.
During the third annual Pearl
Harbor extra cash War Loan
drive last December, station per
sonnel invested $87,450, which
represented a 51% increase in
the purchasing power of each
hand over the second drive.
In Washington last week the
Navy Department announced
that War Bond purchases by
Navy personnel passed the bil
lion - dollar mark in January,
when the month’s total of $39,-
537,382 brought the grand total
since the beginning of the Navy
bond program in October, 1941
to $1,022,130,396.
Effective allotments of uni
formed personnel totaled more
than two million as of January
31, or 2,099,015.
%
‘SUBTRACT LINE 7 FROM LINE 8 AND THEN . .
head-scratching on the part of several
Pre-Flight officers, is the 1944 income tax form. When two U. S.
Internal Revenue Service experts set up a stand at Navy Hall for
three days last week station personnel were quick to queue up but
Messrs. Harry L. Townsend, civilian at left, and L, M. Johnson
S’’ 1^? photo), had their troubles explaining. Seated at
the left of Mr. Townsend, attentively gripping pencil and cigar, is
Lieut. Comdr. Edward N. George, while Lieut. Comdr, Paul Brvant
grimly kibitzes.