Smyrna times., 1944-12-21

yet get together. l often see names
of Smyrna and Clayton Boys reg
istered in Red Cross Canteens. l
seem to follow Bobby" Bell around.
From personal experience and
find that the order
of preference of most men are-1.
Letters from home. 2. Pictures
from home. 3. Liberties. 4. Food.
Girls are, of course, of major i'm
portance but the most of our men
spend many hours extolling the
virtues of the Girl I left behind, +"
and comparing the American girls
most favorably with the females we
find over here. AS matter of
fact, the average here are pretty
dull, and 1 know the girls at home
don't have a thing to worry about.
My work is on LIST. The 30
(or DIRTY Gertie") was one of the
first in this area and is therefore
an old veteran. I joined her after
her big show of ID" day. The ex-
periences she has had have been
plenty and would make good read
ing. She still has her exciting mo-
ments (at least to me they are ex-
citing) but the older members of
the crew say Pooh, pooh! You
should have seen ID Day" L. S.
It's are the work horses of the
Mayor, should I say pack hors-
es? Therefore, I see many strange
cargoes, and visit many strange
places. It's quite a life. And, to
top it off, I'm called Dad" or
"Grand-pop," because I'm the old
est guy aboard I've always felt
young and spry but somehow the
has done an awful lot to
make me feel my age.
l must sign off. Will be looking
forward to your next column. Keep
an eye on that family of mine. One
thing I'm thankful for and that is
there's a place like Smyrna to
trust my three little girls to until
l get back.
Sincerely,
Charles A. Owens, Jr.
Charles A. Owens, Jr.
c o Fleet Post Office
New York City New York
balance of address on application
Well sailorl That makes two of
us who are in the adopted son
class, as this sort of thing may
apply to the Town of Smyrna. I'm
not going to enter into an exchange
of opinions on adoption versus
blood membership in a family, but
| do know from personal expert
ence, whenever family and mutual
can befound, that's home
for me. 1t might be lodged in
or in two or three robins,
but it's home just the same if hap
piness can be found there. With
out that happiness, we'll a kings
palace would be an empty place to
live in. But, before go any
further, let me welcome you to this
column, and thank you for having
written in.
Glad you like the idea found in
news and addresses which Dribbles
publishes each week, my friend.
AS for the major Importance, we'll
| simply do not indulge to that ex-
tent. My purpose is quite simple,
that being to try and keep contact
between Our Boys and Girls in the
Service and their friends. Ever
since the start of this column the
editor has been trying his best to
sell the idea Of writing letters to
Service folks, Having been in the
Navy during World War I, the
aging editor thought he knew the
need for this sort of thing the mo-
ment World War II started. There
are some other considerations also,
but letter writing tops the list.
Apparently we agree on this point,
since you made it number one on
your own review of preferences.
The big thing now is to keep ad-
dresses right up to date. During
the past three weeks addresses
have been coming in nicely, and if
they were to continue on at this
pace, well things would be fine, but
you see all do not join in a move
ment like this, No doubt the folks
who don't have good reason for
not doing so. That is the only
way one can look at it.
Sailor you've been having some
tough breaks on making connec-
tions with fellows who hail from
around Smyrna and Clayton over
on your side of the Atlantic. Well,
let us hope that the jinks leaves
suddenly There are quite a num-
ber of Boys, and one or two of our
Girls, over in your direction
meaning both sides of the Channel.
If there is any way can help out,
don't hesitite to call on me. 1 will
gladly do all can to bring you
fellows together.