Tabor City tribune. (Tabor City, N.C.) 1946-1991, 1947-05-23

sat there dangling his toes in the
water. The sight of his tremend-
Gus body lolling on the beach just
few hundred yards from war
should have inspired poem.
He glanced out to the sea ana
saw SCORES of troop ships closing
in. What's this? he asked himself,
jap achievements? But even
the arrival of Hirohito hlmsel1
would not have caused Dan to re
treat from his foot bath. he SAT
there and watched.
Landing barges were lowered
from the ships and Dan watched
the small boats race to the Deach'
"When the first boat hit the
beach," Dan relates, 81 saw about
so cameramen jump off, turn a
round and focus their cameras on
the other shorebound boats. AS
soon as the first boat OF men
landed, | saw they were the O'o'
Marines.
$50 the Marines took Munda al
ter the army had been there a
week." or
After that, Dan says, he never
had much use for the marines:
It was malaria that brought Dan
to New Caledonia. The MOSQUITO
good.
While recuperating, Dan es-
tablished a newspaper IN the ar
my hospital. Its success was M
mediate and Dan was called 70
the staff of the Daily News, the
largest service publication IN the
South Pacific.
Because Dan knew sports thor
oughlv, he eventually became
sports editor of the paper. bu'
it was his chatter column. var
entine's Day." that made INN top
man on the paper.
No matter what news appeared
on the front page, it was "Vaien-
tines Day" the men read flfSt.
Beneath the rough hulk which ne
showed the world, Dan cultivated
one of the sharpest wits ever 10
appear in newspaper columns. his
column was always uproarlouS5ly
fnnnv and he could pierce the
ornatest ego with one perfectly
phrased remark. ,
ANNOYED by the Pollyiana cheer
mess of Red Cross girls, Dan
wrote. "They always smile as II
they're just about to bite into an
apple" o.o,o1 If
the island personally repflmahu-
ad Dan for the remark, but thou
sands of CPS voiced their agree
ment with rocking laughter.
Once another columnlst wrote
about the success of his college
graduating class, all of whom pc
came Officers, except a AZ, who
became dean of the school, and
the columnist, who was a sergeant.
The next day Dan wrote a col
umn about his cronies IN hellys
Pool Hall and their military car
GERS which satirized the other
column to sheds. Dan end WITH
"And you know, of the whole
crowd, Pm the only one who got
as high as a sergeant"
On VI day, Dan fell victim to
the fermented grain. When ne
finally reported for work six hours
late, he slumped helplessly in the
offices only soft chair and doz-
ed. We feared he would never be
able to write the full page fea-
ture he was assigned.
But the eleventh hour, he strug-
gled to his feet, loped over to his
typewriter and began, 'Now that
the war has been over for IL
hours. | find myself just where
| thought I'd be. Still in the ar
my"
He went on then to turn out
The funniest material he ever pro-
duced. And you cannot apprec-
late that statement unless you
were in New Caledonia and follow
ed him, as thousands did, day to
day.
Dan was probably the only sold
ier who missed the boat that was
to return him home for a dis
charge. After waiting several
days in the separation center he got
bored and went on Il motor trip
through the island. During his
absence. his name was removed
from shipping orders and only the