THE MARION PROGRESS
~ A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE PEOPLE OF MARION AND McDOWELL COUNTY
ESTABLISHED 1896 MARION, N. C.f THURSDAY, JULY 1, 1943
VOL. XLVII—NO. 49
Western N. C. Camp And
Hospital Council Organized
New Organization To Provide
Assistance For Men, Women
In Armed Services.
Mr. and Mrs. Zeno Martin, Mrs.
"Eugene Cross, Jr. and Miss Doris
Hill, representatives of McDowell
County Chapter of the Red Cross,
attended the organizational meeting
of the western North Carolina camp
and hospital council, composed of 17
counties, which was held Tuesday in
the Red Cross office of Moore Gen
eral Hospital in Asheville.
Camp and hospital councils of the
Red Cross have been established
throughout the country and provide
supplementary equipment, supplies,
and services for men and women of
army posts and naval stations with
in the United States.
It was explained by Miss Mar
guerite Parrish, Red Cross field di
rector of Moore General hospital,
that the Red Cross is responsible
for supplementing and assisting the
army and navy with welfare serv
ices for the able bodied and for so
cial service and recreation for pa
tients and convalescents. In addi
tion, commanding officers may re
quest the Red Cross and other or
ganizations to provide service,
equipment, and supplies that may
be needed when they cannot be se
cured from official sources at the
time to meet the need.
The camp and hospital council
welcomes the volunteer aid of or
ganizations and individuals in com
munities adjacent to army camps
and naval stations, it was pointed j
out. The council will be the channel I
through which the community can
directly aid the armed forces,
through the Red Cross field direc
tor. The program is under Red !
Cross sponsorship, although it may J
not be made up entirely of Red
Cross representation. The national
Tied Cross has assumed responsibili
ty for the work on a national scale.
Camp and hospital committees are
organized under the authority of
Red Cross chapter executive com
mittees. The council will be made
up of two delegates from each of
the chapters concerned, namely the
chairman and vice-chairman of the
chapter camp and hospital commit
tee.
Members of the McDowell County
chapter will be represented on the
council by Zeno Martin, county
chairman, Mrs. W. W. Neal, Jr.,
production chairman, Miss Doris
Hill, local secretary, Mrs. E. C. Mc
Millan, chairman of the surgical
dressings project, Mrs. Thomas
Greenlee, head of the Junior Red
Cross division, Mrs. Carl McMurray,
Mrs. Eugene Cross, Jr., Mrs. J. F.
Snipes and Mrs. P. H. Mashburn.
CPL. JOHN D. WATKINS
AWARDED AIR MEDAL
Cpl. John D. Watkins, radio oper
ator of the 11th air force, U. S.
armv, has been awarded the air med
•
al for meritorious achievement in
aerial flights, according to informa
tion received here by his parents,
Mr. and Mrs. G. S. Watkins.
Cpl. Watkins entered military ser
vice from North Carolina and dur
ing the period of flight from Decem
ber 3, 1942 to April 24, 1943 he has
successfully completed over 100
hours of operational flight missions
in cargo airplanes in the Aleutians
area where contact with the enemy
was expected. The majority of
these missions are flown over long
water distances and in the face of
adverse flying weather including in
strament and icing conditions. The
skill, aggressiveness and devotion to
duty demonstrated by these enlisted
men reflects great credit on them
selves and the army air force.
BANKS, POSTOFFICE
TO OBSERVE HOLIDAY
The First National Bank and Ma
rion Industrial Bank will be closed
all day Monday, July 5, in observ
ance of the Fourth of July.
The postoffice will also be closed
Monday in observance of the holi
day, it was stated by Postmaster
Caldwell. No deliveries will be
made Monday by either city or rural
farriers.
RECRUITING OFFICER
WILL BE HERE TODAY
Chief Petty Officer F. 0. Car
ver, Jr., Navy recruiting repre
sentative for this county, will
be in Marion this week on
Thursday only. His headquar
ters will be in the assembly
room of the City Hall, and he
will be there from 8:30 A. M.
until 4:00 P. M. Next week, he
will resume his regular sched
ule, he announced, by being at
the City Hall on Friday and
Saturday, from 8:30 A. M. un
til 5:30 P. M. on Friday, and
from 8:30 A. M. until 4:00 P.
M. on Saturday. All who are
interested in discussing the Na
vy can see him at the City Hall
on those days.
STAFF SGT. SPARKS
OF MARION KILLED
IN ACTION JUNE 14
Staff Sgt. Claude R. Sparks, 25,
son of Mr. and Mrs. Harrington
Sparks of Marion, was killed in ac- !
tion on June 14, in the Southwest \
Pacific area, according to a telegram i
received this week by his parents
from the war department in Wash-1
ington.
Sgt. Sparks enlisted in the army!
in May, 1940, through the Asheville
recruiting office, asked for foreign
service, and was sent to the Hawai- j
ian islands. He was stationed at'
Pearl Harbor when the Japs made!
their attack there in December, 1941 !
and soon thereafter was transferred '
into the N^w Guinea and Australian :
battle areas. While stationed in
Hawaii he received training as a j
radio operator and at the time of
his death was a radio operator on a i
heavy bomber. |
Sgt. Sparks had never been home j
since entering the army, although he j
wrote his parents and relatives of
ten. In a letter several months ago
to his brother-in-law, W. J. Johnson
of 9 1-2 Pearson Drive, he said that
he would like to be home where he
could enjoy his favorite sports—
hunting and fishing—but that he
had his hands full doing some "good :
hunting" in the wp.r area.
He attended Marion high school
and was an employee of the Clinch
field Manufacturing company before
entering the army. j
A brother, Sgt. Carl Sparks is sta- j
tioned on the West Coast in the
army.
DISTRICT MEETING OF
MASONS FRIDAY NIGHT;
DR. HOFFMAN SPEAKER
A district meeting of the Masonic j
Order will be held here Friday night, |
July 2. The principal speaker for !
the evening will be Dr. M. E. Hoff
man, Junior Grand Deacon, of Ashe-1
ville. Grand Master J. W. Payne of
Salisbury is also expected to attend
the meeting.
Fred C. Kinzie, District Deputy i
Grand Master, of Spindale, will pre- j
side. An interesting program will!
be presented and a full attendance
of the members of Mystic Tie Lodge
of Marion and Joppa Lodge of Old
Fort is expected.
MONTFORDS COVE CHURCH
TO HONOR MEN IN SERVICE
The Montfords ' Cove Baptist j
Church will hold a special service
Sunday in honor of boys of that
community who are now in the ser
vice of the U. S. armed forces, M. |
R. Nanney, chairman of the pro-!
gram committee, announced this
week. R. E. Price, editor of the
7 I
Rutherford County News, will be
guest speaker.
The service will begin at 10 a. m.
and, the following program will be
presented:
10:00 Songs by the choir.
10:10 Devotional by W. S. j
Haynes, Sunday School Supt.
10:20 Song: "America."
10:30 Pining of Stars on the flag ;
by mothers of the boys in service. ;
11:00 Song: "Star Spangled Ban
ner."
11:30 Address: R. E. Price.
Sunday school will be held at 1:30
p. m. and church service will be ■
held at 2:30 with a sermon by Rev.
C. C. Parker, pastor.
To Establish
Fixed Prices
Certain Foods
Assistance To Be Given Ma
rion Price Panel By Mr.
Hamilton Next Week.
Fixed retail prices on a number of
meats and foods will be established
at an early date by the Price Panel,
according to information released
from the local War Price and Ra
tioning board. Assistance from the
OPA Asheville office will be given
the Marion Price Panel in establish
ing fixed prices for Marion and Mc
Dowell county. Mr. Hamilton of
the Asheville office will be in Marion
on Monday and Tuesday of next
week for this purpose.
Fixed prices will be of help to
both merchants and the buying pub
lic, it was pointed out. It will be the
duty of the Price Panel and their as
sistants to offer all the help possible
to merchants along this line, to
check prices and to handle any com
plaints which may come up.
It is the opinion of the local War
Price and Rationing board that fixed
prices will not work a hardship on
anyone and that it is perhaps the
biggest step forward by rationing
authorities in an effort to curb in
flation.
SURPRISE BLACKOUT
HERE TUESDAY NIGHT
Tuesday night's surprise blackout
was the fourth experience in Marion,
while not altogether perfect was
termed by civilian defense officials
as being very successful. Several
lights in the business places remain
ed on through neglect, but taken as
a whole the blackout was above the
expectations of such a teat.
The first blue signal was received
here at 9:42 p. m. and the final all
clear was sounded at 10:12.
Mayor Wilkinson stated that it is
important to have all citizens co
operate in observing the rules and
regulations of the blackout. Citi
zens are cautioned not to leave
lights burning in their places of bus
iness unless provision is made for
turning them off from the outside.
ROBERTS APPOINTED
TO CIVILIAN POST
The appointment of. Richard D
Roberts, member of the high school
faculty of Pleasant Gardens school,
as Chief Gas Officer of the Civilian
Defense Organization was announc
ed yesterday by Zeno Martin, county
chairman of civilian defense.
The appointment was approved
and accepted by Mr. Roberts who
plans to take a course in chemistry
at the University of North Carolina
in preparation for this office. On his
return Mr. Roberts will instruct
members of the civilian defense or
ganization in methods of combating
poison gas.
MILITARY TRAINING
SCHOLARSHIPS TO BE
PROVIDED FOR BOYS
Washington, June 26. — Military
scholarships for male high school
graduates between 17 and 18 will be
available beginning this summer, the
war department said today in an
nouncing creation of the army spec
ialized training reserve program.
The reserve program will be limit
ed to volunteers who made qualify
ing scores on pre-induction tests last
April 2 and the total number of
scholarships will be limited to
25,000.
The war department said that
the youths selected for the reserve
training will wear civilian attire, will
not be on active duty, and will not
receive basic military training dur
ing the period of the scholarship.
At the end of the school term in
which an individual reaches his 18th
birthday he will be plaled on active
military duty for basic military
training prior to assignment to the
a^my specialized training program.
The department said that the mili
tary scholarships will provide tui
tion, food, housing and medical ser
vice. Those youths eligible for the
scholarships will be notified of their
eligibility, the department said.
Mrs. Parker Is
Elected Head of
W. M. U. Group
Other Officers Named At As
sociational Meeting; Mis
sionary Heard.
The annual session of the W. M.
U. of the Blue Ridge Baptist Associ
ation was held at the First Baptist
: Church of Marion, on June 24 with
I sixty-eight present. The theme of
ithe meeting was "Christ Pre-Immi
jnent." At the morning session Mrs.
|Wade Bostick of Shelby gave a mes
i sage on "Christ Exhalted in All the
i Kingdoms of the Earth." In the af
ternoon, Miss Bertha Smith, return
. ed missionary from China told of
! her work and experiences in that
| country. Miss Smith was one of the
| missionaries interned in Occupied
China, and returned to the United
States on the Gripsholm.
Mrs. C. C. Parker was elected as
| sociational superintendent of the
Woman's Missionary Union, Mrs. J.
! P. Baker of East Marion, associate
superintendent and Mrs. A. J. Gen
try of East Marion, secretary, to
! serve for the coming year.
! The next annual meeting will be
held at Clear Creek Baptist Church
! in June.
TWO MARION SOLDIERS WIN
PROMOTIONS AT KEY FIELD
Two soldiers from Marion, recent
ly received identical promotions at
Key Field, Miss., when Sergeants
James G. Condrey and Percy D.
Caraway were advanced to the
grade of staff sergeant.
The two sergeants, both members
of the air base squadron at Key
Field, are also working side by side
in the airways service division at
this Air Corps Base, it is announced.
Sergeant Condrey, whose parents,
Mr. and Mrs. Abe Condrey, live on
Rout 1, Marion, is a graduate of
Pleasant Gardens High School, while
Sergeant Caraway, whose mother,
Mrs. Ida N. Caraway, lives at Cross
Mill in Marion, attended Marion
high school.
Both soldiers entered the Army
Air Corps at Fort Bragg. August 13,
1941.
THREE EXCEPTIONS
TO DRAFT POLICY
Raleigh, June 30.—While it is
true that fathers generally will not
be called for military service until
the supply of single and childless
married men is exhausted, there are
three exceptions to that policy, it
was pointed out today by General J.
Van B. Metts, state director of se
lective service.
The exceptions are:
1. Men who have become fathers
since September 14, 1942.
2. Registrants engaged in non
| deferrable activities or occupations.
| The War Manpower commission has
designated certain activities and oc
cupations as non-deferrable, Gener
al Metts explained, and fathers en
gaged in these non-deferrable activi
ties and occupations may be classi
fied as 1-A and selected for service.
3. Registrants who have been
classified as essential farmers, but
who have left the farms on which
they were found to be essential with
out first obtaining permission of
their local boards to do so.
Men in the last two groups are
I subject to selection for service, re
gardless of number of children or
I the dates of their birth, General
Metts said.
STORES TO REMAIN
OPEN MONDAY, JULY 5
The Marion stores and most other
places of business will not observe
Monday, July 5, as a holiday, ac
cording to recent announcement of
the Marion Merchants Association.
The stores, it is understood, will re
main open throughout the day Mon
day.
LAND OF PEAKS
North Carolina's mountains lift
125 peaks 5000 feet into the
sky, 43 more than 6000 feet, and
one, Mt. Mitchell, higher than any
other in eastern United States.
PLAN REVIVAL AT FIRST
BAPTIST CHURCH HERE
BEGINNING ON JULY lfi
Officers and members of the First
Baptist Church met Tuesday night
j to make plans for a revival meeting
which will start July 18. Rev. E. F.
Sullivan, who will assist Dr. B. F.
Bray, p&stor, in conducting the re
vival services was present and made
many practical and pertinent sug
gestions for conducting the meeting.
Mr. Sullivan is pastor of the High
land Baptist Church of Hickory
where he has served for 16 years.
He is a graduate of Wake Forest
College and the Louisville Seminary
and has only held three pastorates in
thirty-three years. There are now
600 members in the Highland Bap
tist Church as compared with 260
when he first began to serve.
This revival is a part of an asso
ciation wide campaign with many of
jthe churches in the Blue Ridge Bap
tist Association taking part at the
; same time. It is the first time a
simultaneous meeting has been tried
i in this association but the plan has
1 been tried successfully in other
neighboring associations.
N. C. SETTING RECORD
IN NAVAL RECRUITING
!
North Carolina appeared well on
j the way to setting another record in
j Navy recruiting, Chief Petty Officer
F. 0. Carver, Jr., of the Asheville.
Navy Recruiting Station, said this
j week. Chief Carver recalled that in
! May there were 774 Tar Heel 17
year-olds who volunteered for the
| Navy, setting a new, national, all
[ time record for enlistments in this
group. Although the figures for
June are not available as vet, Carv
! er expressed the belief that last
month's enlistments would top those
of North Carolina's May record
1 breaker.
j He attributes the success of the
' June campaign to the fact that many
, boy9 wished to await the closing of
school before volunteering for the
i Navy, thus coming in under the June
enlistment program.
Enlistments of groups such as the
contingent of sixteen men who left
Marion early in June for the Navy
are partially responsible for the
splendid record made in recruiting
by the North Carolina Recruiting
Service, according to the Navy re
cruiter.
Many others have applications
pending, he said, and these are be
ing contacted at once in order that
they can complete their enlistment
as early as possible.
Chief Carver, who succeeds Chief
Geo. F. Ball as the Navy recruiting
representative for McDowell, Polk,
Rutherford and Henderson counties,
as well as being recruiter-in-charge
of the Asheville station plans weekly
visits to Marion and Old Fort. His
headquarters while in Marion will be
at the City Hall, where he will be on
Friday and Saturday of each week,
with the exception of this week,
when he will be in Marion only on
Thursday.
OPA INCREASES
COFFEE RATION
STARTING JULY 1
The Office of Price Administra
! tion has increased the coffee ration
to one pound for the three-week
period beginning July 1, the largest
: allowance to be made since coffee
1 rationing wa9 initiated last Novemb
j er.
The same ration also will apply
! for the following three-week period,
lending August 11.
I Stamp No. 21 in Ration Book No.
, 1 becomes valid for one pound of
I coffee on July 1 and expires on July
I 21. Stamp No. 22 will be valid from
|July 22 to Aug. 11. Stamp 24, the
current coupon, expires at the end
j of June.
J. E. McCALL PROMOTED
TO RANK OF CORPORAL
Pvt. James E. McCall, son of Mr.
and Mrs. Arthur H. McCall, Ellerbe,
N. C., has been promoted to the rank
of Corporal, it was announced this
week by the Public Relations Office,
Hunter Field, Georgia.
Cpl. McCall entered the service at
Camp Croft, Spartanburg, S. C., on
August 29, 1942. Prior to entering
the service he attended North Caro
lina State College, Raleigh, and was
a farm supervisor employed by the
Farm Security Administration, Mar
ion, N. C.
His wife, Mrs. Louise Frances Mc
Call, now resides in Savannah, Ga.
Governor Sets
Monday, July, 5
Dedication Day
Calls Upon All Loafers In
State To Find Work; Neal
Named County Chairman.
W. W. Neal, Sr., of Marion has
been appointed by Governor Brough
ton as McDowell county chairman to
conduct the state's war on "idlers
and loafers."
Earlier the Governor issued a pro
clamation asserting1 that "the time
| has come when every able-bodied
person should either be working or
fighting," and called upon the state's
j vagrants to get into "productive
' work." He set July 5 as North Car
j olina's "day of dedication."
The county chairmen were asked
I by the Governor to call on all lead
! ers and civic officials to assist in a
j program of a patriotic nature with
j reports relative to conditions within
the county and a brief address
I "about our personal responsibility
; to the war effort."
! The Governor said that a plan of
action should be adopted at the
1 meeting and that it might be advis
able to establish a permanent com
mittee "to deal with this problem
locally during the remainder of the
emergency."
Commenting on the Governor's
proclamation both Mr. Neal, county
j chairman, and Mayor Wilkinson said
they did not believe conditions are
i nearly as bad in Marion and Mc
Dowell County as in some other sec
itions, but pledged their full cooper
! ation of all local agencies with the
'government and the manpower com
mission to round up idler9 and put
; them to work.
"The labor situation will become
j increasingly acute as more and more
t men are taken into the armed ser
vices," the Governor said. "It is
i very important that every county
develop the ways and means for
properly utilizing the entire avail
able labor supply."
The governor said he had heard
from "trustworthy sources" in all
sections of North Carolina that
thousands of men and women, both
white and negro, "are either not
working at all, or are working only
part time." He added that he would
use his emergency wartime powers
to see that "these people get into>
productive work."
Every able-bodied person should
feel that "work is no longer merely
a privilege or opportunity," the gov
ernor said. "It is a high patriotic
duty. No man or woman, white or
colored, in North Carolina—indeed,
in the nation—today has any moral
right to loaf or be idle even for a
part of the time."
The chief executive declared that
i the state and nation "are confront
j ed with the most urgent need for
1 productive manpower in their his
tory," and added that farm and in
dustrial manpower are "absolutely
j indispensable for the protection of
the national welfare and for the suc
cess of our men in arms."
ALL N. C. SCHOOLS PLAN
TO OPERATE FOR 9 MONTHS
Raleigh, June 24. — North Caro
lina's school units will participate
1100 per cent in the optional nine
i month school program during the
coming year, Nathan Yelton, comp
! troller for the State Board of Edu
! cation said today.
Yelton said all city and county
units, with one exception, had filed
j their 1943-44 program plans with
! his office and that all schools had ap
plied for the additional ninth month
authorized by the 1943 General As
sembly.
Allotment of teachers, meanwhile,
is now being worked out, Yelton
said. Original allotments will be
tendered schools within the next
week. The allotments will be h^sed
on essentially the same plan as was
used last year.
BOUND OVER TO COURT
Horace Effler and Joe March,
both of Old Fort, were given a hear
ing before United States Commis
sioner J. L. Nichols here Tuesday on
charges of violating the prohibition
law and bound over to Federal court
in Asheville.