Evening star., 1943-03-31

party were Peggy Telford of Wash
ington, Peggy Chase of Aptos, Calf,
Betty Doubleday, Natalie Gould,
Mary Sternberg and myself. They
were young men, those flyers. Their
faces showed the strain of living in
underground quarters dug in Afri-
can clay. AS Capt. Allan Martin,
fighter pilot from Oklahoma, said:
Gosh, we've almost forgotten
what 1t is to eat on a white table
cloth or dance with girl"
An early morning visit to native
school in Casbah with Ophelia Tiley
of Essex, Conn, assistant director of
civilian relief for the American Red
Cross, gave me frst-hand glimpse
of the milk distribution program.
Over 400 picturesquely clad waits re-
ceived daily three-fourths of a pint
of hot milk, given by the Allies and
distributed through the American
Red Cross in cooperation with local
agencies. In more than 314 centers
throughout Algeria and Morocco,
the same scene is enacted each
morning. 1t is the only milk pro-
vided in North Africa for 102 900
children 10 months to IA years of
age. Expectant mothers also are
included in the ration.
My introduction to Red Cross field
service activities came when Pvt.
Joseph Patrick LAWN of Union City,
N. j., rushed up to me at the in
formation desk with a broad grin,
demanding:
Say, how did the Red Cross find
out I'm father? For the last two
weeks I have been pacing back and
forth on hill out in the middle of
nowhere. Then one day I received
a copy of Stars and Stripes and
there 'twas-in the Red Cross
blessed events column - Joseph
James LAWN, born January 90"
You shoulda seen how excited Joe
was" put in his pal, Jerome Toole,
209 Homestead avenue, Point Pleas
ant, N. J. He passed out cigars to
all us guys
And then I passed out. 1 was
going crazy until I got the news"
added Joe.
Pour Into Clubrooms.
He was only one of the stream of
men who poured into the Red Cross
Club and upstairs to field services
Offices directed by Talbert Jessup
and assistant, Ray Healy of Min
neapolis. Their files are bulging
with hundreds of cable inquiries
about health, deaths, births and
other emergency problems of SOL
diers and their families. Messages
come into headquarters in Casa
blanca, Oran and Algiers from all
over Africa and are relayed to the
United States by special emergency
cable arrangements at the rate of
10000 words nightly.
The field organization reaches the
most remote outpost of the African
front. Field servicemen arrived on
this continent with virtually every
American unit and live with soldiers
wherever they 60. Facilities are
adapted to meet the requirements
of changing front.
AG oOuk AllIdS dIlu 1eDcSSd IlloTc
are bases for numerous day centers,
evacuation hospital units, clubmo-
biles, a canteen, and recreation and
comfort articles, directed from a
tent camp outside Tebessa by James
Snyder of Reading, Pa; Herbert
Sifford Of Greenberg, Pa, and Allen
Fincke of Tenafly, N. j.
Five new clubmobiles 60 into ac-
ton this week at the front, each
equipped with doughnut and coffee
machines. William Stevenson of
Stamford, Conn, Red Cross dele
gate in charge of North Africa, is
at Constantine arranging to put into
service II clubmobiles just received
from the United States
More than 200 Red Cross workers
now are carrying on the club, field,
hospital and civilian relief program
over North Africa. Large clubs COM
plete with hotel and recreational