The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-06-05
Naval Officer Discusses In- formally Before Kiwanis
 Club Daily Life at Sea
PAYS TRIBUTE TO
 ALABAMA HEROES
Out of Naval Men Already Cited for Conspicuous Acts of Bravery, Four Have Been Native
 Alabamians

Lieut.. J. E. Meredith, United States navy. who is in charge of naval recruit ing in Alabama, made an illuminating
 informal talk to the kiwanis club at
 it's regular weekly luncheon at the Southern club yesterday.
 The Navy's Part in the Great War was his subject and his informal refer ences to life in the navy now and what the boys are doing proved highly inter esting.
 "On our destroyers abroad we have the finest set of young fellows in the world.' he said. and they are all young men. They are daring, resourceful, ready for anything, and they are giving a good account of themselves. They are determined to uphold the traditions of the navy handed down for seven score years and those traditions are indeed glorious. Only two vessels in the his tory of the American navy ever struck their flags and strangely enough, they were both named the Chesapeake. There is an unwritten law in the navy that there shall never be another vessel named Chesapeake and think I am safe in say ing there will never be another vessel to strike its flag.
 PROUD OF ALABAMIANS l As native Alabamian it is a source oi great pride to me to know that four | of the men in the navy who have all ready been cited for conspicuous bravery
 and heroism were native Alabamians.
 Falk died heros death if any man ever did. Thrown into the water cling
 ing to life raft, he saw others in dis
 tress. Rescuing them he placed them
 on the gsft and used wreckage for his
 owE suppcrt Seeing others swimming helpless he again swan to them and
 brought them to safety. In rescuing still a third party he sank himself and was drowned.
 l Ingram of Pratt City saw a torpedo making directly for the part of the yes- 1 sel where depth bombs were stored. | Knowing that if it struck there nothing could save the vessel he rushed to throw the bombs overheard and when the tor pedo struck was killed.
 Secretary Daniels has already named two new destroyers after these two men Melvin of Selma, another fine fellow, whom knew personally, went down with .AAN SAifPf thS NSAeiA thtt any navy man loves best
 Stone of Bay Minette clung to a hy- droplane for three days and nights with out food or water. He is still flying HARDSHIPS LAST WINTER
 You don't know what the boys in the northern waters went through last win- ter. When they arrived they were with out proper clothing for their new duties Admiral Sims, without authority, went up into Scotland and spent a million dollars to get them properly equipped He was comp1imented by the head of the navy for his prompt action. The decks froze, some of the men were frozen to death. The sea is so rough that have myself measured the roll of a vessel where it averaged 6S degrees for three days. The men cannot sleep in their hammocks. 1 have tried 1t by tieing my self in with ropes and have had the ropes rub the skin off my arms. The only way to get rest was to sleep three abreast under the tables. The vessels pitch so that nothing can be fried All the food has to be boiled Soup is now served just as though 1t came from hydrant. The men take 1t when they want it. When they get to port after five days at sea, practically without sleep, they eat everything fried in sight.
 "Of the thousands of men abroad in the navy only two men have been arrest ed in England since war was declared. think that speaks mighty we'll for the morale and conduct of our men.
 WAR WON BY SEA POWER
 The war will be won by the powers that command the seas Germany did not dispute sea, command with the allies until 1917, when with the submarines she announced that she was going to sink a million tons of shipping a month and she came mighty near doing it. She sank an average of over 750,000 tons month during 1917 and the first three months of 1918. Instead of Germany's being starved it began to look as though England and France would be starved. But we have them on the run now and are absolutely sure of victory
 The recent raid on the Atlantic coast is mere incident. Isn't it a glorious rec ord that not a single transport conveyed by our navy has been hit by submarine? ? The only transport struck was being conveyed by the navy of our allies The defeat of the submarine calls for three things--bulding more ships, protecting vessels from submarines and sinking sub marines. The latter two things come within the duty of the navy and I can assure you the navy Is doing its part
 in great style. When we entered the war we added 30 per cent to the naval strength of the allies and it means that ultimate victory is absolutely certain for the allies There is no other possible,