Laurel outlook., 1944-09-13
Disabled Vets
Hold Navy Jobs
Hundreds Wounded in War
Are Now Serving in
Important Jobs.

49, 49, GU Sao1
blanca when a mine exploded under
a charging American tank, killing
W Of its occupants and wounding
the others. Today that wounded sol
Ole has a full-time job as a prop
erty and supply clerk at the New
York navy yard.
He is only n of more than 800
disabled veterans of this war at
work in the yards warehouses and
shops and on its fighting ships. Vet
Grams of landings in Africa, Sicily
and Italy, of campaigns on Guadal-
canal, Bougainville and New
Guinea, of the Arctic and the battle
OF the Coral sea, their number is in
creasing by eight a day.
Many lack an arm, a leg or an
eye, but they are doing a Splendid
job" Rear Adm. Monroe Kelly,
commandant of the yard, said,
both in helping the war effort and
In helping themselves"
Wagner of Maspeth, N. Y, gets
about the supply house nimbly on
clutches. AS soon as his leg is ready
for an artificial limb, Wagner, who
knows chow terrible war can be"
says he will try to get back into
the army.
Enter Trade Schools.
Three junior officers with civilian
personnel experience are working
under the commandant with shop
supervisors in placing the disabled
men in positions for which they are
suited, the Third naval district said.
Men without special training or
those unable to return to the jobs
for which they are fitted are sent to
n of the yards trade schools to
begin as help-trainees.
There are two primary con-
siderations," Admiral Kelly said,
what is best for the man himself
and where a he best be employed
in helping the war effort. Obviously
a man with a back injury or a miss
ing leg can't stand up at a lathe all
day, so we try to place him at a
job where he can sit down.
"a man with a medical history of
battle fatigue or extreme shock,
even though he may be all right
physically, can't endure the inces-
SAINT noise of the boiler shop, so he
may go to the sail loft or one of the
more quiet shops until he is more
fully recovered.
"In no instance, however, do we
coddle the men. They emphatically
don't want it, we have found"
Arthur c. Eberspeacher, 81, of
Brooklyn, was a Wall street clerk
before he joined the army. Today
he's doing a similarly classified
job in the yards electrical shop.
Eberspeacher's hair turned white
on Guadalcanal, where he was
among the first army troops to re-
lieve the marines, and he was dis
charged for battle fatigue and re-
current malaria which still sends
him to a veterans hospital &C.
casionally.
Takes Up Electricity.
Frank Robert Aiello, 26, of Brook
joined the marines in 1886, right
his graduation by Stamford
high school. Wounded on
Bougainville, he contracted malaria
On Guadalcanal.
81 don't know anything except
low to be a MARINE" Aiello said.
Now that I'm disabled 1 can't fol-
ow my profession, so I'm learning
another. I'm going to be a good
electrician, because in addition to
ny wife, I've got a little marine
wo years DID,"
Carmine Pizzo, "a, of Brooklyn, is
he principal support of a widowed
mother and three sisters. A Salerno
.,eteran, the only survivor of his
,latoon, Pizzo says he can "get by
licely on this checking job because
can hold a pad of paper with
left of my left arm, and these
wo fingers that are gone from my
light hand don't interfere with my
much"
"These men who have made such
acrifces are interested in a chance
do a days work on their own,
where they can continue to help out
n this war;" Admiral Kelly said,
and that's what we see they get"