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vuiaJMJU IWKJN1VyKUAJNUKK KAE1US, N. C. THURSDAY, JULY 30, 194? NUMBER 5?
BROTHERS IN SERVICE
1 4BMBUW » JP'—100101—I
Three sons of Leonard L. Loomis,
employee of the Roanoke Mills
Company, are now serving in thej
Army and Navy, and one of them
is already seeing service in the War
Zones. Shown above at left is
Georfee L. Loomis, Private First
Class, who is now stationed at Fort
Dix, N. J. with a Medical detach
ment at the station hospital. Joseph
H. Loomis, shown at right, above,
is a Fireman, First Class, and is
stationed at the Norfolk Naval
Base. Clarence W. Loomis, a former
employee of Roanoke Mills Co. No.
2, is stationed on an uninhabited
island in the Pacific. A letter from
Clarence, to the Editor, is published
on Page 10, Section B.
SOLDIERS TO LEAVE CITY
BUT WORK TO CONTINUE
Company D, 30th Engineers,
stationed at the local armory
building since early in the Spring,
will definitely leave the city on a
new assignment in the near fu
ture, but the work of mapping the
surrounding countryside will be
carried on by other engineer
groups, Lieut Graham Waitt, act
ing commanding officer of the
company, said today.
Lieut. Waitt said that because
of war time censorship regula
tions he could not divulge in
formation as to where the com
pany would be sent, nor when,
and added that he has not been
given such information as yet.
However,\ it was learned that Cap
tain A. T. Dodson, commanding
officer of the company, was at
present up North on official gov
1 _ ^
*
ernment business, possibly looking
over sites for re-location of the
company when it leaves here in
the near future.
When the Engineer company
occupied the Armory building, the
board of commissioners announced
that they had leased the Armory
to the War Department until July
1, with an option to take an ad
ditional six months lease, which
would expire January 1. A month
of this second six months period
has already lapsed and it was
supposed in many quarters that
the War Department had decided
to take up its option for another
six months.
Lieut. Waitt said that he did
not know at present whether oth
er troops would be sent here to
complete the work started by
(Continued on Page 12, Sec. A)
JlfWnWUlt.il WMlUI*'Wl<qWI>llj<«
SECOND RAID TEST
TO BEHELD HERE
ON TUESDAY P. M.
Plan Test Of
Entire Civil
Defense Corp
Permission has been received
from Director Ben E. Douglas of
the State Office of Civilian De
fense in Raleigh, to conduct a
second daylight air raid drill in
Roanoke Rapids, according to an
announcement made yesterday by
F. M. Sherry, Commander of the
local Civilian Defense Corps.
The second drill will be held on
August 4, sometime between the
hours of 4 and 8 o’clock in the
afternoon. Another drill has also
been authorized later on in the
month of August, Sherry said. De
tails of the third drill will be an
nounced at a later date.
Tuesday’s drill will be for one
hour and it will be similar to the
first air raid test here in day
light on July 14, according to
Sherry. Problems covering all of
the defense units will be set up
and it is expected that this drill
will be run much smoother than
the first test held here.
It is the intention of local Civil
ian Defense authorities to have '
these daylight drills frequently
and when the workers become
familiar with their duties, drills
will later be held at night during
blackout tests, Sherry explained.
The first drill held here on July
14 was considered excellently car
ried out, but local officials said
that there were still a number of
units that needed more actual
drill in order to become proficient
in the carrying out of their du
ties.
Commander Sherry said that by
holding the raid Tuesday for an
hour’s duration, this would give
defense workers time to complete
all problems without having inter
ference from local traffic. Prob
lems covering many phases of civ
ilian defense will be prepared. Air
raid wardens expect the problems
will be much more explicit and
plainer than they were during
the first test.
Wardens are to look for red
flags in their territories. Attached
to these red flags will be a mes
sage which will be very explicit,
explaining the exact nature of the
trouble and the time of the inci
dent. To coordinate the activity,
air raid wardens are asked not to
report the incident until the time
shown on the card.
The air raid wardens will report
the “incident” directly to their sec
(Continued on Page 12, Sec. A)
SURVIVOR
"vK;; :?■» \
Marvin Scott, shown above, son
of Mrs. Mary Poytrass of Roanoke
Rapids and the late Paul Scott, is
one of the 13 survivors of the U.S.S.
Sims, which sank in the Coral Sea
battle on May 7. Read young Scott’s
story of his experiences in battles
on the sea since Pearl Harbor. It
will be found on Page 2, Section B.
Romancos
Again Are
City Champs
The Romancos of Rosemary
Manufacturing Co. are again City
Softball Champions.
Their victory over the Roanoke
No. 2 Red Raiders Wednesday
night at Roanoke Park makes it
impossible for the second-place
Redmen to catch up. Before Wed
nesday night the Raiders had a
slim chance to overtake the Ro
mancos, that is if the Rosemary
boys lost all the remainder of
their games and the Redmen won
all their remaining games.
That win puts the Romancos
five full games ahead of Roanoke
No. 2 and gives them the title.
Although the Romancos have
won the State title in the three
previous years they have won the
city championship only one 01
these years. They were not en
tered in the city race in 1939 and
1940.
As City Champions they are en
titled to enter in Eastern district
playoffs to be held in Raleigh on
August 13, 14, and 15.
HEARING
MONDAY
MORNING
Citizens to Appear
At Meeting of
Commissioners
The question of whether Hali
fax county will have an up-to
date and modern airport in the
near future may possibly be de
cided at the regular meeting of
the county Board of Commission
ers scheduled to be held on Mon
day morning in Halifax, at which
time delegations from civic clubs
in the county and interested citi
zens will appear before the Board
in an effort to get a definite
commitment from the Commis
sioners in relation to the purchase
of land upon which to erect the
project.
Civic clubs in the city plan to
send delegations to the meeting,
it was learned, and all other in
terested citizens in the city and
county are urged to attend.
The purpose of the hearing will
be to ask the county Board of
Commissioners to appropriate
money to purchase the land upon
which the field would be built.
In the event the county does pur
chase the land and, in addition,
take care of initial engineering
work necessary to get the project
ready for actual construction, the
Civil Aeronautics Authority would
then build the field and add the
necessary equipment if the War
Department approves the plans.
CAA investigators are known to
have been in the county within
the past few weeks conferring
with interested citizens in regards
to the building of a modern air
port to serve the county, and the
meeting with the Board of
County Commissioners is being
called in an effort to bring the
matter to a definite conclusion
while “the iron is hot”.
Special Scrap
Drive To Be
Made On Friday
Boy and Girl Scouts of the city
will assist in carrying out a spe
cial drive in the city Friday to
collect available scrap materials
for contribution to the Salvage
program.
For more complete details on
this drive, readers should turn to
Page 12, Section B and read the
complete story carried there.
Strange Letters
Found In County
(DETAILS ON PAGE 11, SEC. A)