THE ENTERPRISE IAT »•** >AT mr tnmm—u n mum VOLUME XLVII—NUMBER 14 Williamston, Martin County, North Carolina, Friday, February 18, 1944. ESTABLISHED 1899 Former Servicemen Fifin'? flfatmr F&i* o Mustering-Out Pay —■*—— Veterans Are Urged to Reeord Discharges in Register of Deeds Office -. Following the oass'rge by Con gress just recently of a law providing servicemen honorably discharged from the service with mustering-out pay or a small rehabilitation fund, former Martin County servicemen started filing their claims this week. The forms are fairly simple, but the applicant is asked to submit his dis charge and give a record of his serv ice. Martin County men who have been discharged from the service, and it is estimated that there are about 100 of them, are urged to have their discharge papers filed in the office of the register of deeds at Wil liamston. The filed record may prove of great value in the years to come. Assistance in filing claims for mus tering-out pay by any member of the United States armed forces who has been honorably discharged will be provided by the local American Legion Post, it was announced by John A. Ward, Commander of the John W. Hassell Post No. 163 of the American Legion. Veterans discharged since the re cent mustering-out law was approv ed will receive their pay without fil ing applications, but those discharg ed prior to approval of the bill must comply with two orders: (1) Submit a certificate of discharge of service; (2) Submit an informal type of ap plication stating his name and ad dress, service number, serial or file number, showing that he was not discharged to accept employment without service outside the United States, that he is not now on active duty, that he has not made any oth er application for mustering-out pay; the state in which he lived when inducted, and whether or not he has had foreign service. The application form will not be printed by the Army or Navy, but the veteran may copy it or may sub mit a facsimile from its publication. The county post has arranged to have plenty of application blanks mimeographed and now has such application blanks and instructions on hand, ready to assist local veter ans of World War II desiring such assistance, in properly filing their claims for such mustering-out pay. Veterans of this community desir ing such assistance in filing their ap plications for such mustering-out pay, are drected to contact Norman K. Harrison, Harrison and Carstar phen office, Williamston; D. R. Ev erett or B. L. Stokes, Guaranty hank, Robersonville; Joe H. Ayers, J. H. Ayers & Co. store, Oak City; Chas. Davenport, Davenport and Hamil ton, Jamesville. Those eligible under the muster ing-out pay legislation signed by the President recently, are veterans, in cluding women, discharged from mil itary service under honorable con ditions ard because of physical dis ability on or after December 7, 1941. Beginning Friday, Feb. 4th, those discharged under these circum P* tv*" the • tContinued on page six) -» Special Display 01 Pulpwood Products — To better acquaint the general public with the part pulpwood is holding in promoting the war effort, the North Carolina Pulp Company has arranged a collection of pulp wood products for special display in schools and before civic organi zations, No display has beer ar ranged iii this county so far, but high school principals or civic club leaders may have Ihe collection dis played by one of the company’s five trained representatives by writing to the Wood and Land Department of the North Carolina Pulp Com pany, Plymouth, N. C. Among the articles in the collec tion are: High altitude paper vest for avia tors, paper parachutes for dropping food, medical supplies, ammunition and other equipment, paper helmets for tropical use, paper raincoats, jet ison tanks for extra gasoline on planes, flare containers, blood plas ma'containers, water-proof map con tainers, actual photographs of other various essential products. It is an exhibition of great interest to every American citizen. -*. Classifications Are Sustained by Board •— Appealing to the district board from classifications effected by the Martin County Draft Board, six registrants were denied draft status changes recent’y, it was learned here today. One of the group, a regis trant by the name of Speller, was given a 60-day stay of induction, but he was continued in the 1-A clas sification. Claims for reclassification were denied the following by the District Appeal Board: Alton (Dick) Dan iel, Millard Lilley, Garland Gray Gardner, Burnard S. Harrison and Mayo Modltn. Prizes Offered To Pupils For BesT Pu lf>wood-at- War Essay * •Valaabk , virr.j-.sit being ofltTC&i Martin County high school students 1 who present winning essays in the j Victory Pulpwood Campaign, spun-1 sored by the North Carolina Pulp i Company, and a special appeal is! being d'reeled to all school officials urging them to assist the youngsters I and in making the contest a large one. A $25 war bond will be offer ed to district winners, and in addi tion to that award, this paper will offer within the county a first prize of $5 and a second of $2.50 in war stamps, meaning that it is possible for the county to annex three prizes. The rules of the contest are very simple. Choose one of three subjects as follows: "Pulpwood's Vital Part in the War Effort”; ‘‘Pulpwood Helps Win the War"; or “Pulpwood Goes To War.” Write an essay of from 500 to 1,000 words, sign and mail it to the Pulpwood Contest Editor, The Enterprise, Williamston, N. C., so that it will be received by midnight of March 10, 1944, when the contest closes. ■ • The best essay from M&rtin Conn- , ty will be selected by an impartial group of judges, and the winning pa per sent to the district, judges, who will decide the winner of the $25 bond for the district. If the entry from this county does not win tin. district r.ward, then the entrant, will receive the $5 award, and the next best paper will win $2.50 in war stamps. There are only a very few counties in this district in the con test and Martin County pupils have a good chance to win all three. Four special district prizes are also being offered to colored high school pupils who are also urged to enter the contest. Letters will be distributed thrugh out the schools outlining the princi pal phases of the contest. High school principals, English or agricultural instructors and faculty members may help students in any wray possible. Boys and girls are urged to begin work on the contest right away, as midnight March 10, is the deadline, all entries must be received by then. Local V. E. P. District Earns Coveted Awardi RED CROSS DRIVE v__ Tentative plans for the annual Red Cross War Fund drive ara being advanced in this chapter, and beginning in early March a generous people * in the five townships comprising the Mar tin County chapter will be ask ed to contribute a record amount. President Roosevelt is issuing an appealing proclamation day after tomorrow, calling upon ev ery citizen to support the drive. Complete plans for the cam paign in this chapter will be made public some time next week. Judge Calvin Smith Hears Two Cases In The County’s Court —» ,, Only Throe Spectators Are in Courtroom During Short Session Last Monday -$ With only two cases on its docket, the Martin County Recorder’s Court last Monday held one of the short est sessions in several months. Al though the session was opened a few minutes late as a result of the judge being delayed by bad weather, the court ended its work in less than twenty-five minutes and Judge j. Calvin Smith adjourned the tribun Reporting for work, County Pros ecutor E. S. Peel had an easy time when the two lone defendants pleaded guilty. Charged with assaulting his wife and mother-in-law, Muriel Rascoe, Williamston colored man, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to the roads for sixty days. According to the evidence offered, the defendant had accused his wife of being un faithful to him and that started a fight. The wife claimed she was slapped down, and the mother-in law entered the fray, receiving a stinging slap to the face. Pleading guilty in the case charg ing him with exceeding tne 35-inile per hour speed law, Marion Odell Tripp, driver oT airtTicoftolic Bev erage Control truck, was fined $10 and taxed with the court costs. The defendant was cited to court by Corporal W. S. Hunt of the North Carolina Highway Patrol. Tripp was charged with speeding on the high ways near Robersonville last Thurs day. For the first time in many months there was not a single colored spec tator in the auoiit Ready J To Leave England B«*wl Impression of Britain Obtained Hijzlit After Ho Landed Bruce Whitley, former Enterprise employee, in a letter under fairly recent date, frankly admits he is ready to leave “somewhere in Eng land and return home”. His letter follows, in part: “I hardly know how to begin to till you anything about this place over here, but what I have seen of it. I can't see why people want to pay money to visit the place for un less it is to say they had been to England, for the sooner I can leave here the better I’ll like it. “After 1 landed here I got the best impression of it I have had at all. It was something I had never seen before, and traveling through the country it looked perfectly beau tiful to mo then, but that was only a part. What I have seen later doesn’t come up to that now. The fields and hills looked like painted pictures or the pictures you see on calendars. The most things that I see they raise over here are wheat and sugar beets and Brussell sprouts. The farmers still till the fields like they did in olden times, and there’s very little modern farm machinery used over here. I tell you one thing they do, though, is they take good care of their horses. That is the only kind of team I have seen over here. “When you visit one town or city, you have seen them all, for they are all alike, including London. There are more little narrow streets and al leys than any place I have ever been before. Everything is built on a miniature scale here, even the roads and eveything else. All homes have small rooms with very low pitched ceilings, and the salons (or pubs) you can enter the same one in (Continued on page six) Officers Take Two Liquor Distilleries —— Raiding in the Flat Swamp sec tion of Robersonville Township last Wednesday, Officer J. If. Roebuck assisted by Deputy Roy Peel and ABC Officers Ward and Taylor of Beaufort County, wrecked a crude liquor distillery. The plant was equipped with an oil drum for a still and an old keg. The other equip ment was shoddy and no beer was found. Continuing their activities, the of ficers raided along the Martin Edgecombe boundary not far from Hassell and wrecked a plant, in cluding three fermenters. They poured out about 100 gallons of in ferior mash there. -® Hit-And-Run Driver IlitH Car Parked On Street - A hit-and-run driver whose name las car and plowed into Earl Wynne's Ford on Church Street shortly after midnight yesterday morning. Park ed in front of the walkway, the Wynne car was knocked quite a dis tance and was left in front of the J. M. Saunders’ home Very little damage was done and as fur as it could be learned no one was hurt. Squealing brakes and the crash disturbed the peace in the commun ity. Thousand Men Lost In Recent Disaster at Sea Relieved INo Martin County Men Wei eon; 111 fated Troop Ship -+. . — Attack Big Jap Base at Truk; Fierce Battles Raging at Two Points in Italy ♦ Ip. one of the greatest troop ship disasters involving this nation, an estimated 1,000 American soldiers lost their lives somewhere in Europ ean waters recently. Few details of the sea tragedy have been released by the War Department, and date and place of the sinking could not be learned. It is believed, however, that no Martin County men were lost; at least, no reports as far as it could be learned here today have been received by relatives in the county announcing local casualties. While the ship could have gone down anywhere in the Mediterranean area, off the west coast, the British Isles, or Norway, it is believed that the tragedy took place somewhere in the North Atlantic. One report stated that the seas were rough and the water was icy cold. The ship was believed to have been struck by a submarine torpedo and sunk within a few minutes. An estimated 1,000 or about half the number of soldiers aboard were res cued. The tragedy boosts the total number of men lost from troop ships in the war to date to almost 2,000. On the land fronts in Italy, two fierce battles have been raging dur ing the past twenty-four hours. The city of Cassino where Allied and German troops have been locked for several weeks, underwent an Al lied artillery barrage last night from 9 o’clock until 0 o'clock this morning. The city was shattered, one report stating that the fire would be cen tered on one small area for ten min utes before it was shifted to anotn er. The Germans, fighting back at intervals, were said to be holding to a portion of the city, but they were no match for the heavy and concentrated artillery fire. Fierce fighting followed another German attack on the An/,in beach head just south of Rome, but it was (Continued on page six) -o Prowler Is Held In County Jail Here —•— Charged with forcible trespass, at tempted larceny and "peeping,” John B. Lowry, 45-year-old Elizabeth City white man, is being held in the county jail here in default of a $300 bond. Lowry was arrested by Officers C. R. Moore and John Gurganus at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Herman A Bower, shortly after midnight V.V\*.da V i*1--»' - trying to steal the Bowen car. According to unofficial reports coining from the local police de partment, Lowry has a long jail record. He was said to have been sentenced to 20 years for larceny, and more recently was ordered by the court to remain out of Elizabeth City for two years. While serving the long sentence he was reported to have escaped several times, the law overtaking him one time in Tex as. Williamston Youth Tells A bout Exciting. Times He Had During Months In Pacific (After briefly telling of his trip to | Guadalcanal, Bill Holloman, petty officer 2-c, recalls his early work on the jungle island in this, the third installment of his experiences in the Pacific.—Ed.) Other than a small platform and a few stakes to tie to, tho hard-won island had no docking facilities, Hol loman stating that he and his com panions, after loading their equip ment oi'i fighters fur transfer to shore were ready and willing to improve the facilities ashore. “Ve brought into use about twenty old trucks de serted by the Japs, and they stood up under heavy duty and rough treatment,” the young man explain ed, adding that the vehicles saved the men much hard work and hast ened the completion of the docks. Some of the spare parts found there were of American manufacture, and the trucks, while made after a crude fashion, were built along the same lines as the standard makes in this country. The trucks were also used advantageously in enlarging Hen derson Field and in the construction of other fields and projects. The hardships were many and most disheartening at first and the dangers were great during the first tew weeks on the island, but the men knew they had a job to do and j soon they accepted their lot after a I matter of fact way and without com-1 plaining, the young man said. Con- j tinuing his story, Holloman told how | bad the mosquitoes were and ex In the next installment, Bill Ilolloman tells about the con struction of Highway 26 and the visit made to the island by Mrs. F. D. Roosevelt and “another white lady.” plained that they took sizable por tions of atabrine daily. “We saw no snake.? snd (var crocodile?. Jtgjj^’hA ants were numerous and possibly our worst enemy as far as pests were concerned. Some of them were as large as horse flies. Lizards were there in numbers also, but they proved to be real friends in that they would devour the ants. Now and then a lizard would die in my bunk, and the ants would gather in even greater numbers.” During the course of a few months the island was drained wherever possible and oil was used in those places where drainage was impos sible, the program improving living conditions there considerably. Nervous tension was great those first few weeks for the men. While the land fighting had moved inland a scant mile or so, Holloman and his companions were subjected to heavy air attacks along the shore. When the moon was full, they were under almost constant attack at night, the Japs slipping in a sr.eak raid by day occasionally. Those night raids even though they killed comparatively few men made life miserable for the builders. Unable to sleep at night for the bursting shells, some of the men "cracked” under the strain, but Hol loman solved the problem when he would carry his tools into his air raid shelter and work on souven irs. The work occupied his mind and when his stay was ended on the is land he had an unusually large col lection of war relics and souvenirs. The big raids would last for about an hour, but , ! was the nuisance raid that "broke” the men. Young Holloman went through the entire period without a serious scratch, but he was close by when one of his friends had a leg almost torn off by bomb shrapnel. He manned anti-aircraft guns often dur ing the raids by night and would take his regular place in the con struction forces the following morn ing. The first few weeks taxed his strength, but he became acclimated and he was one of the very few who went through the campaign without falling ill or experiencing a serious accident. "It is a bit uncanny, but we were not long in being able to distinguish between the sound of our planes and those of the enemy. We got so we could sleep without interruption when American planes had control of the air, but the approach of Jap planes with their broken noise like unto that of a sewing machine would cause us to quit our bunks and seek cover in the shelters,” Holloman said. (To be continued). WOUNDED \_ j Wounded while in action ov er Germany last month, St. Sgt. Edgar M. Taylor, son of Mr. and Mrs. Monroe Taylor of RFD 3, Williamston, is now believed to be getting along very well. Stores May Get Red And Blue Tokens At Banks Next Monday —.— Sini|»lili issued only in amounts of 250 and multiples of 250; and 250 is the minimum amount issued. If is emphasized that retailers may secure tokens only from their banks, and none will be issued at the office of the rationing board. Ration tokens will come into use by consumers on February 27, and a number of changes are to be made in tin' present method which makes it absolutely necessary that retail ers have a supply of tokens on hand when the changes become effective. For one tiling, each red and blue stamp in ration hooks will be worth 10 points under the new system. The mini hers printed on the ration stamps will no longer mean any thing, so far as value is concerned, as a !-point stamp and an 8-point stamp will lie worth the same, 10 pro waif- rhanj-fy jusr rr,; pCimu-.T un used in making change where money is concerned. A consumer who buys items worth 23 blue points, for example, will give his retailer 2 blue stamps, and 3 blue tokens. If be has no tokens, he will give the merchant 3 blue stamps and get 7 blue tokens in change. The number of points available for each buying period will remain the same as at present, it is stated, although fewer coupons will be used. (Continued on page six) -« Thm* Casrs-l lfvinl By Just ir