PAGE FOURTEEN
THE ECHO
APRIL, II
News From Former Employees Now In Servid
DEEP IN THE HEART OF
TEXAS
Pvt. Garnett H. Buckner writes
from an Army Air Field, Amaril
lo, Texas; . I am away out here
‘deep in the heart of Texas,’ try
ing to leam to be an airplane me-
,ehanie . . . Tell all the boys hello
down in the Bleach plant and the
Refining room, and keep making
those cigarette papers . . .
Stationed In Va.
Is In The WAVES
DIFFERENT IN ENGLAND
Pvt. Corte* Hyder writes from
somewhere in England: . I
am in England now and I like
it fine here. I am staying in an
apartment in town. The people
here seem to be very nice and
friendly. They have names for some j
things here that are called differ
ent names in the U. S., and their
money, as you already know, is
different from ours. Such things
are hard for us who come over
here to get accustomed to at first.
They seem to have very nice wea-j
ther here . .
PFC. LENSY C. SANDERS is
now stationed at Richmond army
air base, Richmond, Va. He en
tere,d the service May 27, 1943,
received his basic training in
anti-aircraft artillery at Camp
Stewart, Ga. He was formerly
employed in the Finishing de
partment.
NANCY M. DAVIS, WAVE,
former Finishing department em
ployee, is now statione,d in Wash
ington, D. C. She has completed
her boot training at the Bronx,
New York. This is her sixth
month in the service. She writes
to give her regards to the Fin
ishing department.
STEPPING STONE TO TOKYO
Pfc. Rastus Smith writes from
New Guinea: “. . . I am sorry I
can’t tell you what we are doing
but when you see my new A. P. 0.
number it will explain that I have
taken another stepping stone to
Tokyo . . . This letter leaves me, .
in the best of health at the present CPL. MORGAN SHOWS WHAT WE DID
time . . . Thanks for Jack Mor
gan’s address. He is in the area
someplace, I am quite sure . . .
If he is in New Guinea there is
a possibility of my getting in con
tact with him ... I received the
Echo and it sure is a swell paper.
I’ve read it several times and I
also let my buddies read it. I save
most all of them and read them
over again. They bring back mem
ories' of Ecusta . . . Tell all the
old gang hello for me, and when
they are asked to work a few extra
hours, for them not to complain
about it. The going is tough here.
Men fighting and dying for our
country . . . I’ll close for we have
no lights . .
Vi
.
STATIONED AT LITTLE CREEK I
Howell Medford, Fireman 2-c,
writes from Little Creek, Va.:
. I am here at Little Creek,
Va., at Chesapeake Bay. I am in
the repair division and will be in
this branch for quite some time.
This is a nice base. At this writing
I am working in the engine de
partment ... I will be glad when
this is all settled so I can be back
with Mr. Finck and sticking fire
in those boilers again. I think
Ecusta is a swell place to be. We
are still smoking and thanks to
Ecusta for making it possible for
us fellows in the services to smoke
good cigarettes . . . Tell Mr. Finck
and Mr. Baker hello, and give my
regards to the Boiler Room . .
From New Guinea To Tokyo,
As Visioned By Cpi. Morgan
NOW IN ENGLAND
Sgt. Melvin McCormick writes
from somewhere in England:
I have changed places several
times since I was here last and I
am now in England somewhere .
All is well with me now and hope
the same is true there. Except
where it has been bombed, this
is a very pretty country—except
for the weather . .
HAS ENGLAND ADDRESS
Pfc. DeBois L. Edmundson writes
again from England this time:
“. . . It has been a problem to
keep up with my own address late
ly as it changes so often . . . The
Echo is more interesting to me
than the home town paper because
I hav® 10 many friends there ...”
By CPL. JACK D. MORGAN
(Editor’s note—This article was
written especially for »he Echo by
Cpl. Morgan who is somewhere in
New Guinea.)
In August, 1942, the Japs were
on Guadalcanal. Tlie reason they
wanted this island was to establish
a base from which the convoy
routes from the United States to
New Caledonia, New Zealand and
Australia could be harried by
planes and submarines.
That was important to the Japs
because if they couldn’t cut that
line of communication, their hopes
of preventing the building of an
arsenal and attack base in Austra
lia would diminish.
Then the Nips had a big move
ment in mind. By occupying the
whole of New Guinea they would
be at the front door of Australia.
They would, with the capture of
Port Moresby, the Allies’ main
base in New Guinea, have a stran
gle hold on Northern Australia.
Along the northern coast of New
Guinea, the Japs had Wewak, Ma-
dang, Saidor, Finschafen, Lae and
Salamaua.
They quickly knocked off Buna
and Gona and started their main
drive for Port Moresby. They push
ed to the point of thirty-two miles
from the Allied base. By this time
Japanese invasion money, to be
used in Port Moresby and Austra
lia had been printed.
Then the Australians and Ameri
cans counter-attacked. Bloody fight
ing resulted and the Japs were
driven from the Papauan area of
New Guinea across the Owen Stan
ley mountains.
Port Moresby is the capital of
Papua, the western section of the
island. On the east coast lay Buna
and Gona. Sprawled between them
were the Owen Stanley mountains.
Pushing the Japs across the
mountains, the Allies didn’t stop.
Yank infantry invaded and cap
tured Buna and Gona in a blood-
spattered battle. The Allies now
held Port Moresby, Milne Bay,
Buna and Gona. The Japs held the
rest. /
In the meantime Guadalcanal,
Malaita and Santa Christobal fell
to the American Marines in the
Solomons.
1943 gave us a different picture
from the .previous year. The Allies^
LIFE IN PACIFIC NOT
POSTERS SAY
Pfc. Vincent Dixon writes
somewhere in the Southwest
cific: . . The relentless ni8
of time has covered about '
months since I last heard fro®'j
or received a copy of the interf
ing little paper known as the
... I am now stationed somewh®';
in the Southwest Pacific.
the life here is a slight contra^
tion to the tropical poster siF
back home. I often think of Ec**® j
the fellows and the nice times'*
used to have . .
IS BANGED UP
Cpl. Frank D. Drake write® J
Postmaster, San Francisco, CaJ;
“. . . Where I am now is cert^
different from the places I f.
been. Now I’m a little banged I
but am hoping it won’t be too
before I return to the States ■
Thanks for remembering W®' ^
helps a great deal—^perhaps
than you think . .
REMINDED OF ECUSTA
Jesse Gillespie, S 2-c,
from the Naval Training
at Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.: “•
have about four more weeks
and I imagine they are
keep us plenty busy from J
until we graduate. I have
night operations now and I ^
do have a time getting
sleep .... I have classes
eight o’clock in the morning
five o’clock in the afternoon.
we start operation classes j
thirty and they last until
midnight. It kind of makes
think of working shifts thef®
the plant . . .”
AMERICAN WAY OF
AT ITS BEST
Sgt. Albert Kimzey writes
somewhere in England:
asked if I sent the farthing;
sir, I didn’t send it and if A-
in the envelope it must have J,
ten there through mistake ^
censor’s desk. That coin isn’t ^ ^
monly used. I got one to ke«y
a souvenir ... I must say ^
with everyone at Ecusta,
vision for, interest in, and
ship with all, that the plant
is our American way of lif®
highest ...”
U. S. WORTH fighting
Sgt. Lawrence Tipton^^^J
from somewhere in Italy: ^
am now in Italy and I am J (DS
that I can’t tell you some
things I have seen here,
being in Africa, Sicily and V
I am sure that there is no
on earth that will compai^®
the good old U. S. A. in aiJJ^
And that is worth fighting
Tell all the people there to
the good work up because ^ -
arette to a man who sniof
next thing to his food . •
were moving forward.'
over Lae and Salamaua
the way for the Aussies and
Salamaua fell September
American bombers moved ^
Lae and wiped out the
headquarters. Lae fell Ser ,
16, 1943. , 9^
Finschafen, Sattleburg
dor fell to the Allies.
Guinea our troops landed ^
Britain capturing Cape
Rabaul has been bombed da
months and this great base J ^
ly being reduced.
It is a long trail from -gst’t
two miles north of Port
but it is surely leadipg ^
front yard.