Many an interesting service man
pulied duty at the various military
bases near New Bern during World
War II. Not the least of these was
Leo Gauthier, a tall, well-built Ma
rine staff sergeant stationed at
New River.
Clean cut, and prouu In a modest
sort of way, the Fort Worth, Texas,
youth was one of 16 brothers serv
ing in the armed services. He told
us that there were 18 boys in the
family. The youngest—just 16—
couldn’t qualify for an enlistment.
Another brother couldn’t talk him
self into the Marine Corps because
of a crippled foot.
'Talking with Leo on his frequent
weekend visits to New Bern, we
learned that his father, Joseph
Gauthier, was doing his bit on the
home front at the ripe old ag? of
86. A contractor by trade, he was
in no mood to slow up while his
boys were away from home. Mrs.
Gautheir had been dead for quite
some years.
No branch of the service was
overlooked when the Gauthiers en
listed, although the Marine Corps
landed 10 of them. According to
Leo. one of his Marine brothers
was a major, three were captains,
four liejutenants, and one of them
a sergeant.
In addition, he had a brother
who was a lieutenant in' the Army,
and one who was a sergeant. Two
of the brothers enlisted in the
Navy and two in the Coast Guard.
Offhand, -we can’t recall what rank
they held.
As might be expected. President
Franklin' D. Roosevelt didn’t let
this remarkable record go unnotic
ed. He wrote Mr. Gatithier a warm
letter of commendation, as did
General MacArthur.
Another unusual Texan was Jo
sephine Rice Gibson, a tech ser
geant with the Women’s Marine
Corps at Cherry Point. When she
was doing her first hitch there in
1944, Life magazine carried a pho
tograph of her.
Her deadly marksmanship would
have made Annie Oakley envious,
so she was picked as a machine-
gun instructor. A 50-calibre‘ weapon
could g;ive the average man quite
a wrestling match, but Josie knew
how to keep it well under control.
Incidentally, she got her first ex
perience with firearms as a mem
ber of the rifle team at Texas State
College. Good marksmen are no od
dity in the Lone Star State, but
her skill then and later made ev
erybody who saw her take notice.
Equally easy to remember from
the days of World War II was Dick
Mansfield. In the Navy and sta
tioned at Cherry Point, he was a
shy, inconspicuous youngster who
didn’t attract much attention.
That is, he didn’t attract much
attention until--.—quite by accident
—it was discovered on a USO hay-
ride and wiener roast here that he
was the brother of Ann Sheridan,
a reigning movie star.
Ann’s real name was Barbara
Mansfield. The Mansfield name was
an old and honored one in theatri-
cai circles, but somebody in Holly
wood decided to junk it, so she be
came Ann Sheridan.
Although Dick lived in Holly
wood himself before entering serv
ice, he told us that the thought
had never occurred to him to try
out for pictures himself. He did,
of course, know many of the stars
personally, and played tennis reg-
uiarly with Van Johnson.
Bobbie Troupe, stationed at
Camp Lejeune, was another young
Marine with whom we were well
acquainted. In fact, he attended
meetings of the New Bern Jaycees
with us, when he came to this city
on weekends.
He had a little orchestra made
up of servicemen, and they once
played a dance at the local armory.
Little did the writer, or Bobbie,
realize what was in store for the
The NEW BERN
PUBLISHED WEEKLY
IN THE HEART OF
EASTERN NORTH
CAROLINA
5 Per Copy
.
1
VOLUME 2
NEW BERN, N. C,, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1959
NUMBER 23
GROSSING AT GENTRAL-r-AUen Carraway, a
man for Maola Milk and Ice Gream Gonipany, shepherds a
covey of children from Gentral school across New street.
It’s his cheerfully accepted assignment as part of his firm’s
Crusade Ghild Safety project during the month of Septem
ber. Incidentally, Garraway is well known here as a leader
for Explorer Scouts.—Photo by John R. Baxter.
English Youth Impressing His
New Craven County Friends
Local skeptics who were inclined
to doubt the wisdom of the Li-
ternational Farm Youth Exchange
aren’t so firm in their views now.
Credit for their change in atti
tude belongs to a slender English
man who came to Craven county
from Kirby Lonsdale, a village
much smaller than New Bern.
It is obvious that Tar Heels who
have made the acquaintance of
Bryan Fell like him. More impor
tant is the fact that Bryan likes
us, and will return to the British
Isles as an emphatic believer in
the American way of life.
At 22 the soft-spoken farm youth
seems serious beyond his years. Or
maybe he is so saturated with sin
cerity that he can’t regard any
thing about his visit in a flippant
light. Grateful for the opportunity,
he intends to make every minute
count during his stay here.
That England displayed wisdom
he had a 10-year-old brother and a. might add, they do it on hilly land
12-year-old sister. They get their that presents many a problem,
livelihood chiefly from dairy cat- Bryan hopes eventually to have
tie, sheep and poultiy. And, we I his own farm, but for the time be-
in singling out ^is young man for
the mission he Is on is immediate
ly discernible. Bryan lives all of
his days on a farm, and a little
farm at that. His accompiishments
weren’t easily arrived at, and he
knows what it means to have a
tough row to hoe.
There are five members in his
family. In addition to his parents.
youthful musician.
Shortly aftemards Troupe wrote
a song called “Daddyo.” It became
a big hit, and was recently revived.
And, as of now, he is the husband
of Juiie London, whose recordings
and movies are known to all. Julie
divorced Jack Webb of “Dragnet"
and married Bobbie a year or so
ago.
BRYAN FELL
—Photo by John R. Baxter.
ing that will have to wait. Natural
ly, he is keenly interested in milk
and pasture production, and what
he is learning here is going to help
him in future undertakings.
The youth has had primary edu
cation and five years of secondary
education. This is roughly equiva
lent to a high school education in
the United States. Active in his
community, he has belonged to the
Science Society and the Young
Farmers lub.
He doesn’t appear to be rugged,
but was sufficiently athletic to
make the rugby and soccer teams
at home. Since American football
originated with rugby, he’ll wel
come the chance to see gridders
in action in these parts before he
returns home.
In keeping with the International
Farm Exchange program, Brj’an is
filling a full schedule of speaking
engagements. On every occasion he
acquits himself creditably, and
brought along a large collection of
interesting color slides for view
ing by his listeners.
He’ll be a speaker at the annual
banquet for juvenile dairy farmers
to be held next week as a highlight
of the eighth annual Coastal Caro
lina Junior Dairy Show here in
New Bern.
His contribution to city and rural
activity here, while staying on the
Ray Ipoek farm, is noteworthy, but
that is hardly half of the story.
More significant is his own concept
of Americans.
Asked, while speaking before-
the New Bern Civitan club, what
is the chief fault that the English,
find with Americans, he gave aa
(Continued on beck page)