The ORD news [March 16, 1945]

              1060TH AAF
BASE UNIT (ORD) THE ORD NEWS IHe STAMP MAILS
NEWS HOME
VOL. 3. NO. 45. Greensboro, N. C, Friday, March r6, 194-5. FREE DISTRIBUTION
Gen.R.Royce
Makes Initial
Visit To Post
New CG Praises
'Excellent Result'
Maj. Gen. Ralph Royce,
new commanding general of
the Personnel Distribution
command, who paid his
initial visit to this base last
Friday, had a word of praise
for the Post Commander,
Col. Paul R. Younts, his staff,
and the entire permanent
party personnel, who, he
said, "have o b v i o u s ly
achieved excellent results in
their particular mission."
"I am impressed," said Gen.
Royce during his brief visit, "with
the orderliness and the fine spirit
which exists at this facility. The ex­cellent
cooperation which has been
received from the citizens of
Greensboro is thoroughly appre-cited,
not only by the officers of
ORD but by those of us charged
with the mission of this command."
Gen. Royce, who made a short
inspection tour of the post, arrived
in the early afternoon from Miami.
He was accompanied by Col. W. F.
Hall, PDC surgeon; Lt. Col. Russell
L. Putman of the PDC staff and
Capt. Wendell M. Buckhiester, his
aide and pilot, who flew him in
France.
Col. Younts and Fielding L. Fry,
acting mav-or of Greensboro, in the
absence of W. H. Sullivan, greeted
the visitins general at the Greens­boro-
High Point airport.
Upon arrival at the post Gen.
Royce went directly to the Big Top
where he heard the daily news
briefing orogram. Several business
men and city officials of Greens­boro
heloed to augment the crowd
of officers and enlisted men who
were in * * tendance for General
Rovce's tpTk.
Other members of the crew of
the C-47 worried "Little Egvnt II".
were M/?-'+. William Hardgrove.
a veteran of the Fifth air force, en­gineer
prr* **/Sgt. J. P- Spruyette.
former!" r* the 13th air force, radio
operator. *T'Sgt. Spruyette. served
tinder Col. Younts in the-Southwest
Pacific.
In cor"»ii'*fon Gen. Royce «+at«5
"Greenshoro is the home of on"
of only two ORD's and because of
this it pi^'s a very Important ro1c
in the affairs of the army air
forces."
Gen. Vnvr.e succeeded Maj. Gen.
Hubert P. ^armon as commandin?
general of PDC on Feb. 19 and has
spent morf of the time since in
visiting the various installation?
throughout the country under hi=
command:
Returnees Salute Old Buddies In Caribbean
"HOW Y'AIX?" Is what these returnee vets, all
former members of the Sixth AF, seem to be saying
as they convey for us the first of our weekly sa­lutes
to overseas air forces. Now stationed here at
ORD, these Sixth AF graduates are left to right
standing) Sgt. LaVerne A. Sadler, Ordnance; Sgt.
Joseph W. Koury, Post FT office; Maj. 3. M. Carney,
assistant Director of Training; S/Sgt. Calvin N.
Cline, C and E repair shop, and Sgt. John A. Rup-pitz,
Post Immunization. Kneeling are S/Sgt. Clark
S. Bains, P and T, and Sgt. Roy A. Doniigan (right)
of the Squadron A orderly-room.
Greater Greensboro
Golf Tourney Nears
• Althoueh ''Dutch" Harrison, for­mer
ORDer, can't be counted upon
to be at the Greater Greensboro
Golf Open because of a change of
station, the matches will still be
played on March 23, 24, and 25,
' with, such men as Byron Nelson,
Sammy Snead, Sammy Byrd, and
Ben Hogan competing for honors.
Take It Easy
Spring Advice
For 'Athletes'
With spring approaching and the
balmy weather accompanying it
giving GI's on the post the urge
for a little outdoor sports, Lt. J. W.
Baker, Jr., grounds safety officer,
warns these sports enthusiasts to
be careful of .overdoing at the start.
He added that most so-called
"athletes" forget they have had a
long winter hibernation and with
the appearance of a warming sun
seek to emulate i'Dizzy" Dean and
Tom Harmon and start throwing a
baseball or kicking a football with
much gusto.
Of course the inevitable result
is sore arms and lame legs. These
two factors contribute greatly to
the loss of man hours and Lt. Bak­er
stated that he could not stress
too much carefulness in sports, es­pecially
during the early season
workouts.
Record Month
February was a record month,
oroducing the least number of in-iuries
in the last year. There were
20 accidents in which man hours
were lost. This total compares fa­vorably
with 43 such mishaps last
February.
Of this total 12 occurred while
on duty and eight in off hours. A
further breakdown shows that 16
of these cases were attached men
and the remaining four assigned
personnel.
Among civilians only one acci­dent
occurred during February as
against two in the same month last
year.
This record is all the more im­pressive
according to Lt. Baker be­cause
the post strength was 20 per
cent greater during the past month
and the accident rate was down ten
percent over a year ago.
Shoulder Patch Parade
Sixth A ir Force Wings
GuardingPanamaCana I
First of a series of weekly salutes to one of the over­seas
air forces, from ORD personnel in general and for­mer
members now stationed here, particularly, goes this
—*week to the Sixth Air Force
Goodman, Dorsey
Take Baton From
Bach, Beethoven
Special Services has announced
the discontinuance of classical
recordings on the 6 p. m. music
broadcasts heard daily over the
post's public address system.
The decision to drop serious
works came as the result of com­plaints
by many GIs that their ears
were being offended by Mozart,
Beethoven and Bach and that they
preferred to hear their classics ren­dered
by Goodman and Dorsey.
Officer Changes
In Medical Unit
Lt. Col. William P. May is the
new executive officer of the ORD
medical detachment, according to
an announcement made this week
by Col. Robert J. Piatt, command­ing
officer of AAF Regional Hos­pital
and post surgeon. He suc­ceeds
Lt. Col. William P. Buroeau,
who was transferred to Camp
Davis, N. C. Col. May is succeeded
as officer in charge of the medical
processing unit by Maj. Raymond
G. Finnic
Why Gas Mask Drills, Here In North Carolina?
Post Chemical Warfare Men List Good Reasons
•
If you're one of those GIs who
wonder every Wednesday at the
necessity of donning your gas
mask for the weekly idry run,'
here are several good answers for
yxxi.
Capt. E. B. Weaver, officer in
charge of CWS training, has com­piled
the following good reasons
for the weekly gas alerts:
The best reason of all, of course,
is that AAF Regulat#in 50-25,
dated 31 August 1944, so-directs—
for _ the purpose of "accustoming
individuals and units to perform;
normal garrison and field duties
while wearing the gas mask ad'-
Justed.
In addition to this "must" angle,
wearing your mask for a short
period each week helps you main­tain
a degree of profiency in ad-
Justing the mask correctly.
Other benefits are listed by
Capt. Weaver:
Acts as an Individual check as
to the usable condition of the
mask.
Discloses the status as to that
phase of gas discipline training.
If worn for progressively ex­tended
periods of time the in­dividual
develops the ability to
"wear the mask with proportion­ately
minimum of strain and dis­comfort.
Reports from.various theaters of
operation indicate that gas pro­tective
equipment and gas discip­line
is receiving increasingly
greater attention as the war pro­gresses
deeper into enemy terri­tory.
Although this particular station
is far removed from a combat
zone, any or all of its complement
may sooner or later serve in some
theater of operation where chemi­cal
agents are likely to be used.
In summary, the gas mask is
an item of protective equipment
which thorough familiarity' with,
and ability to wear and care for
properly, will give every one of
us greater confidence. In the
event of chemical attack we will
have a good chance to survive.
The gas mask is worn now—
here in North Carolina—to save
your life when necessary action
comes.
tion's air forces to be fully activated
and its original mission—aerial de­fense
of the Panama Canal—con­tinues
to be today's prime respon­sibility.
The Panama Canal admittedly is
the most strategic military prize in
the Western Hemisphere and the
defense of this vital waterway has
been termed by Gen. Marshall as
one of the two toughest assignments
which the military has to offer.
Since its activation, October 20,
1940, the Sixth Air Force has main­tained
continuous alert. This con­stant
state of readiness, this for­ever
being poised to strike back
with full fury and withstand the
shock of those "fatal first five min­utes"
which mark a surprise at­tack,
should it occur, were the con­tributing
factors to Gen. Marshall's
evaluation.
In effecting total aerial defense
of the Canal, the command selected
the heavy bomber as its main wea­pon,
a decision which marked a
new era in the military defense of
the great waterway.
Defense was • divorced from the
static, from the concept of fixed
fortifications
It became a highly mobile, three
dimensional defense, capable of
meeting the grim threat which the
aircraft carrier posed to the trans-
Isthmian water-route.
Defense In Offense.
And the command was emphatic
in "the belief that the best defense,
in this case, was offense.
As an added precaution, the
bomber squadrons were backed up
with a tough, inner core of fighters
which provided a fast-moving, hard­hitting
nucleus of defense.
The strategy was defined:
"Destroy the hostile force far at
sea. Fight the battle for the Canal,
should such an emergency arise, a
|thousand miles away- from the
Canal, not in the skies above Gatun
and Miraflores locks. Keep the
ships moving."
More than a score of bases and a
number of auxiliary airfields are
utilized by the Sixth Air Force
which also has the responsibility
of protecting the southern route of
the Air Transport Command's serv­ice
to Africa,- via South America.
Hundreds of reconnaissance and
photographic missions have been
flown by the Sixth incidental to the
establishment of our chain of new
air bases in Central and South
America and through the Carib­bean.
In a typical month, February,
1944, nearly 1,000 sorties were flown
as part of the operational program.
Hundreds of thousands of patrol
miles have been flown by the Sixth.
During the crucial period of the
U-Boat threat to United Nations
shipping in the Caribbean, the Sixth
participated in a n t i - s u b m a r i ne
(Continued On Page 3)
AimualDrive
Of Red Cross
Ends At Post
Final Total Above
Last Year's Mark
Red Cross contributions
from post personnel during
the campaign which ended
at this base last week,
totaled $6,738.80, it was an­nounced
by R. A. Jones,
Field Director of the Ameri­can
Red Cross at ORD.
In announcing the post's cam­paign
total, Mr. Jones expressed
his thanks to Col. Paul R. Younts,
Post Commander and honorary
chairman of the drive; Lt. Col.
Charles W. Kiser, Director of Ad­ministration
and Services, and cam­paign
chairman, as well as to all
personnel on the post, who gave
generously of time and money to
make the drive a success.
The total contributed this yea*
exceeded last year's amount by
more than $1,000.
Of this total the enlisted men
through voluntary contributions on
pay day amassed $2,699.42 to be
the leading group. The permanent
party officers contributed $1,733
followed by $1,571.30 from civilian
personnel. • Of this latter amount
$331.38 was contributed by PX em­ployees.
The ORD Officers through
their club added $735 to the final
figure.
Workers Praised
The Officers Wives club and the
civilian and PX employees are to
be given additional praise for giv­ing
their spare time in gathering
the contributions from the officers
and enlisted personnel.
The Red Cross wishes to express
its appreciation for the splendid
co-operation accorded by the mili­tary
authorities on the post for
helping to make the drive on the
post a huge success and further by
furnishing speakers and informa­tion
to aid the Greensboro workers
in their drive.
Mr. Jones pointed out. as an ex­ample
of the aid which the Greens­boro
drive received from the post,
a luncheon club gathering, which
after listening to various speakers
from the post at a special Red
Cross drive meeting contributed
$500. The same club had only
given $180 in last year's drive.
• »'
Maj. Gen. Harmon
Given New Duties
Maj. Gen. Hubert R. Harmon, for­mer
CG of the Personnel Distribu­tion
Command, has been appointed
Assistant Chief of Air Staff, Per­sonnel,
the WD has announced.
The new assignment, which
charges Gen'. Harmon with super­vision
of all matters relating to per­sonnel
in the AAF, has within its
scope direction of the divisions of
Military Personnel, Civilian Per­sonnel
Services, Ground Safety, Air
Chaplain, Air Wac, Personal Af­fairs,
Air Provost Marshal, Office
of the Recorder and AAF Awards
Board, Unit Personnel Office and
AAF Officer Selection Board.
Gen. Harmon succeeds Maj. Gen.
J. M. Bevans, whose appointment
as Deputy for Administration. AAF,
Mediterranean Theater of Opera­tions,
was announced February X2.
Call Thirteenth
Air Force Vets
For Next Photo
Returnee veterans who form­erly
served with the Thirteenth
Air Force are invited and urged
to gather at 1 p. m. tomorrow,
Saturday, for- a reunion photo­graph
similar to that of Sixth Air
Force vets -published elsewhere
in this issue.
Today's feature article about
the accomplishments of the
Sixth AF is the first of a series
of weekly stories which will be
published in the NEWS, in the
order in which data and material |
is received from the" overseas
outfits—all of whom have been
contacted.
An interesting story has al­ready
been received from the
Thirteenth AF public relations
staff for next week's issue. Men
now stationed here who once
served with that organization
are invited to gather at the Pub­lic
Relations office, Building
T-170, for their own camera re­union
at 1 p. m. tomorrow.