The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1946-09-20

"a StOiS Va tldNCl III 1ICCCcs
If a voyage through the ENABLED
Mediterranean, and of the harsh
present day conditions in the
title peninsula which beat the
italians only to be crushed later
" the Germans, was told in Pas
:agoula this week by an Ingalls,
hlpyard guard, Sidney N. Ash
ley, who travelled to Greece with
a boatload OF cattle sent by the
tate of Mississippi to relieve IA
nine conditions.
Ashley, who lives at 924 Resca
lie la Palma street, was selected
o make the trip by vote of shop
towards and management in the
;hipyards. He was chairman of
he drive for labor to raise funds
COR the purchase of cattle, and
personally contributed the first
cow with a gift of SIS toward
the general state fund. Thirty
four head of cattle were contrib
uted in the yard and IL by
churches in Jackson county. The
state total of this unique Missis-
sippi enterprise amounted to 1872
cattle and % horses and mules.
Eight head of cattle were lost on
the voyage over, dying of pneu-
monia.
Ashley, a big, friendly, slow
spoken Smith countian in his
m~id-forties, left on his big adj
venture late in July aboard the
freighter "Hattiesburg Victory"
which loaded the cattle at Gulf
port for the special trip. He was
gone about a month, returning
to Newport News on August 81,
and is nov back to work at the
old routine of gate guard in the
sHpyard where he has worked
for several years. But in the one
month of his voyage to Greece,
and his travels there, including
talks with peasants and farmers,
with UNRRA officials, his visit
to the ancient Greek fortress of
the Acropolis and other remnants
of a civilization which rose and
fell before the birth of Christ
in this short month he saw
enough, he says, to think about
and to remember for a lifetime.
1t was his first trip abroad.
The trip over was made in
fairly good weather, Mr.. Ashley
said when interviewed this week
by the Chronicles Star. I'VE had
fine weather in the Mediterrane-
an" he said, land we landed at
the port of Piraeus near Athens.
We laid at Piraeus for a couple
of days discharging 200 cattle
and % horses and mules, then
we went to Salonika and dis
charged 598 cattle"
See Old Buildings
1--WE travelled in Greece all in
all about a week. The Greeks
treated us like kings. We saw
some buildings there that dated
as far back as TIA years before
Christ. The prettiest n was the
A%cropolis. which was a beautiful
building on top of a big hill,
which the Greeks used as a fort
in the old days. It's made of
snow-white marble. Some of it
has fallen away and the archaic
illogical society has tried to
match it but they can't get mar
BILE like they had in the old days.
when we went to Salonika we
went out in the country, in the
rural districts, to a little town
called Horiati. It's a little vii
lage and it sits on a mountain
side. 1t was bombed heavily in
the war, and there is not a single
house eft with a roof on it.
There are now 1850 people in the
town, and they live in misery.
They live in cellars, and caves.
and many of them don't even
own a blanket. 1t made me
ashamed of myself to think of
how easy our life is here COM
pared to what these people have
gone through. They showed me
a big oven where l48 people were
burned alive by the Germans
16 men and the rect r.1anaa anl