Evening star., 1942-01-31

Henry McLemore. catch that came
from the heart, and not from the
throat or wherever it Is that Bing
gets that extra little something
Take a look at these" he said.
He handed me a flstfu Of letters
and kilograms.
1--WE had lot Of fan mail In my
time, but nothing Like this" he said.
For the first time, and I mean
this, I feel that maybe my singing
means a little to people"
looked at the letters and tele-
grams. They were from every part
Of the United States.
They were in answer TO the an
nouncement that Gen. Douglas Nc
Arthur had cabled from the hell Of
the Philippines to ask Crosby to
dedicate part Of his radio program
to the American soldiers who were
holding out so magnifcently against
the japanese.
They came from the mothers,
wives and sweethearts of men who
are writing a brilliant chapter in
American history by their stand In
the jungles Of the Philippines.
Bing and I read a score or 50 Of
them aloud. That's when he got the
catch in his throat that I was talk
ing about
"I'll sing SO damn loud" Bing said,
"that even if the static Is terrible,
even If the guns are roaring. even
if the drive bombers are diving,
the boys out there1l hear me. So
help me, God, If they want to hear
this crooner Groom, If hearing some
thing from home will help them
along, they'll hear it,"
From Lynn, Mass, came this wire
to Crosby:
please dedicate any number to
Capt. Robert Pennel, wounded in
action with MacArthur's forces.
From his wife and son-Dot and
Puck Penneu"
Here is one that came from Silver
City, N. Mex:
This town, home of officers and
men Of Battery G, 2oOth Coast
Artillery. now engaged in battle of
Batan, would deem it a great favor
If you, in your broadcast to Gen.
MacArthur's command, would in
clude the following message to our
boys: Silver City and Grant
County are proud Of you. God bless
and keep you. Give 'em hell for
Uncle Samuel and the old home
| town"
From Somerville, Mass, came
this request:
"On your Gen. Macarthur pro-
gram Thursday night. could you
possibly sing Anniversary Waltz
for Brig. Gen. William Marquette
with MacArthurs staff? Thanks,
many thanks
That was from "Ryans Of Somer-
vile"
Wire after wire. Letter after let
ter, Each asking a song or a poem
that was dear to some fighting
man.
From Sanford, Fla, came this
wire:
Dear Bing: Here is a song out
Of Colin Kelly's State, written De-
cember 8. Is it not appropriate to
Gen. MacArthur's men? 1t can be
sung to the tune OF the Battle
Hymn Of the Republic:
oh, now we've learned the stand
ards Of those snakey japanese.
We know Satan made them Shiny
so they'd be pure Hitlerese.
We've learned the lust, the trick
cry Of the shameless Japanese.
And We'll go marching on"
The Williams family in Pitts
burgh wrote to ask that Bing say
Mother and dad love you, Tommy,
and are SO, so proud"
Mr.. and Mrs. Vince johnson
hoped by wire that Bing could find
time to tell their boy Elliott that
no matter where he was, they were
thinking of him and loving him
and knowing that he was fighting
as they knew he would.
The requests that came to Crosby
all had the same themes-love and
pride.
Broken down to their essentials,
the messages all said, You're our
man and we love you for what you
are doing"
Okay, I'm sentimental. Okay,
I'm writing piece for the papers
that has touch of the tear -jerker
in it. Okay, that's right.
But America spoke pretty well
from its heart in those requests to
Bing. And it asked only one thing
that its men carry on.
And they will.
To read those messages made
you know that there was q rain
bow in the sky, somewhere out there
in the Pacific. and that 1t was red,
white and blue.
Distributed by McNaught Syndicate, Inc.)