Evening star., 1941-03-02
District Prepares to Entertain
so, 900 Soldiers on Week Ends
Committee Hopes Citizens Will Treot
Boys Like Neighbors and Visitors

One warm week end in June or
July, Washington is going to have
a sudden influx of visitors, perhaps
$4,000 of them.
The visitors are going to be the
same kind who come here to look
at the cherry blossoms, or the in
auguration, except that they'll all
be young. They'll be the kind of
kids who came here two or five or
10 years ago with their high school
classes during Easter vacation, ex-
cept they'll all be male
These will be the soldiers of the
new citizen Army, billeted around
Washington in % camps and sta
tions. There will be about $4,000
of them by early summer.
Most of them are going to be kept
in camp all during the week, and
allowed to come to Washington over
the week end.
They're not going to have much
money, so it won't mean as much
in a business way as the cherry
blossom or the inaugural visitors.
Responsibility to City.
But $4,000 young men pouring into
town for a day and a half holl-
day is going to mean something to
Washington. 1t presents response
bility to the city. which out of
neighborliness and decency will
want to do something for these
youngsters. And it presents prob
lem to the city to see that its nor
NAL, orderly life is not disrupted.
These are the thoughts which
have come into the mind of Rob-
ert E. Bondy, who is the Districts
welfare director, and into the minds
of those citizens who have been ap-
pointed with him to work on the
Committee on Welfare and Con-
sumner Interest of the District De-
fense Council.
Mr.. Bondy is the chairman of this
committee, which has been ap-
pointed to see what Washington is
going to do for the young soldiers,
both when they are in camp and
when they are in town. The COM
mittee is also undertaking some re-
sponsibility for the well-being of the
defense workers who are entering
Government service here.
Eight subcommittee are working
under Mr.. Bondy's committee. They
are preparing variety of programs,
which are going to make some
changes in the face of life in Wash
ington
Soldiers Not Riff-Raff.
Mr.. Bondy is anxious for Wash
ington to understand and partici-
pate in the work He wants every
one to understand, first, that the
soldiers who will be billeted around
Washington are not any riff-raff
but young men from all kinds of
American homes.
He thinks people will begin to
realize this when their own sons and
their neighbor's sons-from all kinds
OF homeS-go of to the South or the
North with the Army. They'll realize
then that the boys in camps near
Washington come from good homes
elsewhere.
Then, he hopes, Washington will
treat these boys as neighbors and
visitors. They will be taken into
homes here, for Sunday dinners, and
they will be extended the small, i'm
portant courtesies which visitors
should receive.
The plans of Mr.. Bondy's commit
tee are extensive. Here are some of
the things they hope to do:
Arrange sightseeing trips in
Washington for soldiers; establish
information booths in all parts of
town to tell the soldiers where they
can get good food or lodging or
what special programs are being
put on; arrange for cheap admiS-
sion to baseball, hockey and other
games; see that restaurants and
cafeterias here don't scalp the Wis
itors and that such places are kept
orderly-for the city's sake: ar
range for dormitories where soldiers
can sleep on Saturday night, if they
don't want to go back to camp;
find church groups with which the
boys can affiliate themselves and
find homes where they will be well
come visitors, and arrange for en-
tertainment at the camps.
Call on Commanders.
Members of the committee have
already called on the commandants
OF Fort Belvoir, Fort Meade, Fort
Myer and other cantonments. The
bulk OF the selectees will be in Fort
Belvoir and Fort Meade-and be-
fore very long.
The officers of these two camps
have indicated that soldiers will be
kept out of Washington, except
over the week end. They have told