The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1943-03-18
Troy Youth
Tells Of War
In So. Pacific

John w. Burns. of the United
States Merchant Marines. spoke to
the school assembly in the audi
torium Tuesday at | o'clock. John,
a former graduate of the Troy High
School, is home on leave this week
after seeing action in the Solomon
Islands. He was introduced to the
students by Mr.. Mckay, and pro-
ceeded to speak very Interestingly
on some of his experiences. He
about a year, he said and has spent
the last nine months of that time
on the Pacific. He stated, There
aren't any pleasure countries IN
the Pacific any more like there
used to be-" His speech was con-
fined to description of the countries
he has been in and the people he
has seen. He said that the people
in some of the islands have ex-
tremely poor living conditions, and
that those in the United States
are about the luckiest in the world.
A worker in the Solomons receives
about $3.50 for his monthly wages.
The people are French-speaking
and are very friendly. He said most
of them were either dark or Japan
ese, and although there might be
a difference in opinions, he be-
lieved that the women there were
some of the most beautiful in the
world
South American people, he said,
are more friendly than those in the
islands, although this may be large
ly due to different conditions. He
said that some of the fellows bought
jeWelry in South America that can
not be bought in the United States
any more, and got it for about half
price. He YVES in Chile, and re-
marked upon the lot, dry climate
there. you see mostly bare ground
there" he said There are no trees,
and it's very hard to get water.
Many of the people there say they
hope to come to the United States
some time
He was in New Caledonia, the
biggest of the Solomon Islands, for
some time. and in his closing sem
tence, he expressed the hope that
You don't have to see here mill
tary rule such as I've seen in 9th
er places.
Later, John spoke before the
senior English class and gave some
very interesting information. You
can't realize how it is to see five
hundred families living in a build
ing about the size of this school
house. he said. That's what we
saw in New Caledonia. One of the
fellows there (native) noticed the
pair of suspenders I was wearing
and wanted them. SO | gave them
TO him, and showed him how TO OPP
crate them. He was as tickled as a
little kid over new toy"
The island is quite large one,
over 300 miles long. and having
much higher mountains than any
around here The men in the ma
rines visited the large nickel smelt-
ing plant there. "You see a lot Of
cattle grazing around" he said. but
no one seems to take care of them
They've just been brought there
some time and allowed to stay
There were no wild animals around
about the biggest animals we saw
were the cattle
He also described the Australian
iron wood. a native product which
is extremely hard, and said that the
men had been quite interested in
seeing the snitrates in Chile. Each
man was allowed to take 300 Gig
are.tes with him In South America,
a carton of cigarettes will sell for
five dollars-in Australia. $3.50
Also, one can sell a $500 silk shirt
for S45 in Australia, because silk
goods are practically non-existent
there.
In New Caledonia, we went to
dance given by the natives" he
said. They really put on wild
dances-they holler and yell and
run around in circles, and when it's
all over, they 60 off and 90 10
sleep. Sometimes they dance for as
long as 48 hours at a time. They
don't have dances there very CT
ten-but when they do, they really
throw big one. We didn't get paid
much when we were in some of the
places, because there was nothing
to buy. Everything worth buying
has been bought long ago"
In closing, John again expressed
the hope that we never have mill
tary rules here. and stressed The
fact that we don't realize what a
tough battle we've in and how
vastly superior to many Of the other
countries our United States ID.