Evening star., 1945-02-18
Red Cross Club Aide Reports
On Merry YuIe in ENGLAND

orderly, Bob "Scratchet," that he
would put him in for private first
class.
At the end of the somewhat hys-
terical-and greatly ad-libbed per-
formance-a CT dressed as Dickens
himself came screaming through
the audience accusing us of raising
him from the grave and really
scrooging my Christmas Carol"
After the play a group of IA men
and women from a nearby town
came to sing Christmas carols for
the boys. / could tell that the boys
wanted to sing, but could not join
in because some British carols were
unfamiliar and the carolers had diff
ferent words for the familiar ones.
I asked the piano accompanist to
play the tunes for us and I led the
GI's in Silent Night" Joy to the
World" 1T Came Upon a Midnight
Clear" The carolers were very
pleased to hear so many mems
voices raised in song and the spirit
of Christmas really filled the room.
One joker called out that he
wanted to sing Marry Doats," but
he was drowned out by a lively
chorus of Jingle Bells" I was
touched by the desire of these men,
the majority of whom appear SO
rough on the surface, to unite in
songs of peace and love and holi-
ness. I knew that the longing in
their eyes for home was sincere as
they sang I'm Dreaming of a
White Christmas"
On Christmas afternoon the
Aeroclub played hostess to A war
orphans. ranging from 4 to 13 years
of age, living in evacuee homes in
the nearby towns. pinned name
on each child as he entered. We
had corresponding number of GI
daddies for the afternoon, each of
whom took his wee one to the mess
hall for dinner. One GI told me that
his boy ate all the turkey, potatoes,
vegetables, cake. etc. etc, ON his
own tray and then ate half of the
CTS portion.
After lunch the GIs escorted the
tiny tots to the barracks, where the
men robbed foot lockers and Christ
mas boxes of all available candy,
cookies, fruit cake and any gum,
chum?' We had made arrangements
for gifts to be flown to us from
New York firm and each child re-
ceived two gifts.
Father Christmas. a CT dressed
up in dyed sheet and pillow, spent
at least half an hour calling out
the names on each gift, and some
times he had trouble finding the
donee, because the tiny tots stood
so close to him they were hidden
under his rotund belly. For two
months the men had been saving
their rations for the war orphans.
When transportation arrived to
take them home, their boxes of loot
seemed bigger than the children
themselves. One tiny boy burst into
tears because he didn't want to
leave. The men, however, still are
arguing over who had the most fun
the children or the daddies. I
heard one CT groan to himself as
the bus pulled away: "Oh. that
makes me so lonesome for my little
one at home!" Another CT told
me he had spent his previous two
Christmases overseas in a state of
extreme intoxication in order to
forget the time Of year, but that
this wear he ACTUALLY enjoved his
Christmas away from home.
Prior to her Red Cross appoint
nnent, Miss Prettyman was secre-
tary to Dean Atcheson, Assistant
Secretary of State, and secretary to
Paul F. Douglass, president Of Amer
ican University. She Is . graduate
OF the National Cathedral School
and wellesley.