Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1943-04-02
Union Soldiers Vow TO
Back u. S. Fighting Men
Reuther Says
Workers Won't Let
Soldiers Down


mined to do their best to turn out
the greatest possible volume of war
materials for the American fight
ag men.
Walter P. Reuther, UAW-CIO
vice president who arranged the
trip with the War Department and
addressed joint meeting of work
ers and soldiers during the visit
at the camp, spoke the sentiments
of the workers when he said:
Reuther Makes Promise
THE fighting men of the U. S.
Army may feel certain that the
men from the shops will never let
them down. This brief visit will
identify us more than ever with
the Army. This free mingling of
workers and soldiers would not be
possible in any dictator country.
The difference is that our Ameri-
can Army is peoples army dedi-
Gated to fighting a war for free
dom.
"These few days at Camp After
bury demonstrate once and again
that our country has the invincible
combination of men with CUTS,
courage and intelligence in the
Army, and men with CUTS, devo-
tion and mechanical skill in the
war plants we of labor will
re-dedicate ourselves to the propo-
sition that no American fighting
men will ever want for fighting
equipment so long as we have
breath and Drawn in our bodies"
Soldiers Welcome Union Leaders
Contrary to the rawlings of Cap
tain Rickenbacker and others who
have sought to incite the soldiers
Nrainst union labor, the workers
y sitting Camp Atterbury found the
p ghting men more than friendly
% their three-day barracks bud
dies" Many of the soldiers were
union members themselves, anxious
to know how the unions were get
ting on the home front.
The reaction of the fighting men
to the production soldiers was typi-
fled by the statement of Major
General Frank w. Milburn, in COM
nand of the 83rd Division when he
said: "The UAW war workers fit
ted in with my soldiers as though
they had been together all their
lives. They're fine bunch of men,"
Take Tough Course
The hardest and nerviest of the
union soldiers VOLUNTEERED for the
toughest of training assignments
on the Ranger conditioning course.
They hit the ground with bounce
and crawled under barbed wire
entanglements, smearing t h M
selves with Indiana mud. Some
crossed rope bridges and climbed
up embankments, while dynamite
charges exploded all around them.
On the rifle range, shooting with
the Garand MI infantry rifle,
many of the union workers amazed
their instructors by doing some
damn good shooting"
One thing which pleased the
workers very much was the high
degree of morale prevailing among
the soldiers. The fighting men
were fuller of pep and vitality
even after hard day of drilling
and training - than the workers
ever expected them to be. 1t was
the opinion of all the visiting
workers, after seeing the Camp At
terbury soldiers in action, that the
Axis was doomed-and no fooling.
Strong Spirit of Brotherhood
Another impressive condition in
the camp was the spirit of warm
brotherhood among the soldiers.
There were boys in the barracks
from many states in the union
hill-billies, Poles, Hungarians,
Portuguese, Italians, Greeks and
just plain Yankees, nearly all of
them workers or farmers in civilian
life-and all Of them thought the
world of each other.
1t seemed to the sitors
that these boys were ta2 yer of
American military might; that
their strength, the strength of many
peoples and many bloods, makes
the Yank soldier an unconquerable
fighter for freedom and democracy.
The workers thought that this fra
ternity of bloods and races in 4he
American Army worked as it does
in the unions, for the good of
democracy and human liberty.
The workers examined the mill
tary equipment manufactured by
them in the war plants; and they
tested the guns, trucks and jeeps
in action. They discussed with the
soldiers the merits of the war ma
terials, and made mental notes of
suggestions from the soldiers for
in weapons and
transport facilities.
Unions Determination
Exya,.x, x,,o.l,ar oor,o Lo,>.o r