The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1942-10-29

The following letter frOm Nor
man Risley will be read with much
interest by Libby people as il speaks
of a number of young men from
this district who are now in the
armed forces. in one branch or an
other
: Oceanside. Calf, Oct. %. 1912
The Western News
Libby. Montana
Since nv enlistment in the navy,
in May. 1912, | have come across
MANY friends from Libby. and
thought that the Libby people would
be interested in their activities. Ev-
cry time that see fellows from
Libby. the remark has always been
made-"We should write the West
ern News about this and as far as
| know. it has always been put off,
so I am taking it upon myself to
do it.
When | first enlisted, | thought
that / was surely the only one in
the Boot camp from Montana, but
it was only very few days until
| ran into Macs" from Poison, a
few from Whitefish and Kalispell
and the surrounding territory. Then
one evening (about my second lib
erty) | ran across George Krebs.
We had a short chat and were both
quite excited to see someone from
home. On another occasion, l heard
a very familiar voice at Mission
Beach, and sure enough, it was
Coon Brown. / guess | was about
the first one he had seen from Lib
by, and while riding back to town,
we really got "hashing things over"
Later at different camp, he was
assigned to the same barracks that
/ was in along with Harold Fletcher,
SO we got to see more of each other.
While in that camp, I saw Jack
Daggett for few minutes one day.
1t was just after he had enlisted,
and he was waiting in line for his
second regulation haircut. Incident
ally, the recruit gets close hair
lcut every week for the first six
weeks.
! Soon after seeing these fellows, |
was transferred to school, where
| got my hospital schooling, and
then was transferred to the Corona
Naval Hospital, where | got my
hospital training. During this time
/ didn't see anyone from Libby, but
kept my eyes open all the time
because | knew there were a lot
of fellows from Libby, and natural
ly | was anxious to see them.
The Marine Corps does not have
a medical corps Of its own, SO the
navy furnishes one for them.
got stuck for that! | was sent to
Camp Elliot, and tire second day
was there, | ran into Ted Fowler. |
guess he was as surprised as
was. He said that was the last place
he evcf expecte to see me. About
ten minutes later we found Tommy
kltley, and then we really did get
together. The following night, we
found Chuck Challinor in the thea
tire and while talking to him, ran
across Wayne Johnson. Five Libby
men in one camp. We really did
have a reunion then We thought
that was a real occasion for the
Western News, but like the other
time, we never got around to writ
ing. Every day we kept putting it
off until the next and finally I was
transferred to Camp Pendleton, so
| don't think letter was ever writ
ten. At Camp Pendleton, | looked
up in the mess hall at dinner one
day, and there was Jess Baker
grinning at me. Come to find out,
he was attached to the Pioneer Bat
talon, and sleeping in the same
barracks as | was.
Now I think that no matter how
far away from home you may be, it
is really small world. This surely
shows that Libby is very we'll rep
resented in San Diego and the vi
! cinity. There are a few of the fell
lows that | never did get to see,
but hope that can get to see them
yet. Lyle Austin is lat least Was)
at the Naval Training Station and !
was down to see him twice, but
couldn't locate him. | missed Archie
Minde~twice by about Is minutes.
Some of these fellows have been
transferred, and | have lost track
of them, but they all looked fine
when | saw them. They had all
gained weight except Chuck Chal-
linor, and he had lost rs lbs. and
was so thin Compared to what he
was) that didn't even recognize
him. He said he was feeling better
than ever, however.
| have been getting quite few
copies Of the w estern News, and sc
| keep pretty we'll up on the home
news. A person really looks for
ward to that paper, especially wher
they are away from home.
My very best wishes to all my
friends. and hoping that they arr