Evening star., 1941-12-22

and nearby Maryland and Virginia
within minutes. At got. the blue"
signal was flashed, confirming the
alert signal, and this was cleared
to all points in 2l2 minutes.
Then at CIT, the red" signal,
indicating a raid was on, was flashed.
and the sirens throughout the area
gave the public its first warning of
the raid. This was relayed In three
minutes. At 9:27 the "all-clear" was
sounded.
Immediately after the test, Col
Bolles made swift tour of the city
to check reception of the warning
signals. He visited residential
area, the Capitol, the AFRAID warden
service headquarters in the District
Fire Department Training School,
headquarters OF the Police and Fire
Departments and the White House.
In every instance, he said. the sig
mails had been received without de-
lay and protective forces thrown
into action.
With Col. Bolles at communica-
tions headquarters were Gardner l..
Boothe and Mrs. Alma Ramsay
chairman and executive secretary,
respectively, of the Council of De-
fense of Northern Virginia. and AL
fred H. Noyes, chairman of the De-
fense Council for Southern Mary
land.
Rehearsal Taken Seriously.
Despite lack of adequate warning
signals, the one glaring defect in
the protective organization, the test
mobilization was carried out in an
effective manner throughout the en-
tire Metropolitan Area. There was
no disposition on the part of cit
izens or wardens to treat the re-
hearsal lightly.
The comparatively few citizens
who heard the raid and all-clear
signals quickly obeyed commands of
wardens and auxiliary police. Those
who failed to hear the alarm-and
this included most of the popula-
tion--followed directions without
question when ordered by the de-
fense officials.
Thousands of motorists discovered
1t was impossible to hear the warn
ing sirens while driving, but 1t
wasn't difficult to understand the
warning hand of policeman stand
ing in the middle of the street. In
almost every case. drivers swiftly
obeyed instructions, pulled their
cars to the curb and dashed for
shelter.
Mail Truck Driver Disobeys.
One exception noted in Arlington
was United States mail truck,
which was waved to the curb by a
county policeman as it approached
Clarendon. When the policeman's
attention was diverted for a few
seconds, the mail truck driver made
a quick U-turn on Wilson boulevard,
sped back to the nearest intersec-
ton and then drove around Claren-
don.
For some time the test proved en-
barrassingly inconvenient. A group
waiting outside the Mayf1ower Hotel
asked the doorman for taxi to take
them to Union Station. But the
alarm was under way and the cabs
refused to move from the curb. The
group missed their train.
A man in Santa Claus garb, on his
way to Christmas party. was nailed
by a policeman as he stepped off a
bus at Furteenth street and Park
road NV, and ordered to take cover.
Santa-Percy Smith of 1345 iGrard
street N.W.-did so and then went
on after the all-clear sounded.
Some citizens who called The Star
to protest that they couldn't hear the
alarm were pretty indignant about
the whole thing. They wanted to
take part in the test, but wondered
how they could do it when the alarm
was maudible.
Inquiries Pour In.
Several reported they had sat be-
side open windows, but failed to
hear anything. One suggested, sar-
castically, that I'VE ought to take
up collection and buy some real
horns"
From $50 am. on, calls came to
The Star from every section of the
city-"When are we going to have
the alarm" Among those who re-
ported they hadn't heard the sig
mails were residents at Thirty eighth
street and Cathedral avenue, Elev-
enth and Pennsylvania avenue Sc,
200 block of Rhode Island avenue
NE, 5000 block of Ninth street,
Twenty-ninth and Q streets, Thirty
seventh and Tunlaw road, 800 F
street, NE, Nevada and Nebraska
avenues-and so on from every Sec
ton.
The story was the same at most
hospitals and hotels. Emergency
Hospital said 1t had heard zone
fairly loud signal, but Columbia