Evening star., 1943-09-06
Luxury Hotel Gives
RestfuI Vacation 10
Soldiers in Alaska
BY MORLEY CASSIDY.

Dy IASSlOI.
MOUNT MCKINLEY PARK HO-
TEL, Alaska CNANA .-Corpl. Will
bur Baumann of Baltimore took
the DO Not Disturb" sign off his
door today, turned in his fishing
tackle and played a last game of
chess with major from the Aleu-
tians.
Then he paid his bill here to a
desk clerk in Army uniform-sl0.5O
for a weeks lodging In a luxury
hotel room that used to cost tourists
SIS a day-borrowed a light from a
passing captain and issued his per-
sonal report on one of the Army S
most unusual experiments.
The G. l., or Government issue,
vacation is strictly a good DEAL
Corpl. Baumann reported.
Corpl Baumann is only one of a
whole hotelful of guests, from pri-
Yates to lieutenant colonels, who
checked out of this hotel after a
week of no reveille, no salutes, no
guard mount.
Rank Is Dropped.
Recognizing the fact that soldiers
and officers stationed in Alaska and
the AleutianS are serving in some
of the most lonely and difficult posts
in the world, with leaves rare and
the duty tough, 1t. Gen. Simon B.
Buckner conceived plan which
would be next-best to leave in the
States.
BY arrangement with the Alaska
Railroad. this hotel in the center of
the Alaska range. 80 miles from the
%, ,300-foot Mount Mckinley, Amer
ica's highest peak, was taken over
for soldier use. A staff of 80 SOL
diers, picked for previous hotel ex-
perience, was assigned to man it.
And right there, military aspect
stopped. Soldiers on leave from the
Aleutians, or from posts near the
Arctic Circle-most of them given
leave in recognition of good service
pay $1.75 a day for their rooms,
officers pay $225-and all rank is
dropped at the front door.
For a week there are meals as
fine as any hotel chef could pro-
vide, with wide choice of soups and
meats and desserts, served on white
tablecloths by obliging walters, mu-
sic with dinner and complete free
dom to obey any whim that any
tourist might have INDUCED in pre-
war days
And some of the favorite whims
surprised Corpl. Baumann.
You won't believe it," he says,
as he waits for the passenger train
that makes once-a-w week round
trip up from the coast to Fairbanks,
but most of the guys spent their
time walking"
Corpl. Baumann, for his part, had
had enough walking in the many
months that he has been in Alaska
He is not walker by nature. Back
in Baltimore, he used to assist his
father in their grocery store and
played the organ at Christ Evan
gelical and Reformed Church. The
most walking he had done was when
he used to visit relatives in Phila-
delphia and toured the city on foot
to look at the historical spots.
Found Chess Partner.
So he took out most of his vaca-
ton in playing chess. He found a
major who was about an even
match and they had a few games
nearly every night.
He caught up on sleep, too In
camp he is used to turning out at
6 am. On his first morning here,
p" slept until s, lay in bed for an
other half hour and then got up.
But each day it got little later"
he says, reminiscently. The second
day it was 9, and the next 10. BY
yesterday it was up to l 80 in the
afternoon"
1t wasn't all sleeping and chess.
though. On his second day, he
and some others hiked to the top
of 5,000-foot mountain to get a
look at Mount Mckinley. It was
hidden in fog, but he had seen 1t
anyway from the train.
The next day the hotel manage
ment" arranged a trip-by truck
to Camp Savage, IA miles away. for
look at the caribou herd which
had recently come into the area for
the calving season Corpl. Bau-
mann liked that trip.
Surprised Two Bears.
The hotel guests saw moose. bear
and mountain goats. Two of the
guests, Pvt. Ralph Kruse of Denver
and Pvt. Elmer Carlson of Boulder.
Colo. wandering afield, surprised
two grizzlies bathing in a stream,
got chased. and outran the bears up
10 per cent gravel slope and out
of sight
-Four nights in the week there
were up-to-date ,movies. On two
nights there was bingo, at cents a
card, and Corpl. Baumann split one
$3.50 with another winner.
He was drafted, on the seventh
night, to play the piano in an anna
teur night program. He PLAYED So
phisticated Lady" and Smoke Gets
in Your Eyes and for an encore
gave them "Nola.' Officers got
drafted along with privates and cor
porals.
It's a Good Deal"
There were no dances, but the
vacation was not without the femi-
nine touch. Capt. George L. Hall.
In charge of the hotel, is assisted
by Mrs. Helen Marjor Lewis as
matron, and two Red Cross girls.
Miss Fadre Abbott and Miss
Florence Hill were on hand as off,
cial hostesses.
The hostesses stood ready TO pro-
vide tennis rackets, fishing tackle
PROPOSALS.