Toledo union journal. [volume] (Toledo, Ohio) 1942-current, 1945-02-09

CT JOE SPEAKS
BY Sgt. Joseph j. Casey,
Platoon Sgt, Company c,
220th Battalion, 68th Regt.,
u. S. Infantry Replacement
Training Center, Camp Bland
ing, Fla.
My job is training men for
the Infantry. 1t wasn't always
my job, and it won't be
when this war is over. l have
other plans on that score, and
so have millions of others like
me.
Let's begin at the beginning.
I come from Greenwich Viii
lage, New York. No doubt
you've heard about it before.
Everything you've heard is
true, and that covers a lot of
territory, or at least multi
tude of sins, anyway.
I'm thirty-two years old. l
have never belonged to the
CIO, but many of my friends
belong to it. l have been
a member of the AT. of L.
Teamsers, for the past fifteen
years, I'm strictly union
period!
1 read the TOLEDO UNION
JOURNAL every week, and I
want to say that it is one of
the finest labor papers I've
ever seen.
There are lots of CIO men
in the Infantry, and it the
other branches of service, too.
When they come into the
service they realize they're all
members of one big union,
the strongest one in the world
the United States Army.
My union, Local 8O7, was
and is the largest Transfers
Local in the Country. And we
were plenty touch outfit.
too. But that was pre-war.
He'll, we used to tie up a Job
for two cents-that way these
mistakes" didn't happen of
ten. But today, like the UAW,
my outfit has been obtaining
raises without striking.
The first thing destroyed in
the fascist nations of Europe
were the labor unions. We
don't want that to happen
here. l have become awfully
compromising since I came in
to the Army, / guess, but we'll
all get what's coming to us
when the wars over.-Back
to those happy days!
PROPAGANDA
Lots of propaganda has
been put out, poisoning serv-
icemen's minds against the
unions. But not too many have
fallen for it. They want am
3 munition, and war equipment.
If they get it, and they haven't
been without it thru any fault
of the unions, as yet, this pro-
paganda just won't take root.
Let's keep up the good work,
and get this mess over with!
Soldiers have dreams-even
us Sergeants do. Mine is to
open a cafe in New York City,
on money borrowed thru the
G, l. Bill of Rights.
TRAINING DUCK
One of the men I'm training
here is your former educa-
tional director, Eddie Duck. I
get my TOLEDO UNION
JOURNAL from him. There
are quite a few union boys
right in our Company, and
when they aren't talking en-
fantry" they're talking "Un-
ion." Some of them don't know
what it's all about, and it
looks to me like all the unions
should do a better job of
press-agenting. All the towns
aren't organized like Toledo it,
but they will have to be, be-
fore we get what we want
after the war is over.
l guess my Teamsters Local
must be quite a bit like your
Local IL, because when I
order these guys around down
here feel like I'm talking to
my old boss back home.
Here we teach the men how
to walk, talk, eat, sleep, crawl,
creep, shoot, stab wrestle,
punch, kick, everything nee
essary to enable him to get the
other guy before the other
guy gets him. BY the time he
leaves here, his thought are
best expressed by Let me at
'emw
Here's one on your organ
izer, Pvt. Duck: The first
morning he arrived here he
wisecracked, "Hey, Sergeant,
are you going to make a SOL
dier out of me, so l can get
the Purple Hearth"
! told him, Buddy, if l
don't make a soldier out of
you, you'll get one for sure"
l don't know about the Purple
Heart, but after nine weeks
of his basic training, it looks
like he's going to be a damned
good soldier. I'll take the
credit for it. (You should
see his new waistline - I'm
the physical training instruc-
tori.