The Mississippi enterprise. (Jackson, Miss.) 1938-current, 1946-06-22
Engineers Singing
Ambassadors in
British Isles

Washington, D. Glow 200 Ne
gro. engineers sang their way un-
der the buzz bombs to an Albert
Hall concert with Roland Hayes
and the London Symphony Orches-
ira was told this week by a man
who helped it happen.
That man is Peter S. Ridley, 745
Girard ST., Washington D. c., Ne
gro Red Cross club director, just
back from three and half years
in England.
He carried with him a red leather
bound volume which he helped pub
lish-a kind of college annual for
the singers, titled Il Can Tell the
World" name dafter the spiritual
that brought Joy, joy, joy to the
souls of Britishers who heard them
in the jittery months of 1943-44.
Ambassadors of song they were,"
said Ridley, a psychologist who for
merly taught at Howard University
and Maryland State Teachers Col
lege, land I'm sure they prevented
many nervous breakdown, not
only anon gthe listeners but among
themselves. A man who carries
music in his heart takes many a
psychological hurdle
Ridley, who was the last Negro
Red Cross club director in London,
invited Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt to
the closing of the Duchess Club last
spring, where she told the men to
go home and use their citizenship.
But it was at Ipswich that the
engineers began their group sing
ing. Four Negro charlottesville
827th, the 829th, the saith, and the
859th-were attached to the 823rd
Engineers Aviation Regiment in the
neighborhood of the Red Cross ST.
Peters Hall Club. The boys went
there to sing. They borrowed music
from Margaret Simms, Jacksonville,
Fla, Red Cross singer, who took
an interest in their songs, and be-
fore long they had worked up such
a chorus that the London Daily Ex-
pres sponsored them on a tour that
took them not only to London but
to Manchester, Glasgow, and Edin-
burgh.
Chaplain William M. Perkins or
gained the choir" Ridley explain
ed. He had been singer at Vir-
ginia Seminary College at Lynch
burg and in Lincoln University at
Oxford, Pa. The conductor was 1st
Sgt. Alexander B. Jordan, st. Paul,
Mimi, bookbinder and linotype op-
orator, who had sung in the Tuske-
gee Institute choir. Jordan, Incl
dentally, edited the book and got
it printed0 Some of the engineers
had had experience in choral work,
but most of them were singers in
the rough who took this outlet for
tense emotions in the stress of war"
Ridley staged banquet at ST.
Peters Hall for the 200 singers and
IS guests back in November of '43,
two months after their appearance
before 5000 listeners at Albert Hall
in London. Present at the banquet
was Brig. Gen. G.. M. Alexander,
provost marshal of England, who
praised the choir.
Accompanying the engineers on
their tour were two American Red
Cross Negro workers. Mrs. Dorothy
Hamilton, Greensboro, NJ c., and
Betty MacDougald, New York City,
both social workers who were able
to confer with the men on personal
problems as we'll as to arrange
wholesome entertainment for them
in the cities visited.
Other members of Mr.. Ridley's
staff at Ipswich were: Miss Martha
Stafford, Indianapolis, Ind. Miss
Marie Wall, Pittsburgh, Pa, and
Ralph S. Garner, Washington, D.
C. All have returned to their home.
Asked if he intended to return
to teaching now that he is back in
civilian life, Ridley said he was
undecided. All he wants right now
is to rest.