The daily monitor leader. [volume] (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1942-19??, 1943-09-30
lettings by
a Reporter
in the Pacific
FRANCIS l.. MCCARTHY

+ GOADALC CANAL NDeidyeu -
up Glcanings from an about
o-be- discarded notebook:
Three Texans have started
their own Victory Garden on
Guadalcanal. They are Chief
Aviation Pilot Charles S. Barnes
of Houston, Aviation Chief Ra-
dioman A. ID. Keen Of Grape
land and Chief Aviation Pilot
Jim w. Martin of Velasco. Their
garden, 35 by 35 feet, is soon
10 furnish beans, onions, pota-
toes, radishes and watermelons
for the mess on the flyingboat
(PBY) reconnaissance squadron
10 which they are attached.
In the same squadron is Avi-
alton Chief Radioman + G.. Mus
ser of Roanoke, Va, whose off
hours find him raising chickens.
Dearest to Musser's heart is an
untamed native born bantam
rooster, which he has high hopes
Of matching & in 5 I another
some day in the not-too-distant
future.
Last but not least in this men
agerie are Zero and "Mitsi'
(short for MitSubiShi), dog and
cat, respectively, of tropical eX-
traction. Zero, born in New Cal
edonia and now six months old,
was flown up here and has had
about 25 hours in the air over
Kahili and other Japanese
strongholds. MitSi, born on
Guadalcanal, doesn't care for
airplane rides.
And, on our way up here we
ran into a group of Army nurses
from the Chicago born 25th
Evacuation Hospital unit who,
despite the living in the tropi-
cal open, wanted nothing more
or less than a shift TO, Of all
places, Bougainville. We Ventur-
ed TO point out that things were
rugged enough for them where
I they were (the farthest advanc-
cd base in the South Pacific war
zone 10 which nurses have been
asSlgned), but they pooh-poohed
such talk. In the group were the
BaStlen sisters, Lois and Char
lotte, of Hinckley, H.; Jane Mus
sci of Oak Park, IL; Freda Dru-
ding of Toronto, Ont; Virginia
Davis, Marguerite Amundson,
Ruth Peterson, Evelyn Mills and
Ethel Caspcrson, all of Chicago;
Arlene Cumberland Of North
Attleboro, Mass; Edna Nelson
of HalloCk, Mimi; Helen Lon
cher of Moose Heart, H., and d
Red Cross nurse, Mildred Wagle
of Pittsburgh.
We got into a "sociable" game
the other night with some Navy
filters. All we can say, some
what ruefully, is that the sur
roundings were primitive but
the technique was not. Naviga-
ton isn't all they teach those
boys. Involved in the slaughter,
or somewhere in the neighbor-
hood, were Capt. F l.. Wood
lock. USMC, Of Dallas; 1t. j.
w. Erhard, USNR. of Wenham,
Mass; 1t. Comdr. c. w. Schoen-
weiss, USN, Of Norfolk, Va: 1t.
/ Gg) G. j. Bachtel Of Brunswick
Mo; 1t. tjg) Il. l.. Granger of
Newton Highland, Mass. 1t. Gg)
c. G.. Livingston of Honolulu,
and Ensigns r s. Peckham of
Arcadia, Cal, II. d. Miner of
Indianapolis, and J A. Love Of
Colorado Springs, Col.
Getting a night bomber ready
for a hop while we discussed
Honolulu and its charms with
1t Henry c. McDonough, from
that spot: Turning the prop"
Aviation Machinist's Mate 1st
class Donald F. Elliott of Los
Angeles: loading bombs, Avia-
ton Ordnance MachiniSts Philip
V. Nelson Of Rosholt, S d. and
and Harris l.. Kelley Of Stock
ton, Cal.
The plane named Friday" be-
cause its number was "l3."
And so endeth another note
bpnk