The ORD news [February 23, 1945]

              THE ORD NEWS 1060TH AAF
BASE UNIT (ORD)
1Hc STAMP MAILS
NEWS HOME
VOL. 3. NO. 42. Greensboro, N. C, Friday, February 23, 1945. FREE DISTRIBUTION
New Commanding General Of PDC
Maj. Gen. Royce Assumes
Command In Atlantic City
PDC Classes
For PT Men
Held At ORD
School Here Will
Train Instructors
Lt. Col. Ben B. Stone,. Jr.,
Director of Training and
Operations, announced to­day
the formation of the Re­turnee
Physical Training
school at ORD for personnel
of the entire Personnel Dis­tribution
Command.
The idea for the school was first
conceived at PDC headquarters last
December, In view of the growth
of the command and the nature of
its functions. With increased em
phasis placed on rehabilitation,
convalescent, training, and physical
fitness—and the fact that few of
the original PT instructors are re­maining
in PDC installations be­cause
of shipments overseas or to
the ground forces—it was deemed
necessary to train returnees for this
specialized work.
Although one student has already
been graduated in a "test-run", the
school,, directed by 1st Lt. Milton
Weiss under the supervision of
Capt. Ralph Erickson, post Physi­cal
Training officer, officially
opened this week with five stu­dents.
All enrollees are being as­signed
to the school upon special
order from PDC Headquarters.
Upon graduation they will be trans­ferred
to the various installations
of the command.
The program of instruction in­cludes
orientation, organization and
function of the PT program in PDC,
administration and use of the AAF
physical fitness test, conduct of
physical conditioning activities, or
ganization and conduct of recrea­tional
athletics, survival and rec­reational
aquatic activities, main­tenance
of athletic equipment and
facilities, first aid, report making,
practice teaching and comprehen­sive
tests, program planning, pub­licizing
the program, and war orien­tation.
The course will take 18 days,
seven and one-half hours per day,
totaling 135 hours of instruction and
training.
ORD was chosen as the unit to
operate this school because of its
balanced all-around athletic pro­gram
and because of its excellent
facilities and equipment, coupled
with outstanding instructors. In ad­dition
to the director and assistant
director, T/Sgt. James Callahan,
instruction is being given by S/Set.
Dave Dervitz, S/Sgt. Ed Reilly,
and Capt. Ralph Erickson and Capt.
Mont Eliott.
Invite NCO Wives
To Tea; May Form
Auxiliary To Club
Wives of members of the ORD
Non Commissioned Officers' club
are invited to attend a special get-acquainted
tea which will be held
next Tuesday afternoon in the club-rooms,
Building T-646.
The party, from 3 to 6 p. m., is
being planned to bring wives of
post NCOs together, and to discuss
yj&e possibility of organizing an
auxiliary to the club.
Advisability of forming an auxili­ary
organization which might hold
regular social functions and take an
active part in other NCO club un­dertakings
will be discussed at the
Tuesday afternoon tea. Wives of
all club members are cordially in­vited
to attend.
Radio Repair Shop
Moves To Counter
In Post Exchange
The Post Exchange radio repair
shop, opened recently in Building
T-688, has moved its front office
right inside the main PX, it was
announced this week by Capt Peter
Hartholz, Exchange officer.
Post personnel may now bring
their ailing radios to the PX, Build­ing
T-104, for servicing. Radios may
be left with the clerk at the film
counter and may be picked up there
after they've been repaired.
THIS PHOTO of Maj. Gen. Ralph Royce, new Commanding Gen­eral
of the PDC, has an unusual history, for it returned to the States
with our own ORD NEWS photographer T/Sgt. John Nash. He
snapped the picture last June on the first emergency air strip built
by U. S. forces on the French invasion coast while serving as a Ninth
Air Force command photographer. With Gen. Royoe (center) who
was then with the First Tactical Air Force, are Maj. Gen. Elwood
R. Quesado (right) also of the First TAF,. and (extreme left) Lt. Gen.
Lewis H. Brereton, then CG of the Ninth Air orce.
Annual Red Cross Drive
Will Open Wednesday
Returnees Recount Varied Services
Rendered By Organization Overseas
The Red Cross war fund drive, which has a nation­wide
goal of $200,000,000, gets under way at ORD
Wednesday and will continue until March 11, according
to Lt. Col. Charles W. Kiser, director of Administration
and Services, and chairman of the post campaign.
No quota is listed for ORD, but*
all personnel are urged to be as
generous as possible in order that
the Red Cross will be able to ex­pand
its activities rather than be
forced, through inadequate funds,
to curtail existing services to serv­icemen
both here and overseas.
It has been suggested by cam­paign
leaders that officers and
civilian personnel set aside at least
a day's pay for the cause, and while
enlisted personnel will not be so­licited,
they are asked to make
Whatever voluntary contribution
possible.
Speedy Assistance.
Proof of the work which the Red
Cross is doing for men overseas
was provided this week by testi­mony
of several ORD returnees
who availed themselves of many
Red Cross services over there.
Cpl. John J. Mulvihill, a returnee
from India, has the highest praise
for the organization. His own per­sonal
experience with the Red Cross,
he says, will make him eternally
grateful, for it .was with its help
that he returned to the States.
While in India he contacted the
Red Cross for an emergency fur­lough
to return home. Seven days
later his home town had been con­tacted
and a reply sent to India.
Five days later his CO, after re­viewing
the case, granted his leave
to return, to this counrty. As he
was preparing to leave, a Red Cross
representative personally visited
him to inquire if he needed money
for the trip.
It took four days to return from
India to his home in New York, so
that, 16 days after his Red Cross
visit, he was home again.
In addition, Mulvihill reports the
Red Cross has buildings in the larger
cities of India which they have con­verted
into hotels. Beds, showers
and good American food are pro­vided.
Cost of living quarters was
one rupee (32 cents) while the food
was made available at cost prices,
A variety of entertainment, dances,
pienics and conducted tours was also
provided, while at the various bases
field canteens serve sandwiches,
cakes, ice cream, doughnuts and
coffee.
S/Sgt. Cecil W. Amiek, of Squad­ron
A, has visited Red Cross clubs
(Continued On Page Two)
New CG Earned His Wings In 1915;
Headed 1st Tactical AF In Europe
Maj. Gen. Ralph Royce, who returned to the United
States only recently from the European Theater of Op­erations,
where he commanded the First Tactical Air
Force, this week succeeded Maj. Gen. Hubert R. Harmon
as CG of the Personnel Distribution Command, of which'
Tthis station is a unit.
The new assignment of Gen. Har-
PCS Calling!
Three Schools
Are Now Open
To Applicants
The GI with OCS ambitions now
has several Officer Candidate
schools open to him, according to a
recent announcement by the Adju­tant
General's office.
OCS applications will be accepted
by the candidate board here at
ORD for Army Ground Forces, En­gineers
and Judge Advocate Gen­eral
schools, according to Maj. L.
H_ Cox, Classification officer.
Because the number of qualified
applicants for these schools has
declined appreciably, men who be­lieve
themselves qualified are en­couraged
to make application. Quo­tas
are not alloted lor Judge Ad­vocate
General, Quartermaster,
Chemical Warfare Service or
Finance schools, but applications
will be forwarded to the Adjutant
General. Quotas for Engineer and
GF schools will be allotted in ac­cordance
with the number of ac­cepted
applicants reported.
Invite Jewish GIs
To Purim Festival
The Purim festival will be cele­brated
Monday evening at 7:30 in
Temple Emanuel, 713 N. Greene St.
Religious services including the
reading of the Scroll (The Book of
Esther) will be observed in the
Temple's assembly room.
After the services, a party will be
held with the traditional noise-makers
and the serving of Haman-tashen
and other refreshments.
Guest will include girls from Wom­an's
college and members of the
community. All servicemen of Jew­ish
faith are invited.
Purim commemorates the deliver­ance
of the Jews by Queen Esther
from the tyrant, Hamn.
Officers Of ORD
Earn Promotions
Promotions were announced this
week for five officers stationed at
ORD, four of whom were upped
from 2nd lieutenancy to 1st lieuten­ant
rank, under recently altered
regulations permitting such promo­tions.
Officers promoted, and their new
rank, are Capt. Lester W. Bray, CE,
and 1st Lts. Bruce Dumbacher, CE,
Mary Rowinski Kemen, WAC, Ray­mond
Loos; AC, and John R. Noble,
AC.
Declare 6Open Season' On Careless Motorists.
As Post-Wide Safe Driving Campaign Opens
Nail, public relations officer, plans
In New York City, in Podunk
ville, or here at ORD, it's the nut
behind the wheel who causes the
majority of all traffic accidents.
What New York or Podunkville
are doing about him doesn't con­cern
ORD, but in order to remedy
the situation here a special commil-ee
was appointed this week to help
tighten that troublesome nut.
Throughout the post, much time
is lost and personal injury sustained
because some careless driver for­gets
to stop for a through street,
or double parks because he is only
going to be in the PX for a second,
or exceeds the speed limit because
he is a little late for work:
Maj. O. B. Thompson, ground
safety officer, at a meeting held
recently in his office, stressed the
need for a campaign at ORD to were formulated to enforce the e
reduce traffic accidents and viola- isting laws
lations of post and local traffic reg-1 The bible for drivers at ORD is
ulations. General Order No. 7, dated June 81
With the assistance of Maj. 1944. In it are all the rules for safe
Boothby, civilian personnel offl- driving while within the confines
cer; Capt. T. D. Harris, acting pro- of this military establishment. Gen-vost
marshall; Capt. E. R. Welte, eral Order No 7 contains all the
motor pool officer„and Lt. John H. "do's" and "dont's" that a driver
need know in order to stay out of
the clutches of Military Police. .
Probably among the most com­mon
offenders according to Capt.
Harris are those drivers that feel
because they are only going to park
in a restricted zone for f minute or
two it will be all right. However if
they would stop and realize that it
only takes a matter of seconds for
an accident they might see that that
second eoulji just as easily come
during the short space of time the
car was illegally parked as it could
if the car were left for an extended
period of time.
Another type of violation which
occurs frequently is that of going
(Continued On Page Three)
mon. who was named to head the
PDC When it was activated June
1, 1944, has not yet been announced.
Under Gen. Harmon's direction
and supervision, the Personnel Dis­tribution
Command has grown rap­idly
from a small group of units
only seven months ago to the na­tion-
wide activity embracing 17 in­stallations—
three overseas replace­ment
depots, four redistribution sta­tions
and 10 convalescent hospitals..
The organization prepares Air Force
personnel going overseas through
its overseas replacement depots and
receives them back from combat
theaters through its redistribution
stations and convalescent hospitals.
Himself a "returnee," from the
ETO, where he commanded the
First Tactical Air Force (Provision­al)
which co-operated with the 6th
Army Group, Gen. Royce will now
guide the policies and operations
of the command.
Veteran Flyer.
Gen. Royce's flying career, be­ginning
shortly after his graduation
from West Point in 1914, stretches
over three different conflicts and
includes service in nearly every
part of the' world.
After earning his wings at the
Army Signal Corps Aviation School
at San Diego, California, in 1915,
his first experience in combat was
during the Punitive Expedition into
Mexico the following year. Gen,
Royce, then a lieutenant, flew with
the First Aero Squadron. A year
afterwards, he was with the same
unit in France as its commanding
officer. Subsequently, he command­ed
the First Observation Group in
France. For leading the initial
American reconnaissance flight
over Germany, France awarded him
the Croix de Guerre.
Back in the United States after
the end of the war, Gen. Royce held
commands at various fields in dif­ferent
parts of the country, and also
served for three years on the War
Department General Staff. His com­mands
included Carlstrom Field,
Florida, then the only training field
in the United States; the Primary
School at Brooks Field, Texas; the
First Pursuit Group at Self ridge
Field, Michigan.
Test Flights.
Between 1930 and 1935 the Army
conducted a series of test flights
in sub-zero weather in which Gen.
Royce played a prominent part. In
the winter of 1930 he led a flight
of 18 planes in terrific weather
conditions from Selfridge Field to
Montana. This was the original
"Arctic Patrol," and gained infor­mation
which was to be used by
Gen. H. H. Arnold, Commanding
General of the Army Air Force, in
another experimental flight, this
time to' Alaska, in 1934.
Information that was to prove in­valuable
after the outbreak of war
with Japan was gained during Gen.
Royce's assignment from 1937 to
1939 as Air Officer of the Philip­pine
Department.
His next overseas post was that
of Military Attache for Air at the
American Embassy in London,
where he was on duty from May
1941 to January 1942. After Japan's
surprise attack on Pearl Harbor he
asked for an active combat assign­ment,
and in February 1942, was
ordered to Australia to act as Chief'
of Staff to Lt. Gen. George H. Brett,
Commander of the Allied Air
Forces, Southwest Pacific Area.
Bombed Japs.
In April, 1942, he led 13 bombers
from an Australian base against
Japanese positions in the Philip­pines,
in what was then the longest
bombing mission of the war. First,
it was necessary to cross several
hundred miles of open water to an
American base in the Philippines,
from which a series of six attacks
were made.
These operations were carried out
in the face of tremendous difficul­ties:
inadequate base facilities, lack
of replacements, and the constant
threat of attack by an overwhelm­ing
Jap force. Between raids, the
B-17 Flying Fortresses and B-25
Mitchells were hidden among the
trees; but in spite of this, a dive-
(Continued On Page Thre*)