Friday, May 18, 1945.
THE PILOT< Southwm Pines. North Carolina
Page Three
The P. M. Checks Up On Front Line
Operations By Three Musketeers
BY KATHARINE BOYD j
“Come outside, boys,” said the
P. M. “I want to take a picture
while the light’s sj;ill good.”
“Yes sir,” said the Air Medal.
“How about standing in front of
these pines, they make a nice
background.”
The thin Purple Heart looked
across the street to where two
pretty ^irls were walking by:
“Sir,” he said, “There’s a right
good background coming along
if you wait just a minute.”
„ “Two good backgrounds,” said
* the chunky Purple Heart.
“Now, boys,” said the P. M.
“This is a serious picture. Don’t
go looking for backgrounds. You
group up right where you are.”
They grouped. The Air Medal
stood in the center with the other
two on each side of him. They
were almost the same height, al
most the same age, too. The Air
Medal had gotten in first. He had
^ seen w^at was coming; you
^ might ,say he had begun to see
it when he was knee-high to a
grasshopper. For his interest in
planes had started then. All his
young life he had loved them
and studied about them. He had
built models of planes, and then
later he had' gone seriously into
the science of flying and studied
plane engines and navigation and
all the rest of it at school and
Mk college. People in Southern Pines
^ followed his career with interest,
convinced that he would be a
good flyer. When finally he got
his wings and started training in
the big Liberator, there was gen
eral satisfaction. And then one
day a big plane came over town.
It had the double rudder folks
had begun to recognize. It flew
low till it seemed to brush the
treetops, and then his family’s
^ telephone started to ring. “There’s
a B .24 flying over the house;
D’you think it’s Jim?” Up and
down it went and down in the
street there was a great flutter
of cheering and waving by sisters
and brothers and aunts and
friends not to mention ma and
pa. What an occasion!
Did it seem long ago to the Air
Medal now, as he stood with his
two friends before the camera?
^ A good deal had happened. Both
his friends had gotten in the fight
and each , had been wounded. He
himself had had one very close
call. The last man to leave his
ship when she was hit, his jump
was too low for safety, though
somehow he made it- There were
probably many other times he
didn’t enjoy thiriking about: fly
in^ the Hump with the deathly
_ precipices beneath and the cold
4p white peaks around him, black
groping flights back again,
searching for the dim lights of the
to know then;,” the Air Medal
said. “The only ones we ever saw
were the coolies and house ser
vants. They’re pretty stupid on
the whole. There was one thing
that used to drive us crazy. They
have a superstition that an evil
spirit is always tailing along be
hind a person and they go to all
sorts of dodges to try to shake
him off. Driving down the main
street of a town is enough
to turn your hair grey. The peo
ple stroll across in front of you
and just time it so that your fen
der will brush their coat-tails; or
would if they had any. Or they’ll
make a sudden dash almost under
your wheels. They figure that if
they escape by a hairsbreadth
the evil spirit is bound to be hit
and they’ll be rid of him. You
have to watch them on the air
field. They’ll dash under a prop
just as you’re starting to rev the
motor. One man got his head slic
ed off doing that and his friends
stood around and howled with
laughter. Queer sense of humor,
I’d say.”
Across the table the thin Pur
ple Heart eased his left arm to
a more comfortable position.
“You got that at St. Lo, Alec,
didn’t you?”
“Pretty near there,” the thin
Purple Heart said. “My fighting
career was short but—
“But not sweet,” said the
chunky Purple Heart.
“Well, no, not so very. We hit
France on the thirteenth, and on
the fifteenth the Krauts hit me.
Didn’t hardly give me time to
look around. They put me in an
ambulance plane, a C 47, and flew
me back to England. Hospital
there and then on home and more
hospital.”
“And going off tomorrow for
another work over,” said the' P.
M. ^
“Yes, sir; and I hope it’s the
last.”
There was a hearty murmur of
agreement.
The chunky Purple Heart, who
had been putting in. time on the
rations that were not N rations,
looked up.
“You know, sir,” he said to the
P. M. “When a letter came from
home, I’d just look at it and look
at it. I’d think how it had gone
into the slot and been stamped
by youall and put into one of
those big grey bags I used to carry
up to the station when I worked
in the Postoffice- . . I could see
that letter all the way,”
“That so?” The P. M. smiled.
“Well, we thought about you a
lot, too. We missed you when you
left. Be nice to get you back there
with us some day.”
“Be nice to be there,” grinned
the chunky Purple Heart. “I used
ing and I couldn’t see any of our
people anywhA'e. I just dug in
right there, with both hands and
feet going as hard as I could work
them. I was there six hours be
fore our lieutenant fell in on top
of me. We finally got a crowd of
us together and got back off that
Omaha beach.” The chunky Pur
ple Heart sighed. “I sure hope I
keep off of beaches for the rest of
this war.”
The Air Medal grinned. “Come
in with us, boy,” he said, “No
beaches in the air corps.”
“No beaches. But you got to
jump.” The chunky Purple Heart
shuddered.
“No, you don’t. At least you
oughtn’t to have to jump. ‘Course
sometimes you might have to. But
it’s not so bad. You soar and you
float. . . ”
“You and your soaring and
floating!” the thin Purple Heart
shuddered too. “I’ll stay on land,
tfianks, even if it is a beach.”
“Maybe Japan wont have any
beaches. . .”
“Maybe Japan isn’t an island.
“Maybe Japan . . . Oh he . . .
heavens! Say ma’m, do you think
there’s any of that non K ration
chocolate cake left?”
Cast of Characters
THE AIR MEDAL; Jim Swett.
THE THIN PURPLE HEART:
Alec Cameron.
THE CHUNKY PURPLE
HEART: Ralph Gacomo.
THE P. M.: Guess Who.
MRS. P. M.: Guess Again.
Brings Sicknesa
Malaria does not strike and kill
as do yellow fever and plague, but
it makes people sick.
PILOT WANT ADS PAY
TAX SALE
On Monday, June 4, 1945 at 10:
o’clock, A. M., at the City Office
in the Municipal Building, East
Broad Street, the following des
cribed property will be offered
for sale for taxes, due the Town
of Southern Pines for 1944, to
gether with penalities and cost
MRS. J. H. TILGHMAN, Collector
air-field with only a few gallons think about it a lot when I was
of gas to go. All that was in his |
mind, but it didn’t show much in
his face as he stood joking with
the others.
The camera clicked.
“All over? said the thin Purple
Heart. “You’re speedier than Mr.
Eddy.”
“I might be,” the P. M. said as
he wound the camera in a gin
gerly fashion. “But the picture’s
what counts. Now, Come to sup
per.”
That was a supper. Mrs. P. M.
had chicken, peas, corn, potatoes,
gravy, rolls, tea and coffee, salad,
and wound up with ice-cream
and chocolate cake.
,“M-m-m-m” the thin Purple
Heart sighed, “No K rations
here.”
“K rations!” the Air Medal ex
claimed “Don’t mention K rations
to me.”
“But Chinese food is wonderful,”
said Mrs. P. M.
“Not 14th Air Force Chinese
food, ma’m,” said the Air Medal
as, he dug into his potatoes and
gravy.
“How did you like it in China?”
asked the chunky Purple Heart,
“apart from the food.”
“Not too well,” the Air Medal
said. “We were in the part that’s
been devastated: gaunt bare hills.
But in the spring the green rice
paddies were pretty. The climate
was the best thing. We were
about on the same latitude with
Florida, so it was warm, but we
were six thousand feet up- The
air was clear and bracing and the
nights were cold.”
Most people who haye lived
in China come home just crazy
about the people,” Mrs. P. M. said.
“What about your air force
crowd? Did you like the Chi
nese?”
■ “We didn’t have much chance
Drs. Neal and McLean
VETERINARIANS
Southern Pines, N. C.
The Company With the
Coal and Service
PABKER
ICE & FUEL CO.
Tel. 9581 Aberdeen. N. C.
“And how,” murmured the thin
Purple Heart.
“You in hospital long?” asked
the P. M.
“Only a week. I just got a hole
through my ear. Shrapnel.”
“Close call,” said the Air Medal.
The chunky Purple Heart
shrugged. “It wasn’t anything,”
he said. “The boys said it would
make a good hole for an earring.
They wanted to make one in my
other ear.”
Mrs. P. M. gasped. “The idea!”
she said.
“You were in Africa first,
weren’t you, Ralph?” asked the
P. M. “How’d you like it?”
“Well, sir,' it might have been
worse, I guess,’f said the chunky
Purple Heart, “The heat kind of
wore me down, though.”
Hotter than Broad Street on
a July day?”
Yes, sir; or even an August
day . . . Plenty of sand in your
shoes too, but no old long-leaf
pines to cool off under. We were
glad to get.^away from there. We
went on to Sicily. I was laid up
with malaria there for a couple
of weeks. When I was getting
better, one day, some of us went
sight-seeing. 'We went to see one
of these graveyards they call cat
acombs: an old old' place. The
bombardment had kind of shook
it up. It was full of skeletons.
Whoooo! I’m telling you I got
out of there in a hurry!”
“You were in the D-Day inva
sion of Normandy after that,
weren’t you? What part of the
coast did you hit?”
“Didn’t exactly hit any part,”
said the chuiiky Purple Heart. “I
hit the water instead: Kerplunk!”
“What you mean, feller?” said
the Air Medal.
“Well, captain. . .” the Air
Medal groaned. “It was this way;
our ship got off the Omaha beach
around three in the afternoon. By
that time it had gotten awful
rough; the waves were really
throwing us around. I guess we
drifted from where we were sup
posed to be or maybe the tide
came up. Anyway, instead of the
water being what they said it
was, it was about three times that
deep. I was the first jeep to drive
off the ship and I didn’t drive, I
dove. Lucky I had a life-belt on
or I’d never have reached shore:
I swam all the way. I lost all my
stuff. On our LST everybody lost
everything and all the vehicles
too. I hit the beach soaking wet
and cold and all alone. Heavy fir-
WHITE
Abbott, Nadine C—1 Wey.
Hgts. No. 17 $ 2.63
Bonardi, L. E.—1-Broad St.
2-D&3 NO. 3-4 5.86
Brown, R. M. 2-L&4 pt.
No. 13-14, D&2, 1, 2, 21,
24 110.51
Clark, Lloyd & Mildred
N&4 1 to 6 inc. 23, 24
& 1-2 sq -136.16
Dunn, Clyde T. F&l No. 21
pt. 22 bal 39.59
Drew, Grace H&5 No. 10
& alley 2.62
Fasnacht, Grace—G&3 No.
1, 2, 23, 24 51.02
Fasnacht, John—3 Camer-
eron Plan 5.06
Fox, Margaret—^F&2 No. 3,
4, 32.10
Garner, Chas & Rosa—1
Bennet St 33.45
Halliwell, Lillian—10 I&6
No. 2 to 11 inc. 2 al : 13.98
Halliwell, Leonard—3 H&7
No. .11, 15, 16., I&7 No.
15, 16 5.33
Holliday, W. B.—H&3 No.
12 & alley 35.34
Hutt Est., Edith— 1 23-100
a Wey Hgts 30.74
Kelly, T. A.—1 Indiana
Ave 131.06
Kitchen Est., C. C.—J&6
No. 20 1.54
Medlin, F R.—E&7 No 4 1.94
Mills, E. H.—No. 50,52 Wey
Hgts 283.25
Mills, E H-—E&l No. 13,
14, C&2 No. 2 7.08
Montesanti, A.—L&5 No.
9, 10 & al, M&4 No. 7,
8, 9, 32.66
McCallum, David & Mary,
1 Bennett St. 3 1-2 Stan
ley Land 51.02
McNeill, Harold—1&6 No.
10 & al 23.67
Nevins, Annie—3 F&l, 22,
23, 24 & al 52.37
Norris, Mrs. Harry—G&7
No. 16 1.80
Osborne, C. P.—1 Mass Ave 91.24
Roth, Mrs. Mable—K&5
No. 1, 2 51.02
Schmidt, Amelia—G&2'No. ■
No. 19, 20, 21 bal 34.07
Seawell, H. F. Jr,—F&3
No. 17, 18, 19, 14 3.70
Simms, Mrs. T.—^H&8 No.
13, 14 2.62
Sugg, R L.—1 Mass Ave 99.38
Swieeting, M. W.—O&l
Ridge St 10.46
Taft, EUen R.—0&3 No.
No. 17, H&l No. 17 34.80
■Van Camp, Paul—1 Ridge
130.48
Warren, R. A.—^N&3 No.
24 bal. 27.37
Wheeler Est, Florence—
H&l No. 23 & al 5.77
Winkleman, D. W. 1 Mass.
Ave 203.80
Woolnough, Marland—1
Mass Ave 143.16
West Est. John—4 E&l No.
9, 10, 11, 12 10.46
COLORED
Alford,- Eloise—^N&ll No.
23 4.51
Allen, Mary B.—1 N.
Hamp. Ave 6.41
Bell, Alexander—0&13 No.
2 1.80
Barnes, Nellie&Mildred—
N&ll No'. 19 bal 7.24
Bethea, James—12 Page-
land, K&13 No. 18 41.83
Bethea, Persons, Jas. &
Street Est. Willian, P&
11„ No. 15, 16 6.95
Bass, James—M&12 No.
6, 7 , 4.24
Bogan, C. N.—N&ll No.
13 bal 6.41
Broadway Est., Amos—
L&15 No. 1, 2, 5, 23, 24
bal 5.06
Brown, P. R.—L&14 No.
15 23.13
Brown, Ida—0&14 No. 21
22 2.08
Cameron, Daniel & Mat-
tie—0&13 pt No. 4&5.... 3.70
Campbell, Joseph—0&14
No. 6 .....: 1.81
Cash, Henry Clay—8 lots
Pageland No. 29 to 36 ... 8.03
Clyburn, Walter & Els-
worth—K&12 No. 17, 18 17.22
Conner, T. U. L&7 No. 5
to 16 al&pt. squ 48.32
Cole, Sam—K&12 No. 21...'. 8.03
Carolina, Essie—^I&9 No. 17 4.24
Dupree, Alex—^K&8 No. 15 1.67
Flowers Est. Robt. K&12-
22-23 7.76
Frank, Arnix—2, 0&15 No.
7, 8 9.79
Gouis, Edith, Paul & Wil
son—10 1-2 a Jimtown .... 17.22
Goode Est., George—4, J&7
No. 11, 12, 13, 14 : 8.43
Graham, Nellie—0&14 No.
17, 18 2.08
Harry, Beasley—1 Jimtown 4.79
Harrington, Pearl 1-2 a
Penn.Ave 7.76
Hill, Willerstein Thomas—
0&14 No. 12 6.41
Harvey, Quincey—^K&7
No. ,19 8.53
HiU, Flora W.—0&14 No.
15, 16 3.70
Hines, Tafford & ^lossie—
0&14 No. 20 2.99
Himter, ArniUa Shields—
J&9 No. 10, 11, 12 & squ 7.20
Ingram, Sam & Alice—
O&ll No. 16, 17 4.38
Jackson, Emma Virginia—
L&13 No. 22 13.98
King, Alice—^M&9 No. 4 .... 2.08
I^eslie ifllames—N&14 No.
17, 18 2.35
Little, Alexander & Lula—
I &11 No. 1, 2 2.35
Medlin, Mable—2 N. Y.
Ave 7.63
McCaU, Joe & Mary—P&
12 No. 6 5.33
McDonald, Simon—New
Hamp. Ave 6.10
Mclver, Frank—1&12 17
& al 11.77
Mclver, Fred—1&13 No. 1 16.44
Mclver, Joe John—^K&15
Carlisle St 6.41
McLaughlin, Carson—J&8
No. 2 6.41
McLean, Emma—J&8 No.
3, 4 6.41
McLean Est. Geo.—2 Page-
land No. 3, 24 2.62
McNeill, James & wife—
L&13 No. 4 5.33
McNeill, John D.— Q&ll
No. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 17.59
McNeill, Rosa—M&13 1-2
of No. 13& 1-2 No. 14 ... 4.38
Parsons, Sam & Alice—J&
9 pt. No. 16 & pt. No. 17 7.45
Persons, Priscilla—J&9 No.
13 1.67
Quick, Alvin, K&7 No. 21 12.67
Quick, Edward—J&7 No.
17,18 & Englefield. Est 36.38
Quick, Anna—2 Pageland \
No. 3, 4 2.62
Ross, Josie—1 S&12 No. 14 3.70
Saunders, J. T.—L&15 No.
13, 14 36.11
Scott, A. J. 1 Conn. Ave. 1.54
Smith, Gorrie—%&12 No.
9, 10 13.72
Stephenson, J. M.—1 N.
Hamp. Ave 5.06
K&12
Strong Est E. M. 2
No. 13, 14
M&13, 7, 8, 9, pt 10
Stubbs, Mack—^P&12 No.
No. 7, 8
Stanback, Essie—3 Lots
Pageland
Terry, W. J.—J&9 pt. No.
7 pt ‘No. 8
Iterrjil, Dwight E.—0&16
No. 1
Terry, T. E.—0&16 No. 2 ...
Threadgill, Henry—P&ll
No. 20
Threadgill, Miles—N&9 No.
20
Tray, Mary 4 Pageland No.
18, 19, 26, 27
Waddell, Annie—2 Page-
land No. 181, 182
Weddell, George—M&ll
No. 5 & alley
Watson, Pearl—3 L&13 No.
15, 16, 17 & al
Williams, Demp & Inez—
J&14 Pageland
Williams, Nord—K&8 No. 8
No. 21
Williams, Lessie—^N&12
Williams, Dora—P&8 No.
14
Wilson, D. E.—K&14 No. 5
York, Edward, Sr.,—J&13
No. 78, 79
12.63
26.08
5.87
2.62
6.41
2.08
181
2.08
4.38
2.62
7.76
3.97
11.92
14.03
1.67
4.38
1.67
26.46
11.36
Miscellaneous
Gettys, Geneva—1&17 No.
THE OLD JUDGE SAYS...
GEORGE: “Yes, I certainly would like to
hear why you call that an old fashioned
idea, Judge.”
OLD JUDGE: “Qlad to tell you, George.
Until recently, a person known as an al
coholic was generally treated as a social
outcast. Little if anything was done to
understand him or help him. But, during the
past few years, medical research and study
has developed that alcoholics are really sick
people ... that there is usually a deep-
rooted physical, social or emotional reason
behind their behavior. That’s why today so
much is being done to help them by finding
out and correcting the condition that leads
them to excess.”
GEORGE: “How many folks are there like
that. Judge?”
OLD JUDGE: “Well, according to scientific
research, 95% of the people who drink,
drink sensibly. 5% do so unwisely, at times.
Included in that 5% is the small percentage
of the sick people I’m talking about.”
GEORGE: “That certainly gives me a
clearer picture. It’s the most sensible ap
proach I’ve ever heard on the subject.”
This advertise/.
' Conference of Alcoholic Beverage Industries, Im.
BROWN-OUT LIFTED!
Official word has just been received from Washington that the
brown-out has been lifted. Restrictions regarding lighting of store
windows, signs, displays and other commercial, ornamental or advertising
lighting have been removed. No longer need Carolina towns be hidden
in the shadows of darkness. So turn on your lights! Make your home town
the sparkling town it was before the brown-out went into effect. There's
plenty of electricity.
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