The Daily Alaska empire. [volume] (Juneau, Alaska) 1926-1964, 1945-11-02

And the recollection of that de
lightful moment when, having sait
to one sailor that a certain girl h,
was admiring was less than II
years old, we suddenly realized hov
very youthful he himself looked a
he made a wry smile and Whispered
to us: We'll, she hasn't got mucl
on ne, at that Do you know wha
my nickname is on board ship wher,
l work? It's Child Labor'"
And the memory of the genera
sity of the ladies of Douglas anC
Juneau who kept sending us cookie,
throughout the week, and the popu.
larity Of those cookies with the lad,
of the fleet who kept eating then
with a relish.
The list of all those contributing
cookies being too long for this col
umn, but each of whom is asked tt
regard herself as being thanked il
person, as reference is made to just
one of the entire number, namely
: Mrs. George Anderson, who was
not only the first to contribute hel
I homemade cookies but who sent nc
fewer than SIS dozen and put them
up in such beautifully wrapped gift
packages that were almost the very
first things the men saw as they
entered the USO lounge their first
night ashore and that served as a
symbol and tangible expression OF
the affectionate friendliness await
ing them throughout the town that
lay beyond the clubhouse
These are only a scattered few OF
the host of memories that fill our
mind and heart. OF all our remem-
brances which will we, personally,
cherish the longest? That is an
easy question to answer At least,
we can easily identify the incident
that touched our heart most deeply.
1t wasn't anybody's act of generosity,
or anything connected with any OF
the well-organized dances, or one of
the exciting basketball games. or
any Of the clever entertainments,
CT even the awarding of the medals
for gallantry, or the memory Of the
attractiveness Of our ESQ girls for
the men of the fleet (and vice YER
sa, incidentally, or the thrill of re-
alizing how very much it had meant
to our new friends to be taken into
someone's home again. No, it wasn't
any one of these that moved us the
most compellingly though each
one left its special and lasting i'm
preston.
What we will remember longest
and most gratefully was a little
incident that took place at one of
the weeks unscheduled affairs -
that informal party at the USO on
Tuesday afternoon when a dozen
little girls were invited by us to
come TO the clubhouse to be adopt
ed" for an hour by the sailors. All
except two Of these guests were ten
years Of age, or Whereabouts. Those
two were four years old. There
were several games played, followed
by guessing contests and some sing
ing-and refreshments, OF course.
All through the party a sailor
was paired off with each girl.
Happy as all the fellows appeared
as we watched them, it seemed to
US that one man in particular ca
man we'd met only a few hours
carlier was the most deeply at
tached to his new little friend.s She
was adorable, auburn haired, solemn
faced Janice Likins, aged four. AS
she sat on his lap and cuddled up
to her handsome young sailor, it
would be hard to imagine more
charming picture than the two of
them made.
1t came time for the girls to go
home. They said goodbye, and the
party was over A moment later the
sailor walked up to the club dir
ector and said: Il can't thank you
enough for that treat. 1t was Won
derful Do you know that's the
first time in nearly four years that
I've held little girl in my arms. y
Then, he added, simply: Janice is
just the age my own little girl would
have been noW-if she had lived
Tie sound of that voice is some
thing we will never forget, nor the
look in the mans eyes as he tried
to express his hearts gratitude.
Over the span of the past week
our USO thanks to the cooperation
of scores of generous people of the
community did UNNECESSARILY much
to give pleasure and to bring hap
piness to the men of the fleet. AND
it did this in a variety of different
ways 1t is our personal opinion
that this happy result was ac-
complished in no other single in
stance quite SO effectively as was the
case when, very simply, for an hour
one afternoon the USO enabled a
lonely young man long way from
home to play father to an affection
ate little girl whose name is Janice
Likins.
DTCTINGUISHED SOLDIER